Theories of Trade Unionism: A Sociology of Industrial Relations

The book surveys the main tributaries of modern approaches – the moral and ethical, the revolutionary, the defensive or conservative, and the economic and political – and analyses the work of contemporary industrial relations scholars. This includes the main types and varieties of systems theory, the disparate pluralist approaches and the ‘radical school’. The book identifies links between the differing premises of the various schools of thought, and combines the main perspectives in a higher analytical and conceptual unity. It concludes with a discussion of a number of avenues for theoretical and conceptual progress.

Theories of Trade Unionism is ideal for those with an interest in the history of trade union theory.