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WORKERS' ATTITUDES AND BOURGEOIS HEGEMONY WORKERS' ATTITUDES AND BOURGEOIS HEGEMONY: INVESTIGATIONS OF THE POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF CANADIAN WORKERS IN THE 1980S By TOM LANGFORD A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University June 1989 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (1989) McMASTER UNIVERSITY (Sociology) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Workers' Attitudes and Bourgeois Hegemony: Investigations of the Political Consciousness of Canadian Workers in the 1980s AUTHOR: Tom Langford, B.Sc. (University of Guelph) M.A. (University of Guelph) SUPERVISOR: Professor W. Peter Archibald NUMBER OF PAGES: ix, 551 i i •• '< ABSTRACT Workers' Attitudes and Bourgeois Hegemony: Investigations of the Political Consciousness of Canadian Workers in the 1980s The principal objectives of this thesis are to deepen our understanding of the character of working class consent to capitalist domination in contemporary Canada, and to assess the possibilities for the development of an alternative hegemonic movement. The following four points are among the important findings of my research. (1) Canadian workers are generally to the Left of other classes on economic issues, and are far more libertarian on social issues than sociologists have commonly thought. (2) The social experiences which have an important influence on a wide range of workers' political attitudes are class background, manual or nonmanual work, age, education, and residency in Quebec. (3) Many members of the Hamilton local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) did not continue to struggle in the weeks after the government legislated an end to their 1987 strike. They passively consented to management domination on the shopfloor and government domination of the negotiation process because the~ believed that nothing could be done to change the situation. In many cases these alienated workers' individual identities and priorities had taken precedence over their identification with the collective cause. This indicates that the mere presence of individual opportunities to do something else, even if they are not taken up, is often sufficient to deflect workers' dissatisfaction and build up a iii certain amount of active consent to the status quo in Canadian Soclety. (4) In 1987-88 the national leadership of CUPW attempted to organize a broad cross-section of groups around its vision of a "worker- and service-oriented postal system". My assessment of the problems which plagued this political campaign suggests that a labour union will only be able to carry through a counter-hegemonic project in Canada if it has a strong service record and has nurtured grassroots activism over an extended period. iv PREFACE In this study of the political consciousness of Canadian workers, I strive to appraise the character of working class consent to capitalist domination, develop an understanding of bourgeois hegemony in Canada, and identify some of the factors which are impediments to the construction of an alternative hegemony. The major questions addressed in the thesis, and concepts such as working class consent, bourgeois hegemony and alternative hegemony which are utilized to frame the questions, can be identified as Gramscian in perspective. In his writings as a political prisoner in Italy from 1926-1935, the Italian communist leader Antonio Gramsci made major breakthroughs in analyzing the character of bourgeois class power in Western capitalist countries and outlining the strategy which was necessary to undermine that power. In my estimation a Gramscian perspective is a very useful vantage point for a study of Canadian workers' political consciousness in the 1980s. Its chief advantage is that it combines the pragmatic focus of the social researcher with the vision of the political organizer. Specifically, a Gramscian perspective orientates analysis towards the political and intellectual/ethical sources of stability in advanced capitalist societies, but also directs attention to the type of political organizing required to build an anti-capitalist movement among workers. In undertaking this project I have expended considerable effort in simply gathering and/or analyzing data on workers' political v consciousness. My research consists of three interrelated investigations of Canadian workers' political consciousness which are reported in Parts One, Two and Three of the thesis. Part One contains studies which employ data from national sample surveys to examine the broad trends and key divisions in workers' political attitudes. Part Two identifies the typical ways that individual workers organize their attitudes towards labour unions. Part Three is a study of workers' political attitudes and actions during the 1987 strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). These three' investigations are complementary in two different