ABSTRACT
Textile production is a social activity. As such, it is embedded in an institutional framework. 1 This chapter will discuss those institutions formed by and reproduced by the direct producers: guilds and trade unions. Commenting on industrial relations research, Richard Hyman has defined comparison as 'the systematic cross-analysis of phenomena displaying both similarities and differences'. 2 However, the empirical basis for this chapter is mainly the national overviews in the present volume. Naturally, the focal points of these overviews were chosen by their respective authors - and not necessarily with the primary focus on cross-analysis of guilds and trade unions. For this reason alone, if not for others, this chapter makes no claim to be comparative in the meaning above. The ambition is more limited: to present questions of guilds and trade unions across the global textile industry in a more or less systematic way, highlighting both common issues and important differences.
