현대 미국의 자본-노동관계(1930-70)

Abstract

The post-war U.S. capital-labor relations have recently been on debate. The debate is primarily focused on the historical significance of the relations, not on their practical mechanism, an amalgam of collective bargaining and Keynesian economic theory that took shape in the 1930-50 period. In my opinion, however, the way this mechanism was established reveals its historical significance.

It was initially a series of crises that forced both capital and labor to make concessions. The Great Depression and World War Ⅱ made the U.S. business community accept collective bargaining. The organized labor saw an explosive growth of its ranks, but soon after the war it had to retreat and drop its demand on curtailment of managerial prerogatives. By the late 1940s both capital and labor began to form a partnership; they came to the conclusion that a combination of high wages and high productivity would lead the U.S. economy to continuous growth and global hegemony.

Therefore, the course that capital and labor took in shaping the partnership implies transition from the persistent class conflict to the post-war compromise. The compromise is a corporatist one that successfully preserved economic principles and social hierarchy fundamental to capitalism.