Approaches to the Study of White-Collar Unionism

Abstract

Two current approaches to the study of white-collar unionism are identified: a) the `sociological' approach, which relates patterns of white-collar unionism to the class situation of white-collar workers, and b) the `industrial relations' critique, which rejects the association of class situation and union activity and argues instead that `job regulation' is the crucial independent variable. Whilst the approach developed in this paper is firmly within the `sociological' tradition, I argue that the neo-Weberian class analysis from which this tradition is derived gives an incomplete understanding of the location of the `white-collar' or `new middle' class in the class structure of advanced capitalist society. I outline an alternative strategy for the analysis of the `white-collar' class situation, drawn from Marxian principles. The essential ambiguity of the `white-collar' class situation is stressed, and this ambiguity is then related to patterns of white-collar representation.*