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272 THE ISA HANDBOOK IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY

Seidman stressed the significance of fares, rents and municipal governance. Civic
agency in resolving this divide. She argued associations, student groups and street com-
that SMU emerged in South Africa and mittees organized rent and consumer boy-
Brazil during this period of democratic union cotts and protest marches. Between 1984 and
growth because of the activist leadership that 1987, the new unions became increasingly
prevailed. Activists formulated ideologies prominent in the anti-Apartheid struggle,
that were based on the lived experiences of organizing stay-away protest strikes and
workers and linked the workplace to the engaging with community movements in a
communities from which workers came. In range of campaigns. Township-based Shop
both countries, state policies impoverished Steward Councils became a forum for debate
workers and communities through adopting and the forging of linkages between work-
an industrialization strategy that combined place and community (Lambert and Webster,
low wages with urban spoliation. ‘Class 1988; Webster, 1988).
struggles in the “sphere of production” Initially, the emergence of SMU was
spilled over into the “sphere of reproduction” viewed as a Southern phenomenon appropri-
as workers sought to raise the historically ate only to unions involved in struggles
defined level of the cost of reproduction of against repressive, anti-democratic regimes.
labor’ (1994: 203). However, over the past decade, the notion of
Brazil of the 1970s and 1980s was charac- SMU has entered into the discussion on
terized by intense community mobilization union revitalization in the United States
around domestic needs. These included cam- (Johnston, 2001; Lopez, 2004; Moody, 1997;
paigns to fight cost of living increases, Turner et al., 2001; Voss and Sherman,
improve public transport, regularize title 2000). The most recent contribution is that of
deeds and provide health clinics and day-care Clawson (2003), who argues that we may
facilities for working mothers. Catholic well be on the brink of ‘a new upsurge’ of
activists from the Christian base communi- SMU that will challenge restructuring. The
1
ties sought to strengthen the links between book has created widespread interest because
the emerging urban social movements mobi- it appears to fulfill a deep felt need – he pres-
lizing on these issues and the labor move- ents a clear case for a new form of unionism.
ment. The Christian base communities In an age of profound pessimism regarding
encouraged their members to participate in the possibility of challenging restructuring,
the new unions, arguing that these were one Clawson’s unabashed optimism is enticing.
of the few forces available to empower com- Movements are built and driven by optimism.
munity struggles. The new unionists encour- Pessimism erodes the will to challenge injus-
aged their members to participate in tice. Clawson argues that society has the
community campaigns because they consid- ability to challenge the overwhelming power
ered that these issues impacted on the erosion of corporate forces and the weakening of the
of real wages and the declining conditions labor movement. Indeed, he identifies a
of working class communities. Such a rela- range of innovative strategies and new
tionship was mutually reinforcing. The alliances that provide possible models for a
growth of the new unions after 1978 stimu- societal response to the market. He is opti-
lated community activism, whilst in turn the mistic about the possibilities of an upsurge of
new urban social movements strengthened social movements that would lead such a
the labor movement through supporting challenge to market liberalization. A new
striking workers. upsurge, he argues, ‘will fuse the unions of
A similar process was at work in South today with the issues and the styles of the
Africa during the 1980s, with the emergence social movements of the 1960s, producing
of community organizations in the black new forms and taking up new issues’
townships mobilizing on issues, such as bus (Clawson, 2003: ix–x).