Critical Sociology

Some of the most inspiring public sociology takes place at the local level, often hidden from or obscured by professional sociology. Taking inspiration from Edna Bonacich's research with labor and Elizabeth Leonard's research with survivors of extreme domestic violence, this article sketches out what a public sociology for California might mean, and the ways in which professional and critical sociology could support and benefit from such a project.

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.

Black males' `dominance' in basketball is taken for granted and often explained in terms of racial difference and socio-environmental factors. However, this is only one side of the coin. Power needs to be considered for a fuller understanding. This article does this, providing a structural perspective of black male integration into basketball that builds from Edna Bonacich's work on labor and group relations. An occupational niche is two-way; a group finds and occupies a niche that they have been given access to by a hiring group. Black males do not dominate the collegiate and professional ranks of basketball simply because of ability. They were given access to the opportunity because it benefited capitalist interests and because of their marginalized position in society. In this specific context, they represent the most profitable labor source.

This essay critically reflects on our experiences and observations, as a multi-racial research team from the USA, of the politics of race and racism at the 2005 meeting of the World Social Forum which took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The challenges of discussing issues of race, ethnicity, and racism at the WSF are considerable given (1) the over-representation of whites and the wide variety of racial and ethnic groups participating in the WSF, (2) national differences in race and ethnic relations and the discourses used to discuss such relations, and (3) the political silences about racism that pervade Brazil and many other countries. Overcoming such challenges is crucial to making the WSF and the global justice movement more inclusive of people of color, raising consciousness about racial and ethnic oppression and its role in the current global economy among political activists, building effective transnational coalitions among anti-racist groups, and envisioning a truly just and democratic world.

South African neo-Marxist scholarship gave class analytic primacy in explaining both material inequality and race domination. I review neo-Marxist theories of class and race domination and transformation and find class necessary but secondary to race in explaining the emergence and demise of the racial order. Specifically, classes created a racialized labor repressive system. More recently, working classes have struggled for social democracy. But class theories inadequately explain the comprehensiveness and resilience of race domination. This ensued from ethnic mobilizations to create a white ethnocracy and cleanse South Africa of other ethnic groups. The apartheid era systematized ethnic cleansing, but cleansing was limited by whites' dependence on cheap black labor. Thus racialized capitalist growth favored white social mobility and black proletarianization. The primacy of race over class is also indicated by the anti-apartheid movements' historic demands for inclusive nationalism and the new regimes' search for justice through policies of deracialization.

Although exclusion has defined union politics for much of the 20th century, its limits are clear today. Union membership and capacity is declining, and historically disadvantaged workers such as racialized immigrants and women with whom unions have weak linkages are employed in expanding sectors of the low-paid, service economy. By conducting a comparative historical analysis of the US and South Korean labor movements, this article argues that shifts in the balance of power among labor, capital and the state under processes of globalization have fueled more inclusive directions for labor. Contrary to conventional wisdom, workers in the lower tier — a group commonly perceived as lacking the resources and power to challenge downgraded forms of employment — are pivotal to overcoming the exclusionary legacies of the past. The weakening basis of power for workers in the upper tier, the reconstitution of the lower tier, and social movement legacies play a major role in transforming the state of labor politics.

This article is inspired by Edna Bonacich's theoretical attention to the `big picture,' substantive dissection of the garment industry and ethical call for public sociology. The article focuses on the newest developments in the US anti-sweatshop movement by delineating the progress of two movement organizations: United Students Against Sweatshops and Sweatfree Communities. The article argues that the development of these movements has been toward progressively addressing the underlying causes of sweatshop, causes that are tied into globalization. Most importantly movements have recently begun to specifically challenge the undermining of union strength and the use of vulnerable labor. This progression has shifted the US movement toward action directly supportive of worker empowerment rather than simply improved conditions.