The "Social" Determination of Strike Activity: An Explication and Critique

Abstract

The social analysis of strike activity is in its infancy despite the many recent publications which focus on the "social" rather than the "economic" causes of strikes. In the past, writers have searched for fundamental causes and have concentrated on three major areas: social disorganisation, frustration and com munication and the basic conflict of interest between employer and employee. Now, utilising the concepts of structure and process, the social perspectives of strike activity have been reformulated. It would appear that the earlier, static, one-way approach may have distorted reality. Thus a dialectic between structure and process should form the focus of attention when considering the causes of strikes. The conclusion is that the concept of a dialectic is an important step forward in replacing the old fundamentalist perspective, even though the concept still requires considerable refinement before it can be fully operational as a useful research tool.