Union membership in post-socialist East Germany: who participates in collective action

This study has two aims: first, to examine the hypothesis that East German union members are strongly individualistic, instrumental and passive with regard to participation in collective activities; second, to test a selection of social psychological theories of willingness to participate in collective action, in a post-socialist context. A survey of members of the textile union provided some initial indication that union members in East Germany do not behave in a significantly different way from their Western counterparts with regard to their willingness to become active. Regression analysis revealed two major antecedents of participation: perceived instrumentality of collective action, and union identity.