THE NEW WORKING CLASS? WHITE-COLLAR WORKERS AND THEIR ORGANIZATIONS

Also by Richard Hyman

THE WORKERS' UNION MARXISM AND THE SOCIOLOGY OF TRADE

UNIONISM STRIKES DISPUTES PROCEDURE IN ACTION SOCIAL VALUES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS (with

Ian Brough) INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: A Marxist Introduction TRADE UNIONS AND REVOLUTION (with james Hinton)

Also by Robert Price

PROFILES OF UNION GROWTH (with George Bain)

THE NEW WORKING CLASS? WHITE-COLLAR WORKERS AND THEIR ORGANIZATIONS

A Reader

Edited by Richard Hyman and Robert Price

Preface, introductions and selection ©Richard Hyman and Robert Price 1983

Softcover reprint of the hardcovre 1st edition 1983 978-0-333-27283-1

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,

without permission

First published 1983 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD

London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives

throughout the world

ISBN 978-0-333-27284-8 ISBN 978-1-349-17016-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-17016-6

The paperback edition of this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,

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Contents

Preface Acknowledgements

PART I THE DEBATE ON WHITE-COLLAR LABOUR

1 Introduction Richard Hyman White-Collar Workers and Theories of

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Class (1980) 3

2 The Problem of Definition George Sayers Bain and Robert Price Who is a White-Collar Employee? ( 1972) 46

3 Clerical Labour: Some Early Arguments F. D. Klingender Clerks as Proletarians (1935) 52 David Lockwood Clerks and the Ambiguities of Class (1958) 57 C: Wright Mills The New Middle Class in America (1951) 61

4 Clerical Labour and the New Technology Counter Information Services Automation and the Clerk (1979) 66 Special Task Force White-Collar Woes (1973) 72

5 Technicians in Modern Capitalism John Kenneth Galbraith The Technostructure (1969) 74 Serge Mallet The New Working Class (1963) 75 Andre Gorz Technicians and the Class Struggle (1971) 82 Special Task Force Managerial Discontent (1973) 87 Ernest Mandel Scientific Intellectual Labour (1975) 89 Michael Mann A Sceptical View of the New Working Class (1973) 92

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Contents

6 Two Views of 'Service' Labour Harry Braverman The Rise of 'Service' Occupations- I (1974) 93 Ernest Mandel The Rise of 'Service' Occupations - II (1975) 94

7 The Search for Theory: Synthesis or Dissonance? Anthony Giddens The Growth of the 'New Middle Class' (1973) 98 Harry Braverman The 'Middle Layers' of Employment (1974) 102 John Urry A Highly Significant Intermediate Class (1973) 103 Barbara and john Ehrenreich The Professional-Managerial Class (1977) 106 Nicos Poulantzas The New Petty Bourgeoisie (1975) 110 G. Carchedi The Global Function ofCapital (1975) 116 Terry johnson A Critique (1977) 121 Erik Olin Wright ... And Another: Contradictory Locations ( 1978) 126 Rosemary Crompton and jon Gubbay The Political Economy ofClass (1977) 136

PART II THE DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTER OF WHITE-COLLAR UNIONISM

8 Introduction Robert Price White-Collar Unions: Growth, Character and Attitudes in the 1970s (1980) 147

9 The Early History of White-Collar Unionism David Lockwood The Railway Clerks' Association (1958) 184 David Lockwood The National and Local Government Officers' Association (1958) 188 B. C. Roberts, Ray Loveridge and john Gennard The Draughtsmen and Allied Technicians' Association ( 1972) 196

10 White-Collar Union Character George Strauss White-Collar Unions Are Different ( 1954) 204 V. L. Allen The White-Collar Revolt (1961) 211

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Contents

R. M. Blackburn and K. Prandy A Theoretical Approach (1965) 218 George Bain, David Coates and Valerie Ellis Class, Stratification and Union Character (1973) 227 Rosemary Crompton A Critique of the 'Industrial Relations' Approach ( 1976) 234

11 White~Collar Workers and Attitudes to Trade Unions jean-Daniel Reynaud An International View (1969) 247 D. E. Mercer and D. T. Weir Instrumental Collectivism and Occupational Sectionalism ( 1972) 255 K. Roberts, F. G. Cook, S. C. Clark and Elizabeth Semeonoff Trade Unionism Amongst the White-Collar Proletariat (1977) 263 R. Carter Conservative Militants- the Case of ASTMS (1979) 271

Index 282

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Preface

The present century has seen a persistent expansion in the size of the 'white-collar' or 'non-manual' labour force, and more recently a rapid growth in the membership of'white-collar unions'. There now exists a substantial literature discussing these developments: some reflecting sociologists' concern to relate changes in occu­pational structure to theories of class; some representing the awareness of 'industrial relations' writers of the importance of organization and collective bargaining among these employee groups; and some stemming from a more general public interest in the economic and and political significance of the rise of what has sometimes been called the 'salariat'.

