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Aggressive Economism, Defensive Control: Contours of American Labour Militancy, 1947-81

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Wallace

    (The Ohio State Universily)

Abstract

This paper argues that important dynamics of class relations can be revealed by the analysis of strike patterns. A theoretically informed analysis of disaggregated American strike data by issue, industrial sector, contract status and duration between 1947 and 1981 suggests that American labour militancy has displayed a somewhat contradictory pattern of 'aggressive economism and defensive control'. The role of the postwar accord between capital and labour, and the segmentation of the industrial structure into monopoly and competitive sectors, are seen as key structural determinants of this pattern. The emergence of the 'worker insurgency' of the late 1960s and the 1970s is seen as a rank-and-file response to the increasingly narrow economic focus of the capital-labour accord and an attack upon management, union leadership and, implicitly, the state.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Wallace, 1989. "Aggressive Economism, Defensive Control: Contours of American Labour Militancy, 1947-81," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 10(1), pages 7-34, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:10:y:1989:i:1:p:7-34
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X89101002
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Shalev & Walter Korpi, 1980. "Working Class Mobilization and American Exceptionalism," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 1(1), pages 31-61, February.
    2. Ashenfelter, Orley & Johnson, George E, 1969. "Bargaining Theory, Trade Unions, and Industrial Strike Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(1), pages 35-49, March.
    3. Paul K. Edwards, 1983. "The Political Economy of Industrial Conflict: Britain and the United States," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 4(4), pages 461-500, November.
    4. Adam Przeworski, 1977. "Proletariat into a Class: The Process of Class Formation from Karl Kautsky's The Class Struggle to Recent Controversies," Politics & Society, , vol. 7(4), pages 343-401, December.
    5. Hibbs, Douglas A., 1976. "Industrial Conflict in Advanced Industrial Societies," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 70(4), pages 1033-1058, December.
    6. Hibbs, Douglas A., 1978. "On the Political Economy of Long-Run Trends in Strike Activity," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 153-175, April.
    7. Randy Hodson, 1978. "Labor in the Monopoly, Competitive, and State Sectors- of Production," Politics & Society, , vol. 8(3-4), pages 429-480, September.
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    Cited by:

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