ABSTRACT
For a century and a half, conservative politicians, social reformers and labour militants have been studying workers’ movements in other countries, either to stave off the danger of ‘social unrest’ or to promote social change. Since the 1970s the number of contributions to comparative labour history has increased by leaps and bounds, perhaps influenced by the globalization of the world economy. A historian may have various reasons for comparing instances, and there are therefore different types of comparison as well. Although there is no consensus concerning their classification, the authors distinguish three logical levels: contrasting, testing and incorporating comparisons. Incorporating comparisons use the hypotheses tested as the basis of a causal narrative that tries to expose the relationship between developments in different countries or regions. Once a hypothesis concerning the causal configuration has been formulated, a sample of instances has to be selected. The sample has two important characteristics in the research design: size and composition.
