Forces of Labor
Workers' Movements and Globalization Since 1870

This 2003 book analyzes the dynamics of labor movements, introducing a new database on labor unrest events worldwide.

Beverly J. Silver (Author)

9780521520775, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 21 April 2003

260 pages, 8 b/w illus. 5 tables
22.6 x 15 x 1.8 cm, 0.36 kg

'Beverly Silver has written an important, accessible and I think excellent book that contributes significantly to our understanding of workers' bargaining power under global capitalism. … Forces of Labor is valuable as a resource on the classroom and in discussions about the relationship between globalisation and labour. However, it is potentially even more valuable for trade union members as a tool for conceptualising and understanding sources of their bargaining power with managers.' International Socialism

Recasting labor studies in a long-term and global framework, this 2003 book draws on a major database on world labor unrest to show how local labor movements have been related to world-scale political, economic and social processes since the late-nineteenth century. Through an in-depth empirical analysis of select global industries it demonstrates how the main locations of labor unrest have shifted from country to country together with shifts in the geographical location of production. It shows how the main sites of labor unrest have shifted over time together with the rise/decline of new leading sectors of capitalist development, and demonstrates that labor movements have been deeply embedded (as both cause and effect) in world political dynamics. The book concludes by exploring the likely forms that emergent labor movements will take in the twenty-first century.

List of figures
List of tables
Preface and acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Labor movements and capital mobility
3. Labor movements and product cycles
4. Labor movements and world politics
5. Contemporary dynamics in world-historical perspectives
Appendices
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Sociology & anthropology [JH]