Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Union Idea In 21st Century America, Amanda M. Perry

Senior Honors Projects

This project explores the development of the “union idea” and its role in low wage labor markets in the 21st Century.

The "labor question" became a central issue in the early 20^th century because its solution seemed essential to the survival of American democracy itself: could a society based on wage labor provide a rising standard of living and full social participation for those workers? For a time during and after World War II the “union idea” - workplace democracy, working class solidarity, and the allocation of resources partly on a social rather than a market basis – became …