Japanization or the persistence of the liberal market? US employment relations in transition

Abstract

By exploring changes in US production and employment relations in the 1990s and the early 21st century, this article challenges prevalent theoretical paradigms. Both those who claim a path-dependent persistence of the US model and those who argue for convergence towards a best practice do not properly understand the transformation of US production and employment relations. This article claims that this American transformation is neither convergence nor a path-dependent persistence of the traditional model, but the creation of a new divergence, different from those of countries like Japan and Germany. This divergence is not predetermined by culture and institutions, but is produced as a consequence of politics among reflexive agents.