Who controls the workplace?

This chapter argues that there is little evidence in the historical development of job security regulations in Western Europe that would support the intelligent design versions of the varieties of capitalism (VofC) literature. In the VofC literature, job security regulations play an important role, but numerical flexibility is only indirectly the main concern. The contrast between intelligent design and evolutionary versions of the VofC literature reflects this crucial difference. While the intelligent design versions of the VofC literature are so ahistorical and decontextualized that they are unlikely to have much currency in a historical analysis, evolutionary approaches are the complete opposite. Most fundamentally, job security regulations concern the question of who is controlling the workplace. Even in the case of urgent business requirements, employers are expected to consider far-reaching organizational measures to avoid job losses before dismissing any employees.