Collective action frames and the developing role of discursive practice in worker organisation: the case of OUR Walmart

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Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Volume 12, Issue 1

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Collective action frames and the developing role of discursive practice in worker organisation: the case of OUR Walmart

research-article

Author(s): Brett Caraway

Publication date (Print): Spring 2018

Journal: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: framing, labour, organising, collective action frames, Walmart, collective action, connective action

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Abstract

Recent technological innovations have made possible a range of new communication practices among workers engaged in struggles to raise wages and improve working conditions. New forms of social organisation and association are changing how collective action is carried out and how collective action frames are generated. Looking at a year's worth of content from a secret Facebook group designed as a forum for current and former Walmart employees, this study considers how communication practices relate to the organisational forms of coping and resistance among workers. Analysis of the posts and comments transpiring within the group, which is loosely affiliated with the Organisation United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), suggests a growing role for personalised forms of communication in the production and circulation of collective action frames. These forms blur the distinction between discursive and strategic communication processes, requiring us to reconsider the roles traditionally played by social movement organisations and rank-and-file participants. The primary contribution of this research is to demonstrate how emerging communication practices problematise distinctions between communities of coping and of resistance, between activities that are personally satisfying and those that prioritise group concerns, and between the self-organised activities of employees and the actions of labour unions. The article concludes with a consideration of the implications of these emerging communication practices for movement outcomes.

Content

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): workorgalaboglob

Title: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 1745641X

ISSN (Electronic): 17456428

Publication date (Print): Spring 2018

Volume: 12

Issue: 1

Pages: 7-24

Article

Publisher ID: workorgalaboglob.12.1.0007

DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.12.1.0007

SO-VID: 934b55a8-fe79-420f-9fe6-d1c20e2b7028

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

ScienceOpen disciplines: Sociology,Labor law,Political science,Labor & Demographic economics,Political economics

Keywords: Walmart,collective action,organising,framing, labour,collective action frames,connective action

References

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Benford, R.D. & D.A. Snow (2000) ‘Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment’, Review of Sociology , 26: 611–39.
Bennett, W.L. & A. Segerberg (2013) The Logic of Connective Action: Digital Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics . New York: Cambridge University Press.
Berfield, S. (2015) ‘How Walmart keeps an eye on its massive workforce’, Bloomberg . https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-walmart-union-surveillance/.
Caraway, B. (2010) ‘Online labour markets: An inquiry into oDesk providers’, Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation 4 (2): 111–25.
Caraway, B. (2015) ‘OUR Walmart: A case study of connective action’, Information, Communication & Society , 19 (7): 907–20.
Castells, M. (2012) Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age . Malden: Polity.
Cohen, N. (2016) Writers' Rights: Freelance Journalism in a Digital Age . Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
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Snow, D.A. & R.D. Benford (1988) ‘Ideology, frame resonance, and participant mobilization’ in B. Klandermans, H. Kriesi & S. Tarrow (eds) Structure to Action: Comparing Social Movement Research Across Cultures , Greenwich: JAI Press: 197–217.
Snow, D.A., E. Burke, J. Rochford, S.K. Worden & R.D. Benford (1986) ‘Frame alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation’, American Sociological Review , 51: 464–81.
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Wright, S. (2015) ‘Populism and Downing Street e-petitions: Connective action, hybridity, and the changing nature of organizing’, Political Communication , 32 (3): 414–33.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Bancarzewski, M. & J. Hardy (2017) ‘“Communities of resistance” and the use of newspaper discussion boards: Polish workers in Japanese foreign investments’, New Technology, Work and Employment , 32 (2): 160–73.

[2] Benford, R.D. & D.A. Snow (2000) ‘Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment’, Review of Sociology , 26: 611–39.

[3] Bennett, W.L. & A. Segerberg (2013) The Logic of Connective Action: Digital Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics . New York: Cambridge University Press.

[4] Berfield, S. (2015) ‘How Walmart keeps an eye on its massive workforce’, Bloomberg . https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-walmart-union-surveillance/.

[5] Caraway, B. (2010) ‘Online labour markets: An inquiry into oDesk providers’, Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation 4 (2): 111–25.

[6] Caraway, B. (2015) ‘OUR Walmart: A case study of connective action’, Information, Communication & Society , 19 (7): 907–20.

[7] Castells, M. (2012) Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age . Malden: Polity.

[8] Cohen, N. (2016) Writers' Rights: Freelance Journalism in a Digital Age . Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.

[9] Cohen, N. & J. Richards (2015) ‘“I didn't feel like I was alone anymore”: Evaluating self-organised employee coping practices conducted via Facebook’, New Technology, Work and Employment , 30 (3): 222–36.

