From Inaction to Action: The Cognitive Liberation of Amazon Workers in North Carolina

We examine the mechanism by which workers move from inaction to collective action, focusing on cognitive liberation, the awareness that change is possible, as it unfolded among workers at an Amazon warehouse in North Carolina who contributed to the emergence of an independent, worker-led union during a period of renewed growth in organising initiatives across the United States. Through interviews, we explore their life histories and identify that the interplay between a destabilising event, signals of opportunity and threat, along with the constellation of social actors, enabled this mechanism. Our findings reveal that in the South, traditions of historical resistance to oppression, faith and labour organising provide critical foundations for workers' cognitive liberation. These efforts, inspired by peers at other Amazon facilities, illustrate the potential for organising trickle effects that may contribute to the wider cognitive liberation of other workers.