Union sociology

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Trade union sociology, like party sociology, is a branch of organizational sociology . But while this is more interested in formal structures and their consequences, trade union sociology deals with the socio-political functions of mass organizations and with the relationship between leadership and members in the tense relationship between bureaucracy and democracy. Its founders are Robert Michels and Seymour Martin Lipset .

Origins

The German sociologist Michels, in his classic study “On the Sociology of the Party System” (1911), examined both the social democracy and the unions allied with it, and as a result formulated the “iron law of the oligarchy ”. Its core says: Every mass organization tends to " rule the elected over the voters, the commissioner over the clients, the delegates over the delegates". As a result, the members get irreversibly dependent on the leaderships due to organizational and political constraints on centralization and oligarchization; Because for the functioning of large organizations, specialist knowledge, division of labor management, hierarchy of competencies, central management and quick decisions are inevitable.

Together with two colleagues, the American sociologist Lipset critically examined Michels 'thesis in a later study (1956) on the American typographers' unions ( International Typographic Union ) and their democratic constitution ( Union Democracy ). Their finding: Under specific conditions, such as the existence of a trade union two-party system, the “iron law of the oligarchy” can be overridden. In contrast to Michels, whose idea of democracy is based on the ideal of an identity between the rulers and the ruled, American sociologists understand democracy as a system of rules for the selection of management staff with organized opposition or faction formation.

Further development

Theodor Cassau, Adolf Weber and Goetz Briefs contributed to trade union sociology in Germany before the Second World War . Briefs also submitted important work on this subject after the Second World War. In addition to him, Theo Pirker , Joachim Bergmann , Walther Müller-Jentsch and Wolfgang Streeck determined trade union sociology in the Federal Republic of Germany with their publications. One of their main themes is the momentous tension that the trade unions have to resolve through their involvement in economic control processes ( income policy , tripartism , neocorporatism ). Characteristic for this are the dilemmas of trade union mass organizations resulting from the conflicting requirements of "membership interests and system constraints" (Bergmann / Jacobi / Müller-Jentsch) and "membership logic and influence logic" (Schmitter / Streeck).

As important actors in economic and working life, the trade unions are also the subject of research in economic, industrial and company sociology. The boundaries are fluid. Politological association research also deals with the trade unions.

literature

The classics

  • Robert Michels: On the sociology of the party system in modern democracy . Reprint of the 2nd edition (1925), Stuttgart 1970.
  • Seymour Martin Lipset / Martin A. Trow / James S. Coleman: Union Democracy: The Internal Politics of the International Typographical Union . New York 1956.

Other key works

  • Joachim Bergmann / Otto Jacobi / Walther Müller-Jentsch 1979: Trade unions in the Federal Republic . Vol. 1: Trade union wage policy between member interests and economic system constraints . 3rd edition, Frankfurt am Main 1979.
  • Joachim Bergmann (Ed.): Contributions to the sociology of the trade unions . Frankfurt am Main 1979.
  • Goetz Briefs: Trade unionism and trade union policy . In: Concise Dictionary of Political Sciences, Vol. IV, 4th edition, Jena 1927, pp. 1108–1150.
  • Goetz Briefs: Between Capitalism and Syndicalism. Unions at a crossroads . Bern 1952.
  • Theodor Cassau: The trade union movement. Your sociology and your struggle . Halberstadt 1925.
  • Thomas Haipeter / Klaus Dörre (eds.): Union modernization . VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011.
  • Walther Müller-Jentsch: Trade Unions as Intermediate Organizations . In: Cologne Journal for Sociology and Social Psychology, special issue 24/1982, pp. 408–432.
  • Walther Müller-Jentsch: Trade unions and the social market economy since 1945 . Reclam, Stuttgart 2011.
  • Theo Pirker: The blind power. The trade union movement in West Germany . Part 1: 1945-1952: From the 'end of capitalism' to taming the trade unions . Part 2: 1953-1960: Path and role of the trade unions in the new capitalism . Berlin 1979 (first 1960).
  • Wolfgang Streeck: Union organization problems in the welfare state democracy. Königstein / Taunus 1981.
  • Adolf Weber: The struggle between capital and labor. Trade unions and employers' associations in Germany . Tübingen 1954 (first 1910).
  • Hansjörg Weitbrecht: Effectiveness and legitimacy of collective bargaining autonomy. A sociological study using the example of the German metal industry . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1969.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert Michels: On the sociology of the party system in modern democracy . Kröner, Stuttgart 1970, p. 370f.
  2. ^ Philipp C. Schmitter / Wolfgang Streeck: The Organization of Business Interests. A Research Design to Study the Associative Action of Business in the Advanced Industrial Societies of Western Europe, Discussion Paper, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin 1981, p. 49 ff.