To better understand the role of power in identity construction, we ask how workers construct a labour activist identity based on their experience of disempowerment. In examining labour activists’ accounts, central to their identity construction, we find two sets of power-infused narratives of their experienced disempowerment embedded in a temporal framework (i.e., past, present, and future). For some, their past experience with disempowerment in families internalizes a sense of powerlessness and unionism is seen as a tool to overcome this; we term this episodic power narrative as it reflects a self-focused process in which they obtain a personal sense of growing influence by participating in unionism. For others, their present experience with disempowerment in employment features a realization about the power asymmetry in the employment system and unionism is seen as an institution to counter this; we term this systemic power narrative as it highlights a collective-focused process that is more about leveraging activism to join an institutionalized power struggle. We also find a narrative of felt disempowerment featuring a multiplicity of ambivalent emotions, from which a ‘deep story’ emerges and speaks to a broader power story around class struggles in the society. Taken together, we offer a conceptual perspective to understanding the power-identity relationship different from existing perspectives, such as identity work and emancipation. We also contribute more generally to the growing literature showing the importance of temporality and emotionality to identity processes.
