Building Movement Bridges: The Coalition of Labor Union Women

Building Movement Bridges: The Coalition of Labor Union Women, by Silke Roth. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003. 207 pp. $64.95 cloth. ISBN: 0-313-31632-5.

Building Movement Bridges addresses the important question of how different social movements connect to one another and advance one another's agendas. Silke Roth makes a significant contribution to social movement theory by introducing the concept of "social movement interaction" and showing how interactions between movements can be analyzed at three levels. At the individual level, Roth focuses on how individuals develop political consciousness and reconcile conflicting identities. At the organizational level, she examines the ways in which "bridging organizations," defined as "organizations that seek to make connections between different movements" (p. 2), develop structures and strategies for connecting social movements. At the movement level, she emphasizes the importance of understanding "how movements influence each other, how they form coalitions, and how movement agendas are broadened" (p. 4).

The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) was founded in 1974 to bridge the concerns of the women's movement and the labor movement in the United States. Based on an extensive study, employing participant observation at chapter and national CLUW meetings, interviews with a large number of past and current activists, and a survey of CLUWs membership, Roth analyzes CLUW's successes and limitations as a bridging organization. She shows...