The Quality of Work Life Issue: The Corporation as the Next Political Frontier

Abstract

In the West, society has been on an inexorable journey from autocracy to democracy. Though there have been dark ages and various regressions there seems to have been a fairly consistent move toward granting rights and entitlements to individuals which were once denied them or solely retained by a governing élite. The struggle for man's individual freedom to create the kind of life he so desires first freed him from the authority of bandits and feudal lords, then the authority of established churches, then from assorted tyrants, then from a secular governing elite. Now the struggle has shifted to the corporation where labour unions and others have been struggling to establish workers' rights and entitlements vis‐à‐vis the organisation. The owners and managers have become the latest in a long line of dominant ruling forces which retain vestiges of the feudal master's powers over the individuals in their realms — modern organisations.

Citation

Nirenberg, J. (1986), "The Quality of Work Life Issue: The Corporation as the Next Political Frontier", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 27-36. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045069