{"title":"“Not just for coal miners”: Unionization in U.S. art museums","authors":"Amanda Tobin Ripley","doi":"10.1111/cura.12574","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper examines a collective identity shift among unionizing art museum workers. Pulling data from an action research study of museum union members, I argue that museum workers today are explicitly aligning themselves with working classes in building wall-to-wall labor unions and embracing the collective identity, or membership within the group, of “museum worker.” In analyzing this identity label, I draw from Bruce Lincoln's theories on discourse as a mechanism for constructing or dismantling affective social boundaries. The shift from “museum professional” to “museum worker” signifies a redefinition of creative labor and museum work rooted in cross-class solidarity and bears implications for effective grassroots organizing and coalition-building for institutional and social change.</p>","PeriodicalId":10791,"journal":{"name":"Curator: The Museum Journal","volume":"66 4","pages":"609-627"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/cura.12574","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Curator: The Museum Journal","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cura.12574","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper examines a collective identity shift among unionizing art museum workers. Pulling data from an action research study of museum union members, I argue that museum workers today are explicitly aligning themselves with working classes in building wall-to-wall labor unions and embracing the collective identity, or membership within the group, of “museum worker.” In analyzing this identity label, I draw from Bruce Lincoln's theories on discourse as a mechanism for constructing or dismantling affective social boundaries. The shift from “museum professional” to “museum worker” signifies a redefinition of creative labor and museum work rooted in cross-class solidarity and bears implications for effective grassroots organizing and coalition-building for institutional and social change.