From Legitimation to Exercising Structural Power: Strategies of Escalation in the US Anti-Sweatshop Movement

Two major anti-sweatshop groups—United StudentsAgainst Sweatshops (USAS) and SweatFree Communities—pursuedsimilar goals in different social arenas: college campusesand city governments. This article examines their shared strategyof gradual escalation, demonstrating how social movements mustbalance coercion and consent to effectively pressure authorities.Both groups aimed to enforce pro-labor rights codes for apparelindustry partners, using distinct yet escalating strategies. USASemployed extra-institutional tactics like sit-ins and hunger strikes,while SweatFree Communities leveraged electoral politics. Bothbegan with awareness-raising efforts, such as teach-ins and filmscreenings, before escalating to coercive tactics—protests andsit-ins for USAS and mobilizing key voting blocs for SweatFreeCommunities. Despite operating in different arenas, both groupsfollowed a pattern of building legitimacy before applying structuralpower.