Industrial Democracy in America
The Ambiguous Promise

A close examination of what came to be known among collars of any colour as 'the labour problem' with the railroad strikes of the 1870s.

Nelson Lichtenstein (Edited by), Howell John Harris (Edited by)

9780521431217, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 February 1993

304 pages
23.4 x 15.7 x 2.5 cm, 0.666 kg

"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

Industrial Democracy in America begins its close examination of what came to be known among collars of any colour as 'the labour problem' with the railroad strikes of the 1870s. The contributors cover the theory and practice of the American labour 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. This book 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.

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.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP]