Leslie Bunnage, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Sociology, Director of Social and Behavioral Sciences B.A. Program
Department of Sociology Anthropology Social Work and Criminal Justice

Dr. Bunnage's dissertation examined the impact of the AFL-CIO's attempt to reverse decades of conservative stagnation and revitalize itself both by trying innovative tactics, and by recruiting youth activists from outside of labor's ranks. Accordingly, she has focused on the ability of the labor movement to retain these activists in an article in the New Labor Forum Journal (Fall 2002), and co-authored a book chapter with Dr. Judy Stepan-Norris (in Rebuilding Labor, edited by Ruth Milkman and Kim Voss, Cornell University Press, 2004) on the differential ability of campaigns to integrate these activists successfully. She is currently involved in examining attempts to revitalize the labor movement through recruitment of class privileged youth, and analyzing the methods and outcomes of campaigns involving youth activists. Dr. Bunnage is also examining the use of innovative "Virtual Social Movement Organizations" as a strategy of recruiting people into left-wing progressive politics (with Dr. Deana Rohlinger). Her latest project examines the Internet driven mobilization strategies of the Tea Party movement.