Union organizing effort and success in the U.S., 1948–2004

While union density in the public sector has increased in recent decades, private sector union density in the U.S. has declined steadily since the mid-1950s. Scholars have evoked a variety of explanations to account for the decline in union membership, but substantially less attention has been devoted to understanding the contribution of the union organizing process as governed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In this paper, we focus on two aspects of this process: union organizing effort (the effort to establish union representation elections to organize non-unionized workers) and union organizing success (success in winning union representation elections). Using annual time series data for the U.S. from 1948 to 2004, we show that there has been a long-term decline in both union organizing effort and union organizing success, which likely contributes to declining union density. We focus on three explanations for these changes: the political–legal environment for unions, deindustrialization and globalization, and employer opposition to unionization efforts. We find that each of these factors contributes to organizing effort and success and conclude with a discussion of the implications of this research for future mobilization efforts.     

Urbanism and Social Psychological Well-Being: A Cross-Cultural Test of Three Theories*

Three competing theories of how urbanism affects social-psychological well-being are tested using data from London, England; Los Angeles, California; and Sydney, Australia. Path analyses are conducted using visiting friends, visiting kin, and marriage companionship in the different paths. It is found that determinist theory can be rejected because most-urban people do not have fewer social relations than less-urban people; in fact, they may have more. Subcultural theory received some weak but mixed support, and compositionalist theory generally is not supported. The three metropolitan areas do not differ markedly from each other in the paths they show. The best predictor of well-being is the quality of people's social relationships.     

More than just nickels and dimes: a cross-national analysis of working poverty in affluent democracies

Despite its centrality to contemporary inequality, working poverty is often popularly discussed but rarely studied by sociologists. Using the Luxembourg Income Study (2009), we analyze whether an individual is working poor across 18 affluent democracies circa 2000. We demonstrate that working poverty does not simply mirror overall poverty and that there is greater cross-national variation in working than overall poverty. We then examine four explanations for working poverty: demographic characteristics, economic performance, unified theory, and welfare generosity. We utilize Heckman probit models to jointly model the likelihood of employment and poverty among the employed. Our analyses provide the least support for the economic performance explanation. There is modest support for unified theory as unionization reduces working poverty in some models. However, most of these effects appear to be mediated by welfare generosity. More substantial evidence exists for the demographic characteristics and welfare generosity explanations. An individual's likelihood of being working poor can be explained by (a) a lack of multiple earners or other adults in one's household, low education, single motherhood, having children and youth; and (b) the generosity of the welfare state in which he or she resides. Also, welfare generosity does not undermine employment and reduces working poverty even among demographically vulnerable groups. Ultimately, we encourage a greater role for the welfare state in debates about working poverty.     

Metropolitan Earnings Inequality: Union and Government‐Sector Employment Effects*

Objective. This study examines the effects of union density and government‐sector employment on earnings inequality in Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the United States. Methods. Data on 167 MSAs from the 2000 Census are analyzed using standard regression techniques. Four measures of Atkinson's index (e=0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0) are used as the measure of earnings inequality for full‐time, year‐round workers. Results. MSAs with greater union density and greater government‐sector employment have lower earnings inequality. The progressive effect of union density is strongest for earners in the middle of the distribution and less beneficial for workers at the bottom of the distribution. Government employment is generally associated with lower levels of earnings inequality, but state and federal government employment have the strongest effects. Conclusion. Even in the late 1990s, unions and government‐sector employment remain effective at reducing earnings inequality.     

Retaining State Hegemony in Canada in the 1990s: Government Response to an Agricultural Disaster*

