Union decline parallels the erosion of free public space

Evidence

That campaign was about a demarcation of time. So it’s interesting, and certainly troubling, to understand the decline in labor unions in the last several decades alongside a similar decline in the demarcation of public space. True public spaces, the most obvious examples being parks and libraries, are places for—and thus the spatial underpinnings of—“what we will.” A public, noncommercial space demands nothing from you in order for you to enter, nor for you to stay; the most obvious difference between public space and other spaces is that you don’t have to buy anything, or pretend to want to buy something, to be there. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 79

Categorization

• XREF: Gives ‘what we will’ a spatial as well as temporal dimension; connects to the reader’s interest in what Odell wants attention redirected toward (public space as one target). — connects to: Union decline removed a shared psychic and political infrastructure for workers — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1647; Loss of connected public space sustains the feeling that no alternative exists — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2107
• QUESTION: Odell asserts parallel declines of unions and public space — worth checking the evidential grounding of this paired-decline claim.