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Online social networking and trade union membership: what the Facebook phenomenon truly means for labor organizers

Bryson, Alex, Gomez, Rafael and Willman, Paul (2010) Online social networking and trade union membership: what the Facebook phenomenon truly means for labor organizers. Labor History, 51 (1). pp. 41-53. ISSN 0023-656X

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Identification Number: 10.1080/00236561003654719

Abstract

Union membership has declined precipitously in a number of countries, including in the United States, over the past fifty years. Can anything be done to stem this decline? This article argues that union voice is a positive attribute (among others) of union membership that is experiential in nature and that, unlike the costs of unionization, can be discerned only after exposure to a union. This makes the act of 'selling' unionism to workers (and to some extent firms as well) difficult. Supportive social trends and social customs are required in order to make unionization's hard-to-observe benefits easier to discern. Most membership-based institutions face the same dilemma. However, recent social networking organizations such as Facebook have been rather successful in attracting millions of active members in a relatively short period of time. The question of whether the union movement can appropriate some of these lessons is discussed with reference to historical and contemporary examples.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/0023656X.as...
Additional Information: © 2010 Routledge
Divisions: Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Date Deposited: 23 Apr 2010 13:33
Last Modified: 13 Sep 2024 22:47
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/27771

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