Capitalist Development and Class Capacities: Marxist Theory and Union Organization

by Jerry Lembcke

Overview

This thought-provoking study argues for a restoration of the classical Marxist position linking the development process, class formation, and class capacities; in practical terms it argues for a restoration of strategies premised on a dialectical understanding of capitalism that sees the process of proletarianization as a capacity-enhancing one rather than a capacity-eroding one. Lembcke adopts Therborn's position that the fundamental power resource available to the working class is its capacity for unity through mutually supported and concerted practices, and that this capacity is rooted in the organizational structure. His work synthesizes three major areas of thought on the subject, including the work in logics of collective action (Offe and Wiesenthal), studies of class formation (Gordon, Edwards, and Reich) and class capacities (Therborn), and organizational studies done within the strategic choices framework (Cornfield).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313262098
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/06/1988
Series:	Contributions in Labor Studies , #25
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)
Lexile:	1440L (what's this?)

About the Author

JERRY LEMBCKE is a member of the Department of Sociology at The College of Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

From Organizational Democracy to Organizational Efficacy: Toward a Class Analysis of Union Organization
Historical Problems and Theoretical Advances in the Study of U.S. Working-Class Capacities
Class Formation and Class Capacities: Case Studies of Three CIO Unions—United Auto Workers, Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, and the International Woodworkers of America
Class Capacities and Labor Internationalism: The Case of the CIO-CCL Unions
There Was a Difference: Communist and Non-Communist Leadership in CIO Unions
Uneven Development, Class Formation and Organization Theory: New Departures for Understanding Current Struggles