In compiling our selection from this literature we have aimed to offer both the student and the lay reader a range of approaches which have made a notable contribution to knowledge and under­standing. To some extent we have weighted our choice towards less accessible sources such as journal articles and out-of-print publications; but we have decided not to exclude important extracts merely on the grounds of ready availability in their original form. We have also been guided by a desire to maintain some element of thematic unity in our coverage.

While this book as a whole is a collaborative exercise, each of us has assumed primary responsibility for one part. Richard Hyman has arranged the extracts which focus on the meaning and adequacy of the conventional category of white-collar employ­ment, on problems of class identity, and in particular on the appropriateness of such conflicting notions as 'new middle class' and 'new working class'; while Robert Price has organized those which deal with the development of white-collar trade unions and union membership, with the relationship between trade unionism and other forms of collective organization, and with the problem of 'union character'.

Each part of the book is provided with a lengthy introduction

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which discusses the readings that follow, relating these to each other and to more general issues and approaches in the area. At the same time, these introductions are intended as contributions in their own right to current analysis and debate.

University of Warwick Coventry

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Richard Hyman Robert Price

Acknowledgements

The editors and publishers wish to thank the following who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright material.

Acta Sociologica, journal of the Scandinavian Sociological Associa­tion, for the extract from 'Towards a Structural Theory of the Middle Class' by John Urry, vol. 16, no. 3 (1973).

George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd for the extract from The Blackcoated Worker: A Study in Class Consciousness by David Lockwood ( 1958).

Basil Blackwell Ltd for the table from Profiles of Union Growth: A Comparative Statistical Portrait of Eight Countries by G. S. Bain and R. Price ( 1980).

British journal of Industrial Relations for the extracts from 'Who is a White-Collar Employee?' by G. S. Bain and Robert Price, vol. X, no. 3 (November 1972).

The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office for the extracts from New Earnings Survey and Employment Gazette.

Counter Information Services for the extract from The New Technology (1979).

Andre Deutsch Ltd for the extracts from The New Industrial State by J.K. Galbraith (1967).

The Editor, Industrial Relations journal (University ofNottingham) for the extracts from 'Attitudes to Work and Trade Unionism Among White-Collared Workers' by D. E. Mercer and D. T. Weir, vol III (summer 1972).

Harvard Business Review for the extract from 'White Collar Unions are Different' by George Strauss (September/October 1954), copyright © 1954 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, all rights reserved.

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Acknowledgements

The Harvester Press Ltd for the extract from The Division of Labour: The Labour Process and Class Struggle in Modem Capitalism by Andre Gorz (1976).

Heinemann Educational Books for the extracts from Reluctant Militants by B. C. Roberts, Ray Loveridge and John Gennard (1972); from The Fragmentary Class Structure by K. Roberts, F. G. Cook, S. C. Clark and Elizabeth Semeonoff (1977); and from Social Stratification and Trade Unionism by George Bain, David Coates and Valerie Ellis (1973).

Hutchinson Publishing Group Ltd for the extracts from The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies by Anthony Giddens (1975).

Mrs Winifred Klingender for the extract from The Condition of Clerical Labour in Britain by the late F. D. Klingender ( 1935).

The MIT Press for the extracts from Work in America (1973).

Monthly Review Press for the extract from Labor and Monopoly Capital by Harry Braverman, copyright © 1974 by Harry Braverman.

Oxford University Press Inc for the extracts from White Collar: The American Middle Classes by C. Wright Mills, copyright© 1951 by Oxford University Press Inc, renewed 1979 by Yaraslava Mills.

Radical America for the extract from 'The Professional-Managerial Class' by Barbara and John Ehrenreich, vol. II, no. 2 (March­Aprill977).

Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd for the extracts from 'White-Collar Unionization: A Conceptual Framework' by R. M. Blackburn and K. Prandy in Britishjoumal of Sociology, vol. XVI, no. 2 Uune 1965); from 'On the Economic Identification of the New Middle Class' by G. Carchedi in Economy and Society, vol. 4 (May 1975); and from 'What is to Be Known? The Structural Determination of Social Class' by Terence]. Johnson in Economy and Society, vol. 6 (March 1977).

Social Science Research Council for the extracts from a paper by Jean-Daniel Reynaud, included in Social Stratification and Industrial Relations, the proceedings of an SSRC conference, edited by M. Mann (1969).

Sociological Review for the extract from 'Class Militancy and Union

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Acknowledgements

Character: A Study of the Association ofScientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs' by R. Carter in vol. 27 (May 1979).

Sociology, journal of the British Sociological Association, for the extract from 'Approaches to the Study of White-Collar Unionism' by Rosemary Crompton, vol. X (September 1976).

Spokesman for the extracts from The New Working Class by Serge Mallet (1975), and Editions du Seuil, Paris, for the extract (translated by Richard Hyman) from La Nouvelle Class Ouvriere (1963).

Verso Editions and New Left Books for the extracts from Late Capitalism by Ernest Mandel (1975); from Classes in Contemporary Capitalism by Nicos Poulantzas (1975); and from Class, Crisis and the State by Erik Olin Wright (1978).

C. & J. Wolfers Ltd for the extract from The Sociology of Industrial Relations by V. L. Allen.

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