[10] Gamson, W.A. (1992) Talking Politics . New York: Cambridge University Press.

[11] Gladwell, M. (2010) ‘Small change: Why the revolution will not be Tweeted’, New Yorker , October 4. goo.gl/Yc3VCh.

[12] Harlow, S. & L. Guo (2014) ‘Will the revolution be tweeted or Facebooked? Using digital communication tools in immigrant activism’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication , 19 (2014): 463–78.

[13] Hess, M. (2009) ‘Facebook activism: Lots of clicks, but little sticks’, Washington Post . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/01/AR2009070103936.html.

[14] Hunt, S.A., R.D. Benford & D.A. Snow (1994) ‘Identity fields: Framing processes and the social construction of movement identities’ in E. Laraña, H. Johnston & J.R. Gusfield (eds) New Social Movements: From Ideology to Identity , Philadelphia: Temple University Press: 185–208.

[15] Huws, U. (2014) Labor in the Global Digital Economy: The Cybertariat Comes of Age . New York: Monthly Review Press.

[16] Jamieson, D. (2016) ‘Labor groups are taking on Walmart and McDonald's: But who will fund their fight?’, Huffington Post . http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/our-walmart-funding_us_574f4b70e4b0eb20fa0cac8b.

[17] McRobbie, A. (2016) Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries . Malden: Polity.

[18] Moberg, D. (2015a) ‘OUR Walmart relaunches its campaign to beat the world retail giant’, In These Times . http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18424/our-walmart-ufcw.

[19] Moberg, D. (2015b) ‘The union behind the biggest campaign against Walmart in history may be throwing in the towel. Why?’, In These Times . http://inthesetimes.com/article/18271/which-way-our-walmart.

[20] Morris, A.D. & S. Staggenborg (2007) ‘Leadership in social movements’ in D.A. Snow, S.A. Soule & H. Kriesi (eds) The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements , Malden: Blackwell: 171–96.

[21] Ogan, C. & O. Varol (2017) ‘What is gained and what is left to be done when content analysis is added to network analysis in the study of a social movement: Twitter use during Gezi Park’, Information, Communication & Society , 20 (8): 1220–38.

[22] Olney, P. (2015) ‘Where did the OUR Walmart campaign go wrong?’, In These Times . http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18692/our-walmart-union-ufcw-black-friday.

[23] Olson, M. (1971) The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and The Theory of Groups . Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

[24] Polletta, F., P.C.B. Chen, B.G. Gardner & A. Motes (2013) ‘Is the internet creating new reasons to protest?’ in J. v. Stekelenburg, C. Roggeband & B. Klandermans (eds) The Future of Social Movement Research , Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press: 17–36.

[25] Richards, J. (2008) ‘“Because I need somewhere to vent”: The expression of conflict through work blogs’, New Technology, Work and Employment , 23 (1—2): 95–110.

[26] Rolf, D. (2016) The Fight for $15: The Right Wage for a Working America . New York: The New Press.

[27] Saldaña, J. (2016) The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers . Los Angeles: SAGE.

[28] Schoneboom, A. (2007) ‘Diary of a working boy: Creative resistance among anonymous workbloggers’, Ethnography , 8 (4): 403–23.

[29] Schoneboom, A. (2011) ‘Workblogging in a Facebook age’, Work, Employment and Society , 25 (1): 132–40.

[30] Snow, D.A. (2007) ‘Framing processes, ideology, and discursive fields’ in D.A. Snow, S.A. Soule & H. Kriesi (eds) The Blackwell Companion to Social Movement , Malden: Blackwell: 380–412.

[31] Snow, D.A. & R.D. Benford (1988) ‘Ideology, frame resonance, and participant mobilization’ in B. Klandermans, H. Kriesi & S. Tarrow (eds) Structure to Action: Comparing Social Movement Research Across Cultures , Greenwich: JAI Press: 197–217.

[32] Snow, D.A., E. Burke, J. Rochford, S.K. Worden & R.D. Benford (1986) ‘Frame alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation’, American Sociological Review , 51: 464–81.

[33] Snow, D.A., R. Vliegenthart & C. Corrigall-Brown (2007) ‘Framing the French riots: A comparative study of frame variation’, Social Forces , 86 (2): 385–415.

[34] Wood, A.J. (2015) ‘Networks of injustice and worker mobilisation at Walmart’, Industrial Relations Journal , 46 (4): 259–74.

[35] Wright, S. (2015) ‘Populism and Downing Street e-petitions: Connective action, hybridity, and the changing nature of organizing’, Political Communication , 32 (3): 414–33.