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The Racialized Picket Line: White Workers and Racism in the Southern California Supermarket Strike

University of California - Riverside, USA, jakexwilson{at}aol.com

In a time when union membership is increasingly becoming more racially and ethnically diverse, it is important to understand how race impacts the strategies of contemporary labor struggles. This study explores the racial consciousness of white union members participating in the UFCW grocery workers' strike in Southern California. Using data gathered through in-depth interviews and participant observation, I document the gender-specific racialization of `scabs' and customers as expressed by white union members through a series of in-depth interviews and participant observation. This study uncovers the myriad ways white supremacy and white racial solidarity are created and maintained in a multiracial labor struggle.

Key Words: labor • masculinity • racism • union organizing • whiteness • white privilege

Critical Sociology, Vol. 34, No. 3, 349-367 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0896920507088163


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