Monday 20 August 2012

Understanding the employment relationship: markets, hierarchies and power

an article by Peter Nolan (Business School, University of Leeds) published in Industrial Relations Journal Volume 43 Issue 4 (July 2012)

Abstract

The employment relationship is fiercely contested both in theory and practice.

This article examines recent theoretical initiatives in economics that have sought to illuminate the nature, specificity, and complexities of the employment relationship.

It examines claims by proponents of the new institutional economics (NIE) that they can account for the historical emergence of authority relations and the dominance of hierarchical work organisations without reference to the forces of class power, coercion and labour subordination.

The NIE is contrasted with the ‘old’ institutional economics (OIE) and the distinctive insights of an industrial relations perspective.

The paper considers in conclusion whether a synthesis of NIE and industrial relations research would achieve a deeper understanding of the institutional forms of wage-labour in contemporary capitalist economies.

Hazel’s comment:
I was intrigued by this abstract and have marked up my reading list for my next visit to the British Library. I may not understand all the economics jargon (that’s fairly certain) but a deeper understanding of wage-labour would be good.



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