Political Unionism and the Corporatist Thesis

Abstract

The notion of corporatism enjoys wide acceptance as an alternative to pluralist analyses of political processes in the West and as a way of imputing conservative functions to the more developed union movements that involve themselves in public policy and economic management. In both instances, the corporatist thesis rests on ahistorical functionalist assumptions and even fails to make out its claim to be an alternative to pluralism. Union involvement in public policy and economic decisionmaking is better understood in terms of unionism's historical maturation and higher levels of ambition in asserting wage-earner interests in economic life, factors that make them harbingers of radical change.