Ideology and the end of institutional industrial relations: Evidence from the UK

Abstract

On the basis of recent survey evidence I argue that the UK is experiencing the end of institutional industrial relations. This marks a radical shift from the assumptions underpinning an industrial relations system. It may have profound implications for many other western countries. The ideas, or more accurately the ideology behind these changes is what travels quickest on the trade winds. In this paper I will summarize the material from earlier work (Purcell, 1993), add data drawn from the 1992 Company Level Industrial Relations Survey (Marginson et al., 1993) and seek to explain the withering away of collective bargaining in a growing number of establishments. The withdrawal of support by the holders of power in society and the discovery, or rather rediscovery, of ‘market individualism’, is seen as a critical state in the attack on institutional industrial relations.