De nos jours, les analyses des mouvements sociaux au Canada portent surtout sur les moyens employés à l'intérieur des mouvements pour remettre en cause les pratiques hégémoniques de l'État dans le but de modifier les rapports de force. Par conséquent, on n'a pas accordé beaucoup d'attention aux moyens mis en ?euvre par l'État pour contenir ces mouvements et les canaliser dans des directions qui déterminent en grande partie les orientations qu'ils adoptent et, en dernière instance, leur réussite ou leur disparition. Dans cette communication, l'auteure examine un type d'intervention préventive de l'État à l'égard de groupes qui pourraient devenir de veritables mouvements sociaux, intervention qui consiste à les intégrer en en faisant à toutes fins utiles de simples groupes d'inte-rêts. Elle illustre son propos en présentant un cas dans l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard, où l'État a réussi à empêcher un mouvement social potentiel de prendre forme. Current analyses of social movements in Canada focus primarily on the internal methods by which state hegemonic practices are challenged in an attempt to transform the relations of power. As a result, little attention is given to the methods by which the state increasingly constrains and channels social movements into particular directions that are crucial to the direction and ultimate success, or demise, of social movements. This paper looks at one way in which the state now intervenes to pre-empt antagonistic groups that have the potential to become full social movements, by co-opting them into little more than interest groups. Specifically, this paper attempts to show how the state successfully prevented a potential social movement on Prince Edward Island from reaching fruition.     

Bringing Registration into Models of Vote Overreporting

Voting is a socially desirable act and a basic form of politicalparticipation in the United States. This social desirabilitysometimes leads respondents in surveys, such as the NationalElection Study (NES), to claim to have voted when they did not.The methodology of previous studies assumes that people onlyoverreport voting and that the sample of potential overreporters(i.e., nonvalidated voters) is not systematically differentfrom the sample of potential voters. In this research note,we explore several different ways of examining the determinantsof overreporting at two different stages (registering and voting)and with a consideration for selection bias. Comparing the traditionalprobit model used in previous research with sequential and heckitprobit models, we find that the determinants of overreportingregistering and voting differ substantially. In addition, thereis a significant selection effect at the registration stageof overreporting. We conclude with a discussion of contemporaryimplications for pre-election polling and the postelection analysisof survey data. Received for publication April 20, 2005. Revision received April 25, 2006. Accepted for publication October 17, 2006.     

Six Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy

While prior literature has identified various effects of environmental policy, this note uses the example of a proposed carbon permit system to illustrate and discuss six different types of distributional effects: (1) higher prices of carbon‐intensive products, (2) changes in relative returns to factors like labor, capital, and resources, (3) allocation of scarcity rents from a restricted number of permits, (4) distribution of the benefits from improvements in environmental quality, (5) temporary effects during the transition, and (6) capitalization of all those effects into prices of land, corporate stock, or house values. The note also discusses whether all six effects could be regressive, that is, whether carbon policy could place disproportionate burden on the poor.     

The Network Structure of Local and Extra‐Local Voluntary Participation: The Role of Core Social Networks*

Objective. First, we evaluate whether structural characteristics of people's family and friend social networks are associated with involvement in local and extra‐local civic participation. Second, we examine the interactions between social network attributes and personal characteristics on varied forms of participation. Methods. We draw on data from a random‐sample mail survey of 1,315 households. Results. Attributes of friend and family social networks are related to civic participation beyond the influence of human capital; however, the results from family and friend networks are substantively different. There are also differences in the way attributes of social networks are associated with local versus extra‐local participation. Finally, the interactions of human capital and social networks do not support previous research. Conclusions. Overall, the evidence substantiates extant theory on the effects that social relations have on civic engagement. However, the structure and constituency of networks and the form of civic engagement play an important yet undertheorized role.     

The Role of Job Insecurity in Explanations of Racial Health Inequalities

The literature documenting substantial health differences for racial minorities in the United States is well developed and has considered a multitude of explanations for such disparities. However, the literature seldom addresses the health effects for racial minorities produced in the workplace. This study bridges these two literatures in order to understand the mediating role of job insecurity in explanations of racial health disparities. Our central argument is that racial differences in job insecurity resulting from the marginalized labor market positions of racial minorities are partially responsible for racial disparities in health. This study utilizes adjacent category and partial adjacent category logit models of general health using data from the 2000 to 2010 General Social Survey in order to test this claim. Overall, the results from this study indicate that there are substantial racial differences in job insecurity, and both race and job insecurity are important predictors of general self‐rated health. Additionally, racial differences in job insecurity help explain a portion of the racial disparities in health. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for the study of health disparities in the United States.     

Recent trends in border economics

Greater cross-border integration is reflected in U.S.-Mexico border-related economic research. Some of the areas in which substantial work is being done include population, business cycle transmission, exchange rates, industrial development, labor markets, and natural resources. This paper examines research undertaken in these fields.