Big bangs and cold wars: The British industrial relations tradition after Donovan (1965-2015)
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Authors
Seifert, RogerIssue Date
2015-10-05
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Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to provide a brief and partial overview of some of the issues and authors that have dominated British industrial relations research since 1965. It is cast in terms of that year being the astronomical Big Bang from which all else was created. It traces a spectacular growth in academic interest and departments throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and then comments on the petering out of the tradition and its very existence (Darlington 2009; Smith 2011). Design/methodology/approach: There are no methods other than a biased look through the literature. Findings: These show a liberal oppression of the Marxist interpretation of class struggle through trade unions, collective bargaining, strikes, and public policy. At first through the Cold War and later, less well because many Marxists survived and thrived in industrial relations departments until after 2000, through closing courses and choking off demand. This essay exposes the hypocrisy surrounding notions of academic freedom, and throws light on the determination of those in the labour movement and their academic allies to push forward wage controls and stunted bargaining regimes, alongside restrictions on strikes, in the name of moderation and the middle ground. Originality/value: an attempt to correct the history as written by the pro tem victorsCitation
Seifert, R. (2015), "Big bangs and cold wars: The British industrial relations tradition after Donovan (1965-2015) ", Employee Relations, 37 (6), pp. 746-760.Publisher
Emerald Group Publishing LimitedJournal
Employee RelationsAdditional Links
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/10.1108/ER-06-2015-0101Type
Journal articleLanguage
enISSN
0142-5455ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1108/ER-06-2015-0101
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