Kooperativer Bibliotheksverbund

UID:

Format: 1 online resource (xxv, 502 pages) : , digital, PDF file(s).

ISBN: 9780511571534 (ebook)

Series Statement: Cambridge studies in comparative politics

Content: This book is an attempt to explain the temporal movement of postwar Italian strikes: why and when strikes go up or down and what the strategies of the main actors involved are. In many ways, the book is unique in the social sciences. First, it takes an inductive approach. Rather than start with theories and then use available empirical evidence to test the explanatory power of the theories, the book starts with date. Second, the book is based on a variety of empirical evidence: statistical, historical, ethnographic and survey material. Third, the book considers the strategies of all the actors involved: workers, employers, the state and the radical left. Finally, the book does not simply explain the movement of strikes; more broadly, it attempts to show how strikes, in their turn, deeply affect the economic, institutional and political spheres of society.

Note: Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015). , 1. The puzzle box. Why strikes? Why Italy? Meet the Italian strike. Letting the data talk: the pieces of the puzzle. How to fit the puzzle: the available theories. Serious problems: dialogue among the deaf. More serious problems: it takes two to tango. Really serious problems: the automatic pilot (writing schemata and regression blenders). In search of a solution. Organization of the book. Pat solutions, red herrings, and paradoxes -- 2. Labor-market conditions and bargaining power. How the labor-market argument runs. The economists' tradition of strike research: the Ashenfelter and Johnson model. Test of the Ashenfelter and Johnson model: empirical results. A word of caution. Further problems: Is that all we can say? Examining the residuals. Subsample analyses. Checking the results against economic history. Fitting the puzzle: the first step -- 3. When do workers strike? How the economy matters. Did I go wrong? Beyond strike-frequency models. Beyond labor-market models. Structural characteristics of the Italian economy. Even if bargaining parties had perfect knowledge: the Marxist view of conflict and the economy. Where we stand -- 4. Organizational resources and collective action. Shifting gears. Hardship, discontent, and labor unrest. Resource-mobilization theories of collective action. La longue duree: moral economy and repertoires of collective action. Testing the organizational model. Back to exploratory analyses. More history: the organization of interests. Muddled causality: further probing into the role of organization. Aiutati che il ciel t'aiuta: the Marxist approach to organization. Fitting more pieces to the puzzle -- 5. The structure of collective bargaining. Unanswered questions. Collective bargaining in postwar Italy: a brief historical overview. Does the structure of collective bargaining make a difference? Back to the Ashenfelter and Johnson model. Unexplained residuals: Why models of the number of strikers perform so poorly. Plant-level bargaining. On the cost of strikes (the employers' view). Unforeseen pieces fall into place. A false sense of security. The picture emerges -- 6. Class power, politics, and conflict. Left to explain: the 1975-78 strike shapes. Political models of strikes: the long term. Political models of strikes: the short term. Italian postwar politics: blocked opportunities on the left. Political subcultures: Red regions, White regions. An overall model of power. Short term and long term, economics and politics: the unions' dilemmas. Economic versus organizational/political models of strikes: Snyder's argument on Italy. The micro and the macro, the economic and the political: modes of regulation of labor. The power of statistics and the statistics of power. The finished picture? -- 7. Mobilization processes: the 1969 autunno caldo. Clearly an outlier: 1969. Strike waves and cycles of struggle. The supermarket at Fiat Mirafiori: the workers. The tactics: "everyone did what they wanted" The demands: vogliamo tutto ("we want everything"). The radical Left. Structure and culture. The limits of participation. Strike waves: political or economic explanations? -- 8. Countermobilization processes: reactions by the state and employers to strike waves. Switching sides: the view from above. State responses. The long aftermath. The great fear: from paternalism to personnel management. Collective responses: reaffirming la centralita dell'impresa. Converging interests: inquadramento unico (mobilita interna). Housecleaning (mobilita esterna). Machines don't strike. Small plants don't strike. Against the market and labor: the employers' dream of total flexibility. The puzzle is complete -- 9. The picture in the puzzle. Unexpected findings, one more time: class conflict as the independent variable. Summing up what we know (firm empirical grounds). Summing up what we don't know (theoretical puzzles and tentative solutions). Looking into the crystal ball: venturing predictions from the model. The test of history, one last time: the 1980s. Looking back, looking forth: the 1969 autunno caldo in historical perspective. Which road to the past? Methodological dilemmas.

Additional Edition: Print version: ISBN 9780521452878

Language: English

URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511571534

URL: Volltext  (lizenzpflichtig)

URL: Volltext  (lizenzpflichtig)