Employment relations in a changing society : assessing the post-fordist paradigm / edited by Luis Enrique Alonso and Miguel Martinez Lucio

Employment Relations in a Changing Society evaluates three decades of change in employment and social regulation, questioning the paradigm of Post-Fordism as a stable development within contemporary capitalism. Bringing together leading commentators in the United Kingdom and Spain, it critiques the assumption that there is a new stable, decentralized regime of employment that is post-bureaucratic and flexible. It focuses on three key areas: the extent to which labour markets and organizational forms have changed; the role of the language and practice of the state as a labour market player and employer in influencing such developments; and the changes in terms of working relationships given the context of changing gender, family structures and forms of consumption; the re-shaping both politically and institutionally of labour collectivism. The book argues that the current state of play is unstable and fundamentally fraught with conflict and tension. The political landscape may be changing but the underluing tensions within the new rhetoric and practices of flexibility are as intense as ever. What is more, the book points to ironic developments in the manner in which bureaucracy re-asserts itself.