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Proquest Dissertations Campus activism: Studying change as it is being created Gender, the Internet, and organizational structure in a student anti-sweatshop group Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Ginter, Mary Beth Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 23/09/2021 19:41:59 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280474 CAMPUS ACTIVISM: STUDYING CHANGE AS IT IS BEING CREATED; GENDER, THE INTERNET AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE IN A STUDENT ANTI-SWEATSHOP GROUP by Mary Beth Ginter A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF HIGHER EDUCATION In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2003 UMI Number: 3119948 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3119948 Copyright 2004 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 1 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Mary Behh (Winter entitled Campus Activism; Studying Change As lb Is Being Created; Gender, The Internet And Organizational Structure In A Student Anti-Sweatshop Group and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy X Datef p ' Sheila Slaughter Date r Croissant Date y Gary Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requir^^nt. sh-z/o"? Dissertation1/ UMlii Directo Date Sheila Slaughter 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I extend great thanks to the members of ASG for allowing me into their organization as researcher, colleague and supporter. I especially thank those who shared their time, thoughts and feelings during in-depth interviews. During a time when many students are focused on their studies and careers, these students combine this difficult work with a focus and commitment to social justice issues. I admire you all. These students, males and females, displayed courage in bringing these issues to the table. Their commitment to international social justice is admirable. Their commitment to looking at their own behaviors and group dynamics displays an intellectual and emotional honesty that I admired throughout the study. In a move that could be considered "airing dirty laundry" these activists not only held up the mirror to other students and society in educating about sweatshop abuses but also held up the mirror in front of themselves, daring to admit that some of the inequities that they were fighting externally were operative within themselves. I also acknowledge my husband, Daniel and daughter Taylor Abra who supported me in innumerable ways as I pursued the goal of obtaining this Ph.D. You deserve Ph.D.s in love and support. 5 Dedication I extend great thanks to the members of ASG for allowing me into their organization as researcher, colleague and supporter. I especially thank those who shared their time, thoughts and feelings during in-depth interviews. During a time when many students are focused on their studies and careers, these students combine this difficult work with a focus and commitment to social justice issues. I admire you all. "Shame upon such crimes. Shame upon us if we do not raise our voices against them." Samuel Gompers, Founder U.S. Labor Movement "Mourn not the dead that in the cool earth lie but rather mourn the apathetic throng, the powerless and the meek who see the world's great anguish and its wrong and dare not speak." Ralph Chaplin 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 11 Overview of Chapter 19 Problem 21 Background - Campus activism 22 Academic Capitalism 27 The Internet 29 Definitions and History of the Internet 31 Sweatshops and Anti-Sweatshop Groups 33 The Anti-Sweatshop Group (ASG) at SWU 36 Major Research Questions 40 Theoretical Frameworks 42 Theories about Cyberactivism 42 Attitudes towards technology 43 Social Movements 44 Social Reproduction 46 Feminist Theories and Gender Issues 47 Cyberfeminism 48 Summary of Chapter 50 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 51 Overview of Chapter 51 Data Collection 51 A Note about Cyberethnography 51 Design 53 A Note about Terms: Feminism and Gender 56 Discussion of Design as it Relates to Research Questions 57 The Process of Participant-Observer Analysis 60 The Process of Interviews and Analysis 65 A Note about Ethics and Confidentiality 67 The Process of Document Analysis 68 Limitations 70 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued CHAPTER 3: INTERNET 71 Overview of Chapter 71 ASG's Internet Infrastructure 71 Listserve/Email 72 How Students See the Net - Paradoxes 78 Positive Narratives Regarding the Internet 78 Negative Narratives Regarding the Internet 81 Complicit in Labor 84 Communication not Hacktivism 86 Dampening the Activist Spirit 89 Virtual Protests 92 Sharing Sit-ins Online 92 Summary and Analysis 94 CHAPTER 4: GENDER 98 Overview of Chapter 98 Connections with Second Wave Feminism 98 Power, Leadership and Work 107 A note about male/female dualism 114 Who "Works" the Web - Women Staying Away in Droves 115 Reproduction "Bitch of the Month" - The more things change, the more they stay the same? 121 Language On and Offline 123 The sweatshop movement as a feminist issue 126 Smashing the Activist Status Quo SAS-Q Women activists on strike 129 Summary and Analysis 132 CHAPTER 5: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE - ANTI-HIERARCHY AND HYPERDEMOCRACY 136 Overview of Chapter 136 Of Regional Conferences and Structurelessness 136 Group Structure and Meeting Protocol 137 Meeting time tyranny 140 Recruitment Pizza party-Lots of Pizza, Few New Members 143 Leadership - Hesitant leaders & despot dread 145 Resources and voices, lost. Gender and Silent Richard- 150 It's not just about feminism 150 Division of Labor - Tasks, Decision-making and Agenda-setting 152 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Tone, Culture and Values - Campus and Student Groups as Idiosyncratic Summary and Analysis 156 CHAPTER 6: LITERATURE REVIEW 161 Overview of Chapter 161 Student Activism at the Beginning of the 21 Century 161 Women, Technology and the Internet 165 Cyberactivism 170 Organizational Structure 180 Structurelessness 180 Gender 184 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION 186 Overview of Chapter 186 Research Questions Related to the Internet 188 Research Questions Related to Gender and Roles 191 Research Questions Related To Organizational Structure 194 Limitations 196 Implications for Practice - Recommendations for Future Research 197 Women's Strike and Resolution 200 Summary 202 REFERENCES 215 9 ABSTRACT In this case study of an Anti-Sweatshop Group on the campus of a university in the Southwest, I present findings related to gender, the internet and organizational structure and discuss these in connection with the group's mission, behaviors, activities and perceptions. This is an exploratory, qualitative case study that spanned nine months of ethnographic field work. Through interviews, participation in and observation of group meetings throughout a nine-month period, and analysis of 1200+ listserve emails from that same period of time, I explored the lived experiences of a campus activist group and learned how members perceived gender issues, Internet usage and organizational structure. In the last years of the decade of the nineties, I became keenly interested in campus, and other, activist groups and began exploring how these groups functioned vis­ a-vis the Internet, their organizational structure and concerns of gender. "Cyberactivism" and how these groups use the internet was the initial and primary interest; however, sex role issues and how
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