Industrial Democracy in America: The Ambiguous Promise

by Nelson Lichtenstein, Howell John Harris

Overview

Industrial Democracy in America begins its close examination of what came to be known among collars of any color as "the labor problem" with the railroad strikes of the 1870s. The contributors cover the theory and practice of the American labor movement, the promise and demise of industrial jurisprudence, the law of collective bargaining, workplace contractualism, and shop-floor reality in the United States auto industry, and compare these with employment systems in Japan. Industrial Democracy in America contemplates America's industrial decline and will provoke questions, even within management circles, of the long-run viability of a work regime that does not respect or motivate its workers—that does not persuade them to identify themselves with the enterprises of which they are members.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521431217
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/26/1993
Series:	Woodrow Wilson Center Press
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.18(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.98(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword Michael J. Lacey; 1. Introduction; 2. Industrial democracy or democracy in industry?; 3. Industrial democracy and liberal capitalism, 1890–1925; 4. 'An American Feeling'; 5. From Commons to Dunlop; 6. Great expectations; 7. Wartime labor regulation; 8. Workplace contractualism; 9. Pacific ties; 10. Industrial relations mythand shop-floor reality; 11. Epilogue.

Editorial Reviews

"...informative, wide-ranging, and provocative....Academics and activists alike will find this a sound addition to their ‘must-reading' shelf." Labor Studies Journal

"This is an important and rich book that should and must be read by anyone interested in the quality of working life." Bryn Jones, Contemporary Sociology

"The book is excellently organized and edited...the list of chapter authors is a virtual 'who's who' of labor scholarship...should be listed in any bibliography on the changing structure of work in the United States." Henry P. Guzda, Monthly Labor Review

"...an astonishingly cohesive edited volume that does more than simply provide a rich and detailed history of the idea and practice of industrial democracy in the United States....This is an important and rich book that should and must be read by anyone interested in the quality of working life." Bryn Jones, Contemporary Sociology

"The book is excellently organized and edited...the list of chapter authors is a virtual 'who's who' of labor scholarship...should be listed in any bibliography on the changing structure of work in the United States." Henry P. Guzda, Monthly Labor Review

"It is an excellent anthology, suffering from none of the usual pitfalls of such collections. The chapters are well written, related to a single topic with virtually no overlaps, yet referenced to each other. The introduction by the editors serves as an excellent guide to the contents of the book and the relationships between chapters. It is the book's own best review." Kenneth Casebeer, Law and History Review

From the Publisher