Narrative and social change: A case study of the Wagner act of 1935

Abstract

The Wagner Act of 1935 (the National Labor Relations Act) transformed unionization and collective bargaining from legally‐acknowledged rights difficult to exercise into federally‐protected rights. The National Labor Relations Board was established as a legal body that could punish employers for violating workers’ rights to organize. A narrative analysis of the competing stories provided by the proponents and opponents of the Act reveals how consequence, context, and values interact in a narrative framework to legitimate social change in policies and to realign value structures.