Re-inventing the self: Implications of trade union revitalization

Jansson, Jenny

doi:10.1177/0143831x20904782

Cited by 6 publications

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References 27 publications

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“…Political campaigning not only demonstrates unions’ societal and political relevance, it also reveals the movement’s identity. Political positioning has been a crucial characteristic trait of the unions’ identities, and a clearly communicated identity has proven to be important for constructing successful unions in the past (Jansson, 2020a), as well as for contemporary unions engaged in revitalisation processes (Gasparri et al , 2019; Smale, 2020; Jansson, 2020b). Prior studies have shown that online political mobilisation is common among trade unions (Hodder and Houghton, 2015; Pasquier et al ., 2020), although little attention has been paid to mobilisation via such widespread platforms as YouTube.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political campaigns on YouTube: trade unions’ mobilisation in Europe

Uba¹,

Jansson²

2020

New Technol Work Employ

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Trade unions are called to increase their influence on policy‐making by becoming more politically active and use social media, but only a few studies investigate unions’ online political activism. We propose that industrial relations regime of a country relates to unions’ perceived opportunities for mobilisation and thereby also unions’ online political activism. We test this argument with the help of data about European trade union confederations’ political mobilisation on YouTube, 2007–2017. The results showed, expectedly, that resource‐rich confederations in the organised corporatist regime (Scandinavia) use YouTube for political activism to lesser degree than in other regimes; when these confederations do pursue political activism, such videos are often related to elections and reflect the political party‐union relationship. Unexpectedly, the resource‐poor confederations in the transitional regime (Central and Eastern Europe) mobilised politically on YouTube to the same extent as have the confederations in the social partnership, liberal and state‐centred regimes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political campaigns on YouTube: trade unions’ mobilisation in Europe

Uba¹,

Jansson²

2020

New Technol Work Employ

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“…Unionen has managed to reverse the trend of membership decline, while Vision has stopped its decline. Within Vision, awareness of the need for image management was clear: the chairperson of Vision actually described the old organization as 'grey, old-mannish and outof-date' and as therefore needing a remake, including a name change (Jansson 2019).…”

Section: Selection Of Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Images on YouTube

Jansson

Uba

2019

Trade Unions on YouTube

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This chapter discusses how unions have carried out revitalization processes by using YouTube videos to change their self-images. Here, we analyse the self-images of six different trade unions representing different social classes using two dimensions: the degree to which the trade union presents itself as an inclusive or exclusive organization and the degree to which the union expresses the values of collectivism or individualism. Exclusive collectivism, which has historically been crucial for union formation, remains relevant for working-class unions and upper-middle-class unions. However, inclusive individualism has become an increasingly important feature of white-collar workers' unions. Keywords Self-image • Collectivism • Individualism • Inclusive organization • Exclusive organization While YouTube provides unions with good opportunities to recruit new members or convey political campaigns, it is also a sphere in which images of the unions are produced and reproduced. When the second largest trade union in Sweden, the Municipal Workers' Union, transformed its chairperson Annelie Nordström into a man as the answer to the question 'How to get a raise in 47 seconds', the union was not only drawing attention to the issue of equal remuneration; it also created an image of itself as a feminist organization (Kommunal 2014, CHAPTER 4 Self-Images on YouTube

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“…Refraining from defining a union in terms of specific values or ideologies makes it possible to recruit members with very different ideological positions; therefore, this may be the most successful route to organizing the middle class. Historically, both Unionen and Vision have had narrower membership bases and more pronounced values than displayed in their YouTube videos (Jansson 2019). As structural changes decrease the size of the working class and blurring the line between the workers and the white-collar workers, it is possible that the organizational traits displayed by Vision and Unionen will become more common in future.…”

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Trade Unions on YouTube: Conclusions

Jansson

Uba

2019

Trade Unions on YouTube

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It has been claimed that various social media platforms can be important means for trade union revitalization: social media can reach groups traditionally difficult to organize; it can be used for political campaigning and social media is also an important tool for image management. Analysing Swedish trade unions' use of YouTube confirms that YouTube is a means for union revitalization although many of the videos posted first and foremost target members and the general public and thus have less clear connections to the revitalization debate. Comparing unions organizing employees with different class backgrounds, we find that the upper-middle-class unions particularly targeted youth in their YouTube videos, the working-class unions are the ones most devoted to political activism, and that the white-collar unions are particularly keen on using YouTube for image management. Keywords Social media • Trade union movement • Revitalization • YouTube • Social classes ICT-and social media in particular-has been presented as a new way of mobilizing movements due to its speed, coverage and low costs: it no longer takes days or weeks to organize meetings, demonstrations or campaigns. Social media can change and certainly has influenced how social movements mobilize (Earl and Kimport 2011; Mattoni and Treré 2014). Whether, how and to what degree 'old' social movements such CHAPTER 5

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Re-inventing the self: Implications of trade union revitalization

Cited by 6 publications

References 27 publications

Political campaigns on YouTube: trade unions’ mobilisation in Europe

Political campaigns on YouTube: trade unions’ mobilisation in Europe

Self-Images on YouTube

Trade Unions on YouTube: Conclusions

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