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[Commlist] Call for Chapters, Labor News and Trade Union Media

Fri May 05 08:06:21 GMT 2023



Call for Chapters, Labor News and Trade Union Media


Book Title: Raising Class Consciousness: Labor News and Communicating Worker Power

Edited by: Gino Canella (Emerson College)

Deadline for abstracts: June 30, 2023 (Google Doc: bit.ly/3NMqpAK <http://bit.ly/3NMqpAK>)

Trade unions have used newspapers, film, and radio for generations to organize workers, influence public opinion, and conduct political education. In recent years, though, digital technologies and online platforms have altered the political culture of unions—magnifying a long-standing tension within the labor movement: the reformist versus revolutionary approaches to labor organizing. Digital media disrupt trade unions’ hierarchical structures and one-way communication strategies, allowing workers to express themselves in their own voice. On the other hand, social media prioritize individual personalities and symbolic power at the expense of relationship building and deep organizing. And research on gig workers’ use of digital media to organize unions revealed another contradiction with social media: while the internet helped workers connect, these connections were often fragmented by geographic location and industry.

Despite these issues, celebratory claims about the power of technology persist. Regarding current unionization efforts in the US, The Washington Post stated that technology is “powering the picket line”. The Guardian dubbed the uptick in labor activism “Strike 2.0”. These authors, and those that share their optimism about digital media, make two broad claims: first, social media help people realize their subjectivity and exert their agency; and second, social media provide organizers platforms on which to publicize their campaigns to global audiences, thus enhancing the campaign’s visibility and expanding the movement’s pool of supporters.

This edited volume aims to complicate these views and examine the communication and media strategies of trade unions in the 21st century—with an emphasis on how new forms of communication are altering the structure and composition of the labor movement. Rather than a techno-deterministic or media-centric approach, we view radical alternative media as sociotechnical practices that occur within specific historical and political economic contexts. The book seeks to include theoretical analyses and essays from practitioners. We are seeking authors from various fields (communication, media studies, sociology, history, economics) and professional backgrounds (labor/community organizers, communication specialists, scholars, and journalists).

Chapters could address the following topics (but this is not an exhaustive list):

- Trade union newspapers
- Strike papers
- Historical perspectives (e.g., newsletters, flyers, film, radio)
- The transition from an analog to a digital labor press
- Case studies (e.g., Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, Trader Joe’s, etc.)
- The use of media to link international labor movements
- The implications of social media for organizing workers
- Various formats for labor news (e.g., video, audio, podcasts, text, etc.)
- The labor beat
- The relationship between labor unions and journalists
- Coverage of labor unions in alternative and mainstream press

Please send a 500-word abstract and short author bio (100 words) to Gino Canella, (gino_canella /at/ emerson.edu) <mailto:(gino_canella /at/ emerson.edu)>, by June 30, 2023. No payment from authors will be required at any time.

Anticipated Timeline:
July 14, 2023: Notifications of acceptance sent to authors.
October 15, 2023: Chapters due (2,000-3,000 words for essays; 5,000-6,000 words for research papers).
November 2023-January 2024: Peer review and editing.
March 1, 2024: Final chapters due.
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