Economics John Elliott. Conflict or Cooperation ? The Growth of Industrial Democracy. Pp. xiv, 306. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1978. $21.50

• Published date: 01 January 1979
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627944100146
• Author: George Strauss
• Date: 01 January 1979
• Subject Matter: Articles

225

studies.

These

ambitious

goals

help

bind

together

the

book’s

three

essays,

but

are

not

carried

through

with

com-

plete

success.

In

his

first

essay,

Therborn

offers

a

comparative

typology

of

state

organiza-

tion

in

feudal,

capitalist,

and

socialist

settings.

Primarily

valuable

as

a

heuris-

tic

exercise,

the

essay

employs

a

systems

approach

to

denote

each

epoch’s

or-

ganizational

features:

inputs,

outputs,

tasks,

and

personnel

recruitment

all

re-

ceive extensive

and

methodical

cover-

age.

On

the

other

hand,

however,

the

stylistic

mixture

of

systems

and

Marxist

jargon

often

proves

rather

irritating,

while

the

treatment

of

socialist

state

organization

leaves

much

to

be

desired.

Assigning

undue

significance

to

mass

or-

ganizations,

such

as

trade

unions,

and

to

the

alleged

&dquo;political

supremacy&dquo;

of

the

working

class,

Therborn

glosses

over

important,

if

unattractive,

features

of

socialist

state

organization.

Thus,

he

ignores

the

possibility

that

state/party

elites

now

constitute

a

ruling

class

and

dismisses

their

privileged

status

as

a

&dquo;relic

of

capitalism.&dquo;

Ideological

rather

than

scientific,

this

nonexplanation

con-

flicts

with

his

call

for

a

reassessment

of

socialist

realities.

Therborn’s

title

question

provides

the

theme

for

his

second

essay

in

which

the

author

surveys

and

largely

discounts

various

pluralist

and

elitist

theories.

Both

perspectives,

he

argues,

skirt

the

fundamental

issue

of

how

ruling

classes

are

able

to

perpetuate

their

dominance.

The

reproduction

of

dominant-subordi-

nate

relations

is

thus

made

the

focus

of

analysis,

with

particular

attention

beng

paid

to

&dquo;formats

of

representa-

tion,&dquo;

various

forms

of

bourgeois

politi-

cal

organization.

Too

little

attention

is

devoted

to

the

role

of

ideology

and

the

discussion

of

social

democratic

parties

needs

refinement,

but

overall

the

treat-

ment

is

sophisticated

and

persuasive.

In

the

final

essay,

Therbom

turns

from

theory

to

the

politics

of

Eurocom-

munism.

Following

a

brief

but

useful

summary

of

the

movement’s

develop-

ment,

Therborn

identifies

various

prob-

lems

confronting

Western

communist

parties:

notably,

their

still

ambiguous

relationships

with

allied

socialist

groups,

and

failure

to

specify

the

nature

of

post-

capitalist

society.

Surprisingly,

he

looks

to

Japan,

rather

than

France

or

Italy,

as

the

likeliest

locale

of

a

socialist

breakthrough,

perhaps

underestimating

the

profound

psychological

and

political

consequences

of a left

victory

in

Europe.

In

summary,

then,

these

essays

are

un-

even

in

quality

but

sufficiently

stimu-

lating

to

inspire

confidence

in

a

re-

vitalized

Marxian

scholarship.

DAVID

H.

KATZ

Michigan

State

University

East

Lansing

ECONOMICS

JOHN

ELLIOTT.

Conflict

or

Coopera-

tion ?

The

Growth

of

Industrial

De-

mocracy

.

Pp.

xiv,

306.

Totowa,

NJ:

Rowman

and

Littlefield,

1978.

$21.50.

Throughout

Europe

there

has

been

interest

in

such

social

innovations

as

co-

determintion,

workers’

councils,

and

workers

self-management,

all

of

which

are

designed

to

increase

worker

and

union

input

into

managerial

decisions

affecting

worker

interests.

In

Britain

this

concept

has

come

to

be

known

as

&dquo;in-

dustrial

democracy;&dquo;

in

practice

it

has

meant

adding

union

representatives

to

company

boards

of

directors.

This

book,

written

by

the

Industrial

Editor

of

the

London

Financial

Times,

describes

how

industrial

democracy

came

to

be

a

key

political

issue,

lead-

ing

to

the

Labour

government’s

appoint-

ment,

in

1975,

of the

Bullock

Committee

charged

with

considering

the

details

of

how

(not

whether)

worker

directors

might

be

introduced.

The

committee’s

majority

report

called

for

a

law

requir-

ing

companies

with

more

than

2000

em-

ployees

to

institute

single-tiered

boards

(not

two-tiered,

as

in

Germany),

which

would

have

equal

stockholder

and

union

representation

(but

no

representation

for

nonunion

workers),

and

a

smaller

neu-

tral

third

group

to

be

selected

by

the

two

parties,

or,

failing

agreement,

by

the

government.

These

recommenda-

tions

closely

followed

the

original

union

position;

the

management

representa-