The Unionization of Teachers: Determinants of Rank-and-File Support

Abstract

Teachers have traditionally been thought of as conservative and submissive. Yet they have increasingly adopted militant tactics to achieve their goals. Using data from two surveys this paper analyzes the determinants of rankand-file support of militancy. We show how non-teaching statuses were influential in creating either positive or negative predisposition towards the union movement. Statuses such as religion, political affiliation, and class of origin provided socialization in attitudes towards unions. Teachers with generally favorable attitudes towards unions were more likely to support a union in their own profession. Other non-teaching statuses, such as sex, influenced militancy by providing a frame of reference in which the teacher could evaluate his job. Men, comparing their jobs with those having higher prestige, were more likely than women to feel relatively deprived and to be militant. Finally, we show how changes in personnel input to the school system provided the union movement with a larger base of potential supporters and a larger pool from which leaders could be recruited.

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