Between Class and Market: Postwar Unionization in the Capitalist Democracies

By Bruce Western

Book Overview

In the United States, less than one worker in five is currently in a labor union, while in Sweden, virtually the entire workforce is unionized. Despite compelling evidence for their positive effects, even the strongest European unions are now in retreat as some policymakers herald the U.S. model of market deregulation. These differences in union power significantly affect workers' living standards and the fortunes of national economies. What explains the enormous variation in unionization and why has the last decade been so hostile to organized labor? Bruce Western tackles these questions in an analysis of labor union organization in eighteen capitalist democracies from 1950 to 1990. Combining insights from sociology and economics in a novel way, Western views unions as the joint product of market forces and political and economic institutions.

The author argues that three institutional conditions are essential for union growth: strong working-class political parties, centralized collective bargaining, and union-run unemployment insurance. These conditions shaped the impact of market currents and explain variations across industries, across countries, and over time for the four decades since 1950. Between Class and Market traces the story of the postwar labor movements supported by a blend of historical investigation and sophisticated statistical analysis in an innovative framework for comparative research. Western tightly integrates institutional explanation and comparative method in a way that balances comparative generality with the unique historical experiences of specific cases.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691010331
• ISBN13: 9780691010335
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Difficult and fairly obvious, but interesting and useful

The author undertakes a highly complex statistical study of 18 OECD countries during the period from 1950 to 1989 that correlates the growth of union density with the extent of left political parties, the centralization of worker representation and bargaining, that is, union structure and function, and union-paid unemployment benefits. The main point is that it is the class power of workers as reflected in pro-worker institutions that insulates unions from market forces such as the business cycle and permits unions to grow or maintain their standing.This is not a book that makes an effort to find the historical basis of worker class power: why it exists in some places but not others. Furthermore, the reader cannot discern from this study the relative importance of class power as reflected in left political parties versus that reflected in centralized union structures and roles. Which way do the arrows of dependency point? Which comes first?The author does show that those nations that have a strong mix of pro-worker institutions have been best prepared to withstand the forces of political conservatism, large unemployment levels, and globalization that emerged in the 1980s and continue to the present day.The book is somewhat difficult and tedious to read. Its origin was for a PhD dissertation. It was assumed that the audience would have a background in advanced statistics, but there is room for the general reader. Furthermore, the book largely falls in the category of proving the obvious. At least by the 1930s it was obvious to all working classes that state and state-enabled or -permitted institutions ultimately based on workers' political power would be essential for their economic well being. Nonetheless, the book is interesting in its demonstrations of the importance of institutional power.