The changing determinants of U.S. Unionism: An analysis using worker-level data

In contrast to much of the literature examining the decline of trade unions in the United States, I examine the decline from the perspective of the individual employee. Worker-level data combined with industry-level data for the years 1972 and 1987 are used to investigate the decline. The central findings are that the changing sex and race composition of the labor force and increases in management resistance have had little influence, while gains in educational levels, changing occupations, and reductions in the economies of scale of union organizing have contributed greatly to the decline.     

Benefits and Role Performance in Voluntary Organizations: An Exploration of Social Exchange*

This paper reports an exploration of the relationship between members' role performance and the benefits they receive from their organizations. The general relationship is interpreted in the context of a “social exchange model” for voluntary associations. Data for the analysis pertain to members of four voluntary farm organizations: Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, National Farmers Organization, and Grange. The data were obtained in a state-wide survey of Wisconsin farm operators in 1965. In general, the data show a moderate relationship, in a positive direction, between benefits and role performance. The benefits tend to differ in the magnitude and, in some instances, in the direction of their relationships to such performance. The findings indicate the importance of taking into account magnitude and direction of relationship, as well as interaction among the benefits and among costs, in order to devise a viable social exchange model of cost-benefit relations for voluntary associations.     

Direct and indirect effects of unionization on the wage levels of nurses: A case study of New Jersey hospitals

This study examines the determination of wage rates for nurses in hospital employment. Of particular concern is the effect of the recent increase in unionization by nurses on their wages, both directly and indirectly via threats from competing hospitals’ unionization. To improve on earlier work, the data are disaggregated and gathered from only one state to standardize for the legal, licensing, and reimbursement systems. We also look at the difference between highly skilled professional nurses, RN’s, and more general and less professional nurses, LPN’s. The results show that working conditions and competition in the market influence the wage rate as one would expect. The unionization of nurses, however, affects the wage levels differently for the two groups. We would like to thank Professors Robert Higgs and Alan Childs of Lafayette College, Professor David Fairris of Williams College, Professor James C. Luzier of Muhlenberg College, and an anonymous referee for their helpful comments and suggestions.     

Publication trends of interlocking directorate studies

The rate of publication of interlocking directorate research in recent years is examined. The data show that the rate of reporting research on interlocking directorates has been leveling off since 1983. Methodological, theoretical, and sociology of knowledge explanations of this trend are provided. The future of interlocking directorate research is discussed, and theoretical reasons are posited to show that there is a need to continue these studies. Suggestions for future research are also offered. He is doing his dissertation research on the influence of economic and political factors on declining unionism in the United States.     

The relationship between work/family benefits and earnings: A test of competing predictions

Using data from a random statewide telephone survey, this study examines the relationship between four specific types of work/family benefits (child care, flextime, and two types of flexible leaves) and employee earnings. The research is guided by two competing theoretical perspectives. One—compensating wage differential theory—is based on the presumed cost of the benefits, and the other is based on their potential productivity enhancing effects. Despite the prevalence of the former perspective for guiding work on the impact of job characteristics on earnings, we found limited supporting evidence. Instead, earnings more closely related to work/family benefits were likely to have a positive impact on productivity, but only among those groups that stood the most to gain. Building on the findings of this study, suggestions are made to examine further how and in what ways this important new class of benefits might affect employee earnings.     

Analysis of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission Act

The following article by Keith Whyte represents the first of occasionally reprinted publications that are relevant to important historical events in the field of gambling studies. This article describes the act that led to the formation of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. This Commission released its findings to the President and Congress of the United States during June of 1999.     

Shylock is not Heartless: The Function of Separation in Men's Emotional Development

‘Shylock is not Heartless’ uses poetry, film and the popular press to illustrate men's adherence to the traditional male tasks of protector and provider. Some men shift from protector and provider to the negative equivalent, controller and possessor, at the crisis point of separation. For others, separation provides the impetus for a journey inward toward self. The metaphor of the Iceberg and the Ocean has been found useful in helping some men observe the differences between them and their female partners.     

Validity,facts, and values sans closure: Reply to Messick,Reckase, Moss,and Zimmerman

Social Indicators Research -