ABSTRACT

Most of the major advances in British pluralism in the 1970s may be identified, however, by a detailed examination of the principal approaches of two of three main theorists of the Oxford school: Clegg and Fox. The focus upon job regulation as the primary objective of trade unionism and as defining the scope of industrial relations would appear to span a number of diverse contributions to labour theory. The principal factors shaping variations in dimensions of collective bargaining structure were envisaged as: first, the structure and attitudes of employers' associations and management; and second, state intervention. Clegg's explanations for variations in union behaviour must be regarded, therefore, as an elaborate and in many respects original development of earlier work by Flanders and the Webbs rather than a minor modification or refinement of their central canons. The significance of level of bargaining, however, appeared of particular relevance for the theories of union government and workplace organization respectively.