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Alan Fox in the shadow of the labour process

Niall Cullinane (Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK)

Employee Relations

ISSN: 0142-5455

Article publication date: 19 April 2024

Issue publication date: 30 October 2024

136

Abstract

Purpose

The 50th anniversary of Fox's Beyond Contract and Man Mismanagement coincides with another vital contribution to the sociology of work from 1974: Braverman's Labor and Monopoly Capital. This article analyses these two scholars' complementary approaches to job design and the extent to which Fox's ideas influenced subsequent labour process thought.

Design/methodology/approach

The article's methodological approach is a historiographical reading of Fox and Braverman's thought in the context of their times and later scholarship.

Findings

The article demonstrates that despite some noteworthy overlap with Braverman concerning scientific management, Fox's insights were marginal to later iterations of labour process analysis. It delves into the reasons for this relative neglect, providing an understanding of the dynamics at play.

Originality/value

This paper's value lies in its combined industrial relations and labour process historiography. It offers a fresh perspective on Alan Fox's relationship to the latter field of study.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge Andy Hodder and Michael Gold for their guidance, alongside the two helpful anonymous reviewers.

Citation

Cullinane, N. (2024), "Alan Fox in the shadow of the labour process", Employee Relations, Vol. 46 No. 6, pp. 1259-1274. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-07-2023-0384

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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