The context of federal regulation: propaganda in US union elections

Journal article

US union representation elections are an intensely local phenomenon and are extraordinarily geographically differentiated in terms of campaign conduct and outcomes. Not surprisingly, there is a great deal of dispute over the federal regulation of local elections, especially with respect to regulations related to the propaganda of representation campaigns. Rules designed to distinguish between admissable and non-admissable uses of rhetoric have been unstable and politically contentious. The evolution of case law relating to propaganda is sketched, as is its relationship to the decline of the National Labor Relations Board as a trusted institution of federal labour policy. Using contemporary language theory, it is argued that the Board's latest rule on campaign propaganda implies a realist theory of language and the irrelevance of context. An alternative conception of propaganda is developed, emphasizing the context and social construction of meaning.

Authors: Clark, G

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
• Journal: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 59-73
• Publication date: 1989-01-01
• ISSN: 0020-2754
• Language: English
• Keywords: United States; Union elections; regulation
• Subjects: Geography