Date of Graduation
5-2012
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Sociology (MA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Sociology and Criminal Justice
Advisor/Mentor
Holyfield, Lori C.
Committee Member
Zajicek, Anna M.
Second Committee Member
Worden, Steven K.
Keywords
Social sciences; Immigration; Labor; Narrative; Narrative Identity
Abstract
This research includes in-depth interviews and participant observation to examine the construction of narrative identity by the staff members and worker-members of a workers' rights organization in Northwest Arkansas. I seek to understand how the organization negotiates the broader cultural and institutional narrative identities with the personal narrative identities of the worker-members in a cultural context hostile toward undocumented immigrants. Further, I examine how the worker-members themselves both internalize and challenge the organizational, institutional, and cultural narratives about undocumented immigrant workers. Findings reveal that the staff members and the worker-members create different narratives for different purposes, though both are concerned with the uplift of the undocumented immigrant worker. Suggestions for future research are provided.
Citation
Hallgren, E. A. (2012). Narrative Identity Within A Workers' Rights Organization. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/352
Included in
Community-Based Research Commons, International and Comparative Labor Relations Commons, Work, Economy and Organizations Commons