Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
Minority Status and Workers Commitment to Their Union: Liberal versus Conservative
Department
Sociology Department
College
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Date Range
2013-2014
Disciplines
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
In our study of attitudes among industrial workers at a plant in the United States, the analysis reveals differences between white males on one side, and women and minorities on the other side. Specifically, the survey question targeted was In order to succeed, my union should work with outside groups such as civil rights and environmental groups. In efforts to ascertain this information, data was collected on two surveys that were administered to a major industrial union of 1,640 workers, one in 2004 and another in 2007. The results follow similar findings in other studies that white males specifically, and whites in general in the working class are diverging in social attitudes compared to their minority and female coworkers. Generally, women and minorities are becoming consistently liberal, while white males in particular are becoming consistently conservative. This has significant ramifications for organized labor, labor politics and wider gender relations.
Conference Name
12th International Conference in New Directions in the Humanities
Conference Location
Madrid, Spain
ScholarWorks Citation
Phillips, Brian; Curtiss, Phyllis; and Lundskow, George, "Minority Status and Workers Commitment to Their Union: Liberal versus Conservative" (2014). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 803.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/803
