ILPC 2027

Summary

This study applies a critical realist lens to examine acts of resistance by members of the National Union for Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) during a recent, high-profile dispute over London Underground’s restructuring strategy. The research focuses on unpicking the way contextual forces shape worker resistance during workplace disputes.  

Prior research about worker resistance can be classified into three main theoretical streams. Social constructivists examine resistance at a subjectivity level, often (but not always) by drawing on Foucault (1977). Resistance is viewed as a discursive practice, ‘identity working’, and emerges from a perceived subjective threat to individual identity (Knights and McCabe, 1998, 2000; Willmott, 2005). Another stream is underpinned by Marxist labour process theory and views resistance as stemming from broader systemic class conflict and inherent antagonism between labour and capital at the point of production over the distribution of wages and profits (Braverman, 1974; Cohen, 1987; Brown, 2014). A third, underused avenue for analysing resistance is grounded in critical realism (Bhaskar, 2014). In contrast to social constructivists and Marxist LPT, critical realists assume that agency and structures are discrete/relatively autonomous, but that the existence of the latter is shaped by the actions of the former (Fleetwood, 2014; Thompson and Vincent, 2010). The analysis focuses on mapping out the multiple (often hidden) structural mechanisms shaping observable patterns of events and actions (e.g., concrete employee resistance) and exploring their connections by uncovering underlying dynamics of cause and effect and intersection with contextual factors (see Bélanger and Edwards, 2007, for a rare empirical example).

Methodology

Data collection involved conducting semi-structured interviews with 20 RMT members at different levels of the organisation (including shop floor members, workplace reps, branch officers and executive committee members). A triangulation approach was utilized (see Edwards et al. 2014) by combining interviews with multiple archival documents, including press releases, newsletters, pamphlets and letters.

Findings

The analysis illustrates how the ‘structured antagonism’ mechanism (Edwards 1990: 126), fused with a variety of overlapping contextual causal forces, to create a complex multi-layered pattern of resistance by RMT members at LU. The contextual forces are grouped into three main themes: union culture, the hegemonic power of neoliberalism, and variegated individual circumstances. RMT’s culture, influenced by factors such as working in the rail industry, was pivotal during the dispute. The forces shaping member perceptions of neoliberal power also featured prominently. Finally