Capitalism, the State and Industrial Relations (1982) examines the many different forms of state intervention in industrial relations in Britain, among them being corporatism, liberalism, paternalism and pluralism. This discussion puts forward a sociological explanation of some of the determinants of state intervention. It concentrates on the period since 1960 and on policies such as those embodied in the Industrial Relations Act of 1971 and the Employment Protection Act of 1975. Institutional changes, such as the formation of the Commission on Industrial Relations and of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, are also considered. With this in view, this book examines the relationship between class structure, class conflict and state power. The role and influence of organised labour and the industrial working class on the formulation of policy are assessed in order to clarify the social forces constraining and shaping the intervention of the state in industrial relations. One crucial conclusion to emerge is a sceptical assessment of the possibilities for the establishment of a successful corporatist control of industrial relations by means of the state in Britain.
1. The State as a Theoretical and Historical Problem 2. The State and the Development of Trade Union Law 3. State Intervention and the Political Economy of British Capitalism 4. Class Conflict and the Economic and Political Crises of British Capitalism 5. Fractions of Capital and the Role of the State in Industrial Relations 6. Corporatism, Social Democracy and Organised Labour 7. The State, Political Conflict and the Role of the Law in Industrial Relations Policy, 1957–1968 8. The State and Industrial Relations Legislation, 1969–1979: From the Industrial Relations Act to Industrial Democracy 9. The Restructuring of the Institutions of the State, 1965–1979 10. Capitalism, the State and Industrial Relations: Conclusion
Biography
Dominic Strinati
