Suchergebnisse

Political scientists and sociologists trying to understand union politics have concentrated on formal constitutional provisions, elections, officer turnover, and the existence of structured groups within the unions as indicators of trade union democracy. A consequence of this approach has been the emergence of theories which have little wider applicability beyond the empirical situation to which they are tailored. While most scholars have assumed that membership participation is essential to democratic union organization, they have failed to develop a theory based explicitly on this. This paper, drawing from material on trade unions in South India, suggests that a theory of trade union democracy based on membership participation in union affairs offers promise of a comparative approach.

Studies of Indian organized labour have followed the beaten track for three decades. In their obsessive concern with the political links of trade unions and their control by middle-class intellectuals and professionals, the students of Indian labour have barely paused to consider the social consequences of unionization. The origin of the labour movement in India goes back to the turn of the century, and over five million workers are now unionzed. A movement of this proportion cannot be without consequence for the attitudes and behaviour of workers. In the specifically Indian context the crucial question is how a trade union movement whose very cornerstone, at least ideally, is a sense of camaraderie among a socially diverse workforce interacts with a traditional society whose foundation is the caste system.