ABSTRACT
The gradual transformation of industrial societies from their earliest elemental foundations has been accompanied by a phenomenon of great moment: the rise of associations of labour to a position of considerable prominence in the institutional structure of modern communities. Accompanying this ongoing adaptation in social institutions there has been a noticeable quickening of attention in academic circles themselves in the formulation of systematic models of trade union growth, structure and policy. In respect of the history of trade union thought, a fundamental and abrupt change in analytical focus accompanied the publication of John T. Dunlop's Industrial Relations Systems. Hence, trade unions were now construed as only one major party amongst the general ensemble of actors in the industrial relations system, concerned primarily with rule-making and being constrained in their activities by a number of environmental exigencies.
