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“Rank and Filism” and Labour History: A Rejoinder to Price and Cronin
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008
Extract
Few theoretical paradigms in labour history are so deeply entrenched as “rank and filism”. It was only to be expected, therefore, that a frontal assault on its assumptions would provoke a vigorous reaction. The responses to my article by Richard Price and James Cronin thus offer a welcome opportunity to clarify the theoretical claims of “rank and filism” and reassess its empirical plausibility as an interpretation of British labour history. But as in any clash between rival theoretical perspectives, the points at issue in this debate extend beyond factual disagreements to the meaning of basic concepts and the standards of proof involved in their assessment, and neither party fully recognizes itself in the account of their ideas presented by the other. No accumulation of discordant facts can conclusively disprove a theory, as students of scientific revolutions have demonstrated, but readers will have to judge for themselves whether the counter-evidence I have presented amounts to minor discrepancies which can be satisfactorily accommodated within the assumptions of “rank and filism” or fundamental anomalies which necessitate the abandonment of the paradigm itself.
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- Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1989
References
1 For the concept of scientific paradigms and the ensuing debate, see Kuhn, Thomas S., The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (rev. ed., Chicago, 1970)Google Scholar; Lakatos, Imre and Musgrave, Alan (eds), Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (Cambridge, 1970)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Suppe, Frederick (ed.), The Structure of Scientific Theories (Urbana, IL, 1974)Google Scholar; Barnes, Barry, T.S. Kuhn and Social Science (London, 1982)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Hirst, Paul and Wooley, Penny, Social Relations and Human Attributes (London, 1982), pp. 265–7.Google Scholar
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8 Hyman, , Industrial Relations, p. 199Google Scholar; see also pp. 97–9 and 184–203.
9 The quotation from Granisci which illustrated this view was in fact taken from an earlier pamphlet by Hyman, on Marxism and the Sociology of Trade Unionism (London, 1972), pp. 43–44.Google Scholar
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21 In addition to the cases discussed in my original article, see Lovell, , “Sail, Steam and Emergent Dockers' Unionism”, especially p. 246Google Scholar: “[…] formal procedures, in them selves, did not threaten traditional regulatory practices. They could in fact contribute to their amplification and more general observance”.
22 Cronin, , “The ‘Rank and File’”, p. 82Google Scholar; Price, , “‘What's in a Name?’”, pp. 67–9; 72–3Google Scholar; Labour in British Society, pp. 100–101.Google Scholar
23 See Jones, Gareth Stedman, “‘Class Expression’ or ‘Social Control’? Reflections on Recent Trends in the Social History of Leisure”, in his Languages of Class (Cambridge, 1983)Google Scholar; and Thompson, F.M.L., “Social Control in Victorian Britain”, Economic History Review, 2nd series, XXXIV, 2 (1981).Google Scholar
24 Price, , “‘What's in a Name?’”, p. 69.Google Scholar
25 Ibid., p. 73.
26 Hyman, Richard, “Rank-and-File Movements and Workplace Organisation, 1914–39”, in Wrigley, C.J. (ed.), A History of British Industrial Relations, 1914–39 (Brighton, 1986), pp. 149–52Google Scholar; Undy, Roger, “The Devolution of Bargaining Levels and Responsibilities in the Transport and General Workers' Union 1965–75”, Industrial Relations Journal 5 (1975).Google Scholar
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28 Cronin, , “The ‘Rank and File’”, pp. 83–4, 87–8Google Scholar; Price, , “‘What's in a Name?’”, pp. 74–77Google Scholar; Zeitlin, , “From Labour History to the History of Industrial Relations”.Google Scholar
29 For recent discussions of the British literature, see McKibbon, Ross, “Why Was There No Marxism in Great Britain?”, English Historical Review (1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Reid, Alastair, “The Division of Labour and Politics in Britain, 1880–1920”, in Mommsen, W.J. and Husung, H.G. (eds), The Development of Trade Unionism in Great Britain and Germany, 1880–1914 (London, 1985)Google Scholar; and idem, “Class and Organization”, Historical Journal 30 (1987).Google Scholar
30 Price, , “‘What's in a Name?’”, pp. 68–9.Google Scholar For a persuasive overview of the theoretical weaknesses of class analysis more generally, see Hindess, Barry, Politics and Class Analysis (Oxford, 1987).Google Scholar
31 Price, , “”What's in a Name?’”, pp. 63–5.Google Scholar
32 Ibid., pp. 63, 73, 75; Zeitlin, , “From Labour History to the History of Industrial Relations”Google Scholar; “Industrial Structure, Employer Strategies and the Diffusion of Job Control in Britain, 1880–1920”, in Mommsen, and Husung, , Development of Trade Unionism.Google Scholar
33 See “From Labour History to the History of Industrial Relations” for a fuller exposition.
34 Ibid., pp. 160–9, 178; Price, , “‘What's in a Name?’”, p. 64.Google Scholar
35 Ibid., p. 28. For an interesting discussion of this point in the context of “the economic theory of politics” and “the positive theory of institutions”, see Moe, Terry M., “Interests, Institutions and Positive Theory: The Case of the NLRB”, in Studies in American Political Development, vol. 2 (New Haven, 1987), especially pp. 273–99.Google Scholar
36 Price, , “‘What's in a Name?’”, p. 76.Google Scholar For a useful survey of recent research on early trade unionism, see Rule, John (ed.), British Trade Unionism, 1750–1850: The Formative Years (London, 1988)Google Scholar; “While there might still be room for disagreement over what were the typical forms, objectives and contexts for eighteenth-century trade unionism”, the editor concludes, “there can be no doubt that by the time of the passing of the Combination Acts in 1799 and 1800, organised labour was an important presence in the manufacturing economy of Britain”: Ibid. p. 10.
37 Zeitlin, , “From Labour History to the History of Industrial Relations”, p. 178.Google Scholar
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