Between bureaucracy and social movements : careers in the justice for janitors

Industrial relations scholars and organizational sociologists have long argued that American trade unions adopted bureaucratic structures and practices in order to survive in the economic and political environment of the United States. Scholars drew a sharp dichotomy between bureaucratic unionism, which they viewed as the dominant institutional form of American unions, and social movement unionism. But more recently, scholars have argued that the environment has shifted, leading American unions to move away from traditional policies and practices toward social movement unionism. This research examines the organizational change process and current practices of the largest and most successful of such unions, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The dissertation starts with a puzzle: while the union is ideologically progressive and strategically innovative, it is also extremely centralized and bureaucratic; furthermore, bureaucratization and centralization have both increased during the period in which the union adopted social movement elements in its practice. Earlier theories on institutional change in the labor movement have not adequately captured the dynamic coexistence of opposing elements. This study develops a theory of institutional change based on the political process. The thesis introduces the concept of movement careers and identifies these careers as a mechanism that mitigates the tension between bureaucracy and idealism in the union. Part I of the thesis examines historical change in the union during the period 1950s - mid-1990s. It shows that the adoption of social movement elements by the union was the product of a contentious political process. Political battles and the urgency of reform felt by ideologically progressive staff further centralized control in the national union.

Department dc:contributor.department

Sloan School of Management.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Yu, Kyoung-Hee, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Michael J. Piore.

• Sloan School of Management.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42420

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/42420