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History of the B ritish Industrial Relations Field Reconsidered: Getting from the W ebbs to the New Employment Relations Paradigm
Author(s) -
Kaufman Bruce E.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2012.00907.x
Subject(s) - industrial relations , field (mathematics) , historiography , collective bargaining , sociology , labor relations , political science , positive economics , economy , law , economics , mathematics , pure mathematics
S idney and B eatrice W ebb are commonly cited as the founders of the B ritish field of industrial relations. Are they, however, if the field is centred not on study of unions and collective bargaining but rather on the entire employment relationship? A ‘qualified yes’ answer is given; however, getting there involves major revision to the conventional historiography of the field. To illustrate, the article presents a traditional and revised family tree of British industrial relations. Numerous insights and implications follow.