Exiting the Factory (Volume 2)
Strikes and Class Formation beyond the Industrial Sector
By Alexander Gallas
Published
Jul 1, 2024Page count
292 pagesISBN
978-1529242225Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Jul 1, 2024Page count
292 pagesISBN
978-1529242232Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Jul 1, 2024Page count
292 pagesISBN
978-1529242232Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University Press
Exiting the Factory (Volume 2)
In this important book, Gallas asks what strikes in non-industrial sectors mean for class formation, a critical question which has been largely unaddressed by the current literature on global labour unrest.
A mapping of strikes around the world and case studies from Germany, Britain and Spain cast new light on class relations, struggles around waged and unwaged work and labour movements in contemporary capitalism to bring class theory back to labour studies.
This is a valuable resource for academics and students of employment relations, sociology and politics.
This second volume focuses on empirical strike research.
“Focusing on non-industrial strikes, Gallas rejects both the nostalgia of ‘regulated’ capitalism, shared by many trade unionists, and the fashionable claims that the working class has vanished. He shows that working people are developing class consciousness through collective action and points to a bright future. Reading this essential book may be the first step to support its emergence.” Nicolas Pons-Vignon, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland
Alexander Gallas teaches in the Department of Political Science at the University of Kassel in Germany.
PART I: Strike Research from a Global Angle: Collective Action in Response to the Crisis of Neoliberalism
1. Beyond Methodological Fordism: The Case for Incorporated Comparisons
2. A Catastrophic Disequilibrium: Neoliberal Capitalism in Crisis
3. Shifting Conditions of Struggle: The Service and Public Sectors in the Age of Neoliberalism
4. Outside the Factory Gates: Strikes in Non-Industrial Workplaces around the World
PART II: Strike Research from a Western European Angle: Class Formation in Non-Industrial Settings
5. Deindustrialization and Dwindling Union Density: Labour in Western Europe
6. Union Competition and Militancy: The Railway Strikes in Germany
7. Adsorption and the Struggle against Austerity: The Junior Doctors’ Dispute in Britain
8. Changing Terrains: The General and Feminist General Strikes in Spain
Conclusion
Appendix A: Mapping
Appendix B: Background Interviews
