Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Notes on unpublished sources
- PART I LABOR RADICALISM REVISITED
- PART II LOCAL COMMUNITY AND “TUMULTUOUS” DEMOCRACY: THE SOCIOCULTURAL FOUNDATIONS OF UNIONISM ON THE SAN FRANCISCO WATERFRONT
- 4 Political community on the San Francisco waterfront
- 5 The structure of participationist politics
- 6 Being political in Local 10
- PART III UNIONISM, WORK, AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE
- PART IV WAGING THE BATTLE FOR WORKPLACE CONTROL ON CONTRACTUAL TERRAIN
- PART V AGREEING TO DISAGREE: BEING DEFENSIBLY DISOBEDIENT
- Conclusion: Trade union exceptionalism or prefigurative politics?
- Appendix: Doing field research: An ethnographic account
- References
- Name index
- Subject index
4 - Political community on the San Francisco waterfront
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Notes on unpublished sources
- PART I LABOR RADICALISM REVISITED
- PART II LOCAL COMMUNITY AND “TUMULTUOUS” DEMOCRACY: THE SOCIOCULTURAL FOUNDATIONS OF UNIONISM ON THE SAN FRANCISCO WATERFRONT
- 4 Political community on the San Francisco waterfront
- 5 The structure of participationist politics
- 6 Being political in Local 10
- PART III UNIONISM, WORK, AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE
- PART IV WAGING THE BATTLE FOR WORKPLACE CONTROL ON CONTRACTUAL TERRAIN
- PART V AGREEING TO DISAGREE: BEING DEFENSIBLY DISOBEDIENT
- Conclusion: Trade union exceptionalism or prefigurative politics?
- Appendix: Doing field research: An ethnographic account
- References
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
None of us is smart as all of us
IN the classical sociological literature, community is said to exist when certain feelings or values are present. For Tönnies, these values are kinship, love, loyalty, and honor. When Weber wrote about communal relationships, he mentioned a sense of belonging, and being implicated in other people's existence. Durkheim found community in groups formed by intimacy, emotional cohesion, depth, and continuity.
Local 10 members use different words to describe these feelings. They consider themselves a social world, and in some important ways, they act like a traditional community. “We're part of a neighborhood,” said one of them. “We have an image. We're part of a way of life; we're part of a subculture. We're also a job. And we're an emotional, economic, and political entity. That's what we are, all of those things.”
In an earlier historical context, a different set of concepts was used to talk about the feelings associated with community. The French Revolution constructed the experience of community around three dimensions: liberty, fraternity, and equality. Within a community, these dimensions have an organic relationship; without community, they are driven apart. Taken together, liberty, fraternity, and equality stand for union, or solidarity; thus, they are critical features of political community. The French Revolution's conception of community provides an excellent framework for analyzing the political community one finds among San Francisco longshoremen.
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- Information
- The Union Makes Us StrongRadical Unionism on the San Francisco Waterfront, pp. 57 - 81Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995