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Union Membership in Post‐Socialist East Germany: Who Participates in Collective Action?
Author(s) -
Frege Carola M.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8543.1996.tb00481.x
Subject(s) - collective action , individualism , german , context (archaeology) , action (physics) , social identity theory , political science , identity (music) , social psychology , sociology , social group , psychology , geography , politics , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics , acoustics , law
This study has two aims: first, to examine the hypothesis that East German union members are strongly individualistic, instrumental and passive with regard to participation in collective activities; second, to test a selection of social psychological theories of willingness to participate in collective action, in a post‐socialist context. A survey of members of the textile union provided some initial indication that union members in East Germany do not behave in a significantly different way from their Western counterparts with regard to their willingness to become active. Regression analysis revealed two major antecedents of participation: perceived instrumentality of collective action, and union identity.