Unions' Role In Enhancing The U.S. Workers' Conventional Political Participation

The U.S. unions have played a very important role in the U.S. political arena. A number of scholars at home and abroad have explored the development of the U.S. unions and the U.S. workers'movements. A few scholars have also probed into the U.S. unions'political participation. However, the U.S. unions'role in the political participation of the U.S. workers, especially their conventional political participation, has seldom been discussed. The U.S. unions organize the workers, lead the workers, and operate on behalf of the workers. Their role in enhancing the U.S. workers'say in national politics is undeniable and worth studying.This thesis aims to probe into the U.S. unions'role in the U.S. workers'conventional political participation. The study is set in a specific political environment—the U.S. political system, and in a limited time span—from the end of the U.S. Civil War to the present. The author has designed a step-by-step analytical procedure. The analysis of this thesis centers on conventional political participation and the U.S. labor organizations. Ramifications of conventional political participation and the U.S. labor organizations are introduced and analyzed respectively, and then the two aspects are combined to illustrate and analyze the U.S. labor's conventional political participation under the leadership of the U.S. unions. Through study and analysis, the author has reached the conclusion that the U.S. unions have played a positive role in the enhancement of the activeness, the means, the effect, the scope, and other aspects of the U.S. workers'conventional political participation.