FORMS OF INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY: A COMPARISON OF PREVAILING APPROACHES

Abstract

One of the most notable outcomes of the late 196 Os international movement for participatory democracy has been the increased demand for expanded worker rights in decision making, both on the shopfloor and in the economy as a whole. Whether workplace reforms have meant co-optation or increased worker control has been hotly debated; equally controversial has been the question of the survival of workplace reforms in light of the growing economic crisisfacing all western industrialized nations. This paper explores the emergence and developments in industrial and economic democracy from an international perspective, focusing primarily on Western Europe and the United States. Similarities and dissimilarities between alternative forms of worker participation are discussed, and conclusions are drawn which view these new institutional arrangements for participation within the context of the wider issue ofrepresentation in society.