Working for Respect: Community and Conflict at Walmart

Reich (Selling Our Soul: The Commodification of Hospital Care in the United States) and Bearman (Doormen), both Columbia professors, recount the results of their work with the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) in this fascinating and entertaining examination of the retail giant. Over the course of their “Summer of Respect,” the authors sent young researchers to Walmart stores across the country to conduct in-depth interviews with Walmart employees and support OUR Walmart in labor organizing. Along with presenting interview data and field observations, the authors analyze Walmart employees’ online comments and anonymous reviews of the company on employer ratings website Glassdoor, conduct a survey, and perform fMRI scans on their student researchers to see whether their levels of trust in each other changed after their summer working together. Their account of the results is accessible and, at times, surprisingly page-turning. They define Walmartism as a “control regime” that “combines the arbitrary authority of managers with a deeply penetrative system of observation and measurement assembled by linking cameras to scanners to customers” and point out that the workers speak more of a desire for respect than about wanting specific financial improvements. The use of interview excerpts amplifies the voices of low-wage workers not often heard in public discourse. This is an insightful examination of the inner workings of the “country’s largest corporate employer.” (June)