Workers, unions, and democracy

a bibliographical essay on union democracy

Abstract

In a discussion of main sociological theories on union democracy, the article examines the origins of this issue in the pioneer works of such social scientists as S. E. B. Webb and Robert Michels. Today’s main sociological currents are also analyzed, including the contributions of Lipset, Warner, and Edelstein, of Marxism, and of those theoreticians who see union democracy as a question of representivity. Both positive and negative aspects of the various theories are underscored as well.