Abstract
How noneconomic benefits claimed by labor unions relate to union interest is not well articulated. Based on Torres and Bergner’s (Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38, 195–204, 2010; Psychotherapy, 49, 492–501, 2012) analysis of severe public humiliation, in which status enhancement underlies recovery, we examined an augmented relationship between humiliation at work (the underside of dignity at work) and willingness to join a union. As hypothesized, nonunion employees who were less detached from work showed more willingness to join when presented with evidence that members of a union were satisfied with community aspects of membership related to status enhancement above and beyond their satisfaction with economic aspects. Implications for union interest research and applications are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
At several sites, flyers were circulated indicating a $5 participant fee for taking the survey. With fee versus no fee as a grouping variable, t-tests for independent groups indicated no significant mean differences in relation to model variables, ts(118) ≤ |.424|, ps > .05.
All scale items and instructions are available on request from the first author.
A grammatical modification was also made to the following sentence in the narrative from “to illustrate the top theme” to “to illustrate the top themes”.
With version as a grouping variable, t-tests for independent groups indicated no significant mean differences in relation to demographics, humiliation at work, detachment from work, and union interest, ts(118) ≤ |1.591], ps > .05.
References
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park: Sage.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.
Babcock, M. K., & Sabini, J. (1990). On differentiating embarrassment from shame. European Journal of Social Psychology, 20, 151–169. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420200206.
Berg, P., & Frost, A. C. (2005). Dignity at work for low wage, low skill service workers. Relations Industrielles, 60, 657–682. https://doi.org/10.7202/012339ar.
Bonanno, G. A. (2004). Loss, trauma, and human resilience: have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist, 59, 20–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.20.
Briere, J., & Conte, J. R. (1993). Self-reported amnesia for abuse in adults molested as children. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 6, 21–31. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.2490060104.
Brown, G. W., Harris, T., & Hepworth, C. (1995). Loss, humiliation, and entrapment among women suffering depression: a patient and nonpatient comparison. Psychological Medicine, 25, 7–21. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329170002804X.
Chacko, T. I. (1985). Member participation in union activities: perceptions of union priorities, performance, and satisfaction. Journal of Labor Research, 6, 363–373. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02685492.
Dorahy, M. J., & Van Der Hart, O. (2015). DSM–5’s posttraumatic stress disorder with dissociative symptoms: Challenges and future directions. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 16, 7–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2014.908806.
Ezorsky, G. (2007). Freedom in the workplace? Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Fernández, S., Saguy, T., & Halperin, E. (2015). The paradox of humiliation: the acceptance of an unjust devaluation of the self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41, 976–988. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167215586195.
Foa, E., Embree, E., & Rothbaum, B. (2007). Prolonged exposure therapy: Emotional processing of traumatic experiences therapist guide. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/med:psych/9780195308501.001.0001.
Frege, C., & Godard, C. (2014). Varieties of capitalism and job quality: the attainment of civic principles at work in the United States and Germany. American Sociological Review, 79, 942–965. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122414548194.
Godard, J., & Frege, C. (2013). Labor unions, alternative forms of representation, and the exercise of authority in the U.S. workplace. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 66, 142–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/001979391306600106.
Hammer, T. H., & Berman, M. (1981). The role of noneconomic factors in faculty union voting. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66, 415–421. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.66.4.415.
Heckhausen, J., Schulz, R., & Wrosch, C. (1998). Developmental regulation in adulthood: Optimization in primary and secondary control—a multiscale questionnaire (OPS–scales). Unpublished Technical Report, Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education, Berlin, Germany, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511527852.
Kendler, K., Hettema, J., Butera, F., & Gardner, C. (2003). Life event dimensions of loss, humiliation, entrapment, and danger in the prediction of onsets of major depression and generalized anxiety. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 789–796. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.60.8.789.
Klein, D. C. (1991). The humiliation dynamic: an overview. Journal of Primary Prevention, 12, 93–121. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02015214.
