Escape from the Market: : Negotiating Work in Lancashire

Citation

Toms, J.S. (1998), "Escape from the Market: : Negotiating Work in Lancashire", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 195-197. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijm.1998.19.3.195.1

History is often thought to repeat itself, and the cry of “back to Victorian values” has perhaps had its most profound impact in the field of labour management. Its advocates might have benefited from the apparent association of such times with unregulated automatically functioning labour markets, which thereby provided an engine of growth for the world’s first and most successful industrial economy. Michael Huberman describes this association as a myth, and aims to show that from a relatively early period of the industrial revolution in Britain, employing and labouring classes sought mutually beneficial escape routes from market disciplines. This is an important thesis, and deserves serious attention.

In general it is presented successfully, not least because of the force and logic of a well‐structured argument, which is at the same time broad and interdisciplinary. Although the evidence is archival, the theoretical framework and conclusions are essentially a historical. Consequently debates of interest to labour management academics and practitioners, to economists, and to labour and economic historians, are simultaneously addressed. The book deserves a wide audience.

Despite the strength and appeal of an interdisciplinary approach, the usual principle of caveat emptor applies. Purist historians will be disappointed by the absence of anything but a superficial chronology, and even then only for particular sub strata. Typically each chapter tests an economic model against historical evidence. Selectivity of that evidence is therefore an obvious accusation; for example the pre‐1829 period relies heavily on generalising the experiences of a single a firm, M’Connel and Kennedy. Much reassurance is offered, however, by the strength of Huberman’s argument in defending the external validity of the research. Other readers may be frustrated by the author’s presumption of (in some cases advanced) prior knowledge of economic theory and econometric techniques, and perhaps irritated by unnecessary use of, and occasional inadequate definition of, algebraic representations. Although diagrams and tables sometimes lack clarity, the book is well organised and referenced, and certain sections aside, generally accessible.

The first argument put forward is that supply‐and‐demand driven, automatically clearing, labour markets disappeared quickly in the early days of the industrial revolution before 1830. Employers’ attempts to cut labour cost by substituting expensive male with cheap female labour failed, partly because supervisory authority in the factory threatened to breakdown. Internal monitoring problems and the need to avoid disputes and uncertainty prompted the emergence of a new solution within a sub section of the spinning sector. This was the “fair wage”, based on an economic model of the same name, but a historical fact none‐the‐less, strongly established and reinforced during the productivity advances of the mid‐Victorian boom and persisting in the evolution of bargaining institutions to the end of the century. The essence of the fair wage model, the organising principle of the remainder of the book, is that where monitoring is costly the firm can enhance worker effort, and profitability, by paying higher wages. As the gains of mutual co‐operation become apparent, they are institutionalised through time, in Lancashire’s case in the form of negotiated piece rates. In times of depression, such as the 1840s, compromise was facilitated, and risk to the individual worker minimised, by the cutting of hours through short time working, rather than adjustment to the rate. Compared to the small firm sector, where effort levels were easily monitored, larger firms therefore persistently paid above market rates.

The arguments presented will be familiar to those acquainted with Huberman’s journal output over the last ten years, much of which is reproduced here. Whilst there is no doubt that they deserve to reach a wide audience, heavy reliance on previously published articles is reflected in a somewhat unbalanced structure and subject coverage. For example chapters 2, 3 and 4 rely on the use of M’Connel and Kennedy business records, justified by the questionable claim that records for other companies are not available. Parliamentary Papers are extensively drawn upon as evidence, but only to 1853. Consequently the discussion of the second half of the century, which dominates chapter 8 and is influential in the concluding chapter, is conducted with reference only to secondary sources. This leads to some tenuous over‐generalisation on the preservation and adaptation of the fair wage through flexible institutions. Although Oldham had adapted in this direction by the 1890s, the starting‐point was never the fair wage model of the large fine spinning firms; the effort problem was kept in check by the prevalence of small firms before 1867. As firms increased in size, employers continued to refuse union recognition. From the union point of view, shop floor organisation was in any case problematic due to worker share ownership in the new “democratic” limiteds. These points are well documented in Parliamentary Papers, Reports and Minutes of Evidence on Labour Laws (1875), Depression of Trade and Industry (1886) and Labour (1892), and the business records of companies such as Sun Mill. Huberman’s interpretation is therefore only partial, although he correctly hits on the trade cycle as an important ingredient in the labour‐capital compromise. All in all, the story of the transition of Oldham from plant bargaining to regulation through lists is more complex and requires more detail than the treatment offered here.

Asymmetry of evidence and argument is carried forward into the concluding chapter. Conventional accounts of the decline of the industry, the inertia of the wage list system, the failure to introduce new technology ring spinning, and the increased vertical specialisation of the industry are discussed, even though they are neglected or considered only implicitly in the preceding eight chapters. Consideration of decline looks out of place in a book concerned with the period of the industry’s successful expansion. The reader might treat the last chapter cautiously as an epilogue and concentrate instead on the important conclusions presented at the end of each chapter. These are well researched and offer genuine insight into the workings of labour markets, in particular that norms and regulations can be positively associated with productivity. Such lessons are not as simplistic as the traditional myths of the industrial revolution suggest, which is why the serious economic analysis offered in this book is so valuable.