Labor Relations in the Postwar Period Socı 302 Spring 2011 Instructor: Deniz Yükseker

Harry Braverman, Richard Edwards and Michael Burawoy talk about the labor process within factories. But as Edwards hints at, part of controlling labor (ensuring compliance and performance evaluation) depended on social arrangements outside the factory

Guy Standing describes those social arrangements in the postwar period (1945-1970s) especially in North America and Western Europe as industrial citizenship How does he arrive at that concept?

Polanyi Standing uses Karl Polanyi’s concepts in his book The Great Transformation (1944). Polanyi argued that labor, land and money were not real commodities, but fictitious commodities. “Human beings are not produced for sale.” “Land is just nature subdivided.”

Polanyi According to Polanyi, in the 19th century national market economies were formed in Europe that treated labor, land and money as commodities. But this had devastating consequences for society; society needs to be protected from the invasion of market forces in all arenas.

Guy Standing argues that, after WW II, a process of “fictitious decommodification of labor” took place. In other words, there were regulations at industrial, national and international levels to protect labor to a certain extent from the vagaries of market forces. But why does he call this industrial citizenship?

Distinction between work and labor Standing distinguishes between work and labor For him, there are forms of work that are not labor. For instance, reproductive work, care work (the work we all do in order to reproduce our and our families’ lives), creative work that is not paid. Work becomes labor when it is sold as a commodity to an employer. Labor: a relationship between an employer and an employee

Industrial citizenship Standing says that in the postwar period, industrial citizenship was the basis on which labor was sought to be partially decommodified (protected from market forces) Industrial citizenship was a “social compact” between organized workers, large-scale companies and the state How?

Industrial citizenship Welfare states in Western Europe and North America The central role of large-scale and bureaucratic firms Taylorism in the workplace Strong trade unions representing workers and collective bargaining rights Labor security labor market security (full employment) employment security income security social security (health and old age security, etc.)

Why is this called fictitious decommodification Why is this called fictitious decommodification? Workers agreed to comply with workplace discipline, monotonous jobs, Taylorist practices, etc. in return for labor security (as explained in previous slide) So, labor was still a commodity (that is bought and sold in the labor market), but it was “fictitiously” partly decommodified

End of industrial citizenship Industrial citizenship declined after the 1980s it brought labor costs up it was a fiscal burden for governments it excluded women, workers in small-scale and informal jobs and the unemployed  The welfare state has declined since the 1980s, but not completely dismantled.