Körner, A., Reitzle, M., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2012). Work-related demands and life satisfaction: the effects of engagement and disengagement among employed and long-term unemployed people. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80, 187–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2011.05.004.
Lepie, J. (2016). The union-buster toolkit. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 28, 249–264. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-016-9283-z.
Lodahl, T., & Kejner, M. (1965). The definition and measurement of job involvement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 49, 24–33. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0021692.
Lott, B. (2014). Social class myopia: the case of psychology and labor unions. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 14, 261–280. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12029.
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2008). Early predictors of job burnout and engagement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 498–512. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.3.498.
Mellor, S. (2016). Adulthood social class and union interest: a first test of a theoretical model. Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 150, 849–865. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2016.1203278.
Mellor, S., Bulger, C. A., & Kath, L. M. (2007). The potency of one-to-one contact with union leaders: enhancing self-efficacy to become a steward. Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 141, 403–421. https://doi.org/10.3200/JRLP.141.4.403-422.
Milkman, R., & Voss, K. (2004). Rebuilding labor: Organizers and organizing in the new union movement. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Mitchell, M. S., & Ambrose, M. L. (2007). Abusive supervision and workplace deviance and the moderating effects of negative reciprocity beliefs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1159–1168. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.4.1159.
Negrao, C., Bonanno, G., Noll, J., Putnam, F., & Trickett, P. (2005). Shame, humiliation, and childhood sexual abuse. Child Maltreatment, 10, 350–363. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559505279366.
Rooks, D. (2003). The cowboy mentality: organizers and occupational commitment in the new labor movement. Labor Studies Journal, 28, 33–62.
Sayles, L., & Strauss, G. (1967). The local union. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.
Silver, R. C., Wortman, C. B., & Crofton, C. (1990). The role of coping in support provision: The self-presentational dilemma of victims of life crises. In B. R. Sarason, I. G. Sarason, & G. R. Pierce (Eds.), Social support: An interactional view (pp. 397–426). Oxford: Wiley.
Tangney, J. P., & Tracy, J. (2012). Self-conscious emotions. In M. Leary & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (pp. 446–478). New York: Guilford Press.
Tannenbaum, F. (1947). The social function of trade unionism. Political Science Quarterly, 62, 161–194. https://doi.org/10.2307/2144203.
Tepper, B. J. (2000). Consequences of abusive supervision. Academy of Management Journal, 43, 178–190. https://doi.org/10.2307/1556375.
Tepper, B. J. (2007). Abusive supervision in work organizations: review, synthesis, and research agenda. Journal of Management, 33, 261–289. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206307300812.
Tepper, B. J., Mitchell, M. S., Haggard, D. L., Kwan, H. K., & Park, H.-M. (2015). On the exchange of hostility with supervisors: an examination of self-enhancing and self-defeating perspectives. Personnel Psychology, 68, 723–758. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12094.
Torres, W. J., & Bergner, R. M. (2010). Humiliation: its nature and consequences. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38, 195–204.
Torres, W. J., & Bergner, R. M. (2012). Severe public humiliation: its nature, consequences, and clinical treatment. Psychotherapy, 49, 492–501. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029271.
Union Affiliation (2017) Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by selected characteristics, 2015–2016 annual averages, Table 1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t01.htm.
Vermetten, E., Dorahy, M. J., & Spiegel, D. (Eds.). (2007). Traumatic dissociation neurobiology and treatment. Arlington: American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
Acknowledgements
We thank the following students for their dedicated survey work: Kate Boudreau, Ragan Decker, and Emma Bee Schwarz. Also, the article benefitted from a review of an earlier draft by Ms. Decker.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical Standards
All procedures used in this study involving participants are in accordance with the ethical standards of the first author’s institution and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants in the study in the form of an information sheet.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mellor, S., Holzer, K. Humiliation at Work and Union Interest: An Empirical Analysis of Community Union Satisfaction as Related to Status Enhancement. Employ Respons Rights J 30, 99–118 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-017-9313-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-017-9313-5