ways. First, each study approaches workers' political consciousness from a unique direction and, as a result, makes a distinctive contribution to our understanding of the subject. Second, the methodology and content of the studies is overlapping at different points. This allows me to make direct comparisons across research contexts; as a consequence, the validity of the research is enhanced. Support from a number of institutions facilitated the completion of this dissertation. I was sustained by a fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and a tuition scholarship from McMaster University. I also received grants from Graduate Studies at McMaster University and McMaster's Labour Studies Programme to assist me with research costs. The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at Carleton University helped by providing free computer services during my research at the Social Science Data Archives at Carleton. vi In addition, many individuals assisted me during the two and a half years that it took to complete this research project. Evelyn McCallen's keen eye caught many spelling and grammatical errors which I missed. The members of the Hamilton local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers were especially courteous and helpful during my research with them in 1987 and 1988. In particular, I would not have been able to proceed with this phase of my research without the assistance of the local's executive members. My thanks go to Bill Dalgleish, Dan Romanoski, Elaine McMurray, Yvon Seveny, Len Metcalfe and Tony Derubis. Kim Counsell and Dave McConnell worked as research assistants for me for a few days during the summer of 1987. This project benefitted from their dutiful approach to interviewing. Sharon Fair, Barry Fowl ie' and Alf Hunter read parts of the first draft of ,the thesis and passed on comments which were of assistance in my efforts to produce this version. I also benefitted from the criticisms of a number of individuals who commented on two papers which eventually became Chapters 2 and 3 of the thesis. Both the careful and offhand comments of an anonymous reviewer for the Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology were particularly useful. Finally, I have had the good fortune of being supervised by three straightforward and conscientious scholars, Peter Archibald, Stan Barrett and Carl Cuneo. Each of them made thoughtful and perceptive criticisms of my work. I did not act on all of their suggestions, but where I did the quality of the final product has been substantially improved. I alone am responsible for the remaining shortcomings in the thesis. vii CONTENTS PR EFA CE • • • • .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ".. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. v Chapter or Part ~ CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND PREVIEW 1 PART ONE TRENDS AND DIVISIONS IN WORKERS' POLITICAL ATT ITUOeS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. • .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 42 CHAPTER 2 TRENDS IN CANADIAN WORKERS' POLITICAL ATTITUDES IN THE '70s AND '80s ...••..•.............. 44 CHAPTER 3 SOCIAL EXPERIENCES AND VARIATION IN WORKERS' POLITICAL ATTITUDES -- EVIDENCE FROM TWO NATIONAL SURVEYS 87 CHAPTER 4 FURTHER STUDIES OF THE VARIATION IN WORKERS' POLITICAL ATTITUDES ....•......... 144 PART TWO HOW WORKERS ORGANIZE THEIR VIEWS ON UNIONS 169 CHAPTER 5 HOW WORKERS ORGANIZE THEIR VIEWS ON UNIONS -­ IDENTIFICATION OF MAJOR SCHEMATA ..•....... 171 PART THREE WORKERS' POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND STRIKE ACTION ........................• 216 CHAPTER 6 AN INTRODUCTION TO A STUDY OF WORKERS' POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND ACTION DURING THE 1987 STRIKE BY THE CANADIAN UNION OF POSTAL WORKERS 220 viii HOW THE CONTINUING STRUGGLE HAS SHAPED THE POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF CUPW MEMBERS .... .......................... 256 CHAPTER 8 THE INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL ATTITUDES AND IDENTITIES ON WORKERS' STRIKE PARTICIPATION ..•.. .. .. .. .. .. ..... .. 293 CHAPTER 9 THREE MONTHS DOWN THE ROAD -- HOW THE STRIKE INFLUENCED THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DIFFERENT GROUPS OF CUPW MEMBERS 376 CHAPTER 10 THOUGHTS ON THREE PUZZLING QUESTIONS 434 CHAPTER 11 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 473 REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHy ......................•.........•.... 500 Appendix ~ APPENDIX OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF SOCIAL EXPERIENCE VARIABLES 512 APPENDIX 2 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF MEASURES OF EGOISTIC RELATIVE DEPRIVATION 515 APPENDIX 3 UNION ITEMS INCLUDED IN Q SORT ...........•...... 516 APPENDIX 4 INTERVIEW SCHEDULE, Q SORT STUDy •................ 518 APPENDIX 5 LEAFLET SENT TO HAMILTON CUPW MEMBERS 523 APPENDIX 6 INTERVIEW

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