Networked Movements and Bureaucratic Unions
The Structure of the 2018 #RedForEd Teachers' Strikes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3321873 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rebecca Tarlau (0000-0002-3054-9526, Rebecca Tarlau is an Associate Professor of Education and of Labor and Employment Relations at Pennsylvania State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 76 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 833-863 |
| Publication date | 2023-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Industrial and Labor Relations Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0019-7939 • E-ISSN: 2162-271X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00197939231189200 |
| OpenAlex | W4385066883 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
| References cited | 32 |
How do digitally enabled movements of workers reshape, replace, or reinforce the role of unions? Based on a comparative case study of the 2018 #RedForEd teachers' strikes in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona, this article argues that despite the hierarchical and bureaucratic character of statewide teachers' unions, the infrastructure they provided to organize, connect, and legitimize teachers' actions was critical for statewide strikes. Facebook provided a forum for teachers to express frustrations, scale participation, and in some cases, organize actions. However, the unions' coordinating capacities were also central. These findings show how combining the mobilizing capacities of social media with existing movement infrastructure can facilitate collective action. In contrast to predictions of digitally enabled activism ushering in an era of "organizing without organizations," these findings suggest that 21st-century labor movements must meld old and new organizational forms, and not discard the century-and-a-half accumulation of labor infrastructure won by previous generations
Action (physics · Bureaucracy · Business · Collective action · Organizational structure · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Social movement · Sociology · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Public Administration
Militancy without Organisational Outcomes
Examining the Antecedents and Outcomes of Contemporary Large Teacher Strikes
Unions as Digital Trailblazers
Methods for Studying Union Effects
Border Thinking Reflexivity
Social movements and adult education in the International Review of Education (IRE) and beyond
Teacher unions, democracy and participation
Teacher unions involvement in education policy
Conflict and demobilisation
Countering fragmentation, cultivating solidarity
Voice without Representation
Working for the Public Good
Public sector unionization and Black-White earnings inequality
Poor People's Movements
The MoveOn Effect
The Revolution That Wasn’t
Digitally Enabled Social Change
The Next Upsurge
Constraints and opportunities in adopting, adapting, and inventing
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle
The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements
Twitter and Tear Gas
Resources and Social Movement Mobilization
Egypt in a Time of Revolution
Political turbulence how social media shape collective action
Return of the Strike
The Net Delusion
Reconceptualizing Collective Action in the Contemporary Media Environment
Collective protest
Networks of Outrage and Hope
The Logic of Connective Action
Insurgency of the Powerless
What Do Workers and the Public Want? Unions' Social Value
Teacher Unionism and Collective Bargaining in England and Wales
From Insurgency to Movement
Institutions and Activism
Social Movement Organizations
How Digitized Strategy Impacts Movement Outcomes
Breaking the Iron Law of Oligarchy
Organizing the poor
| Unique citing works | 13 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 13 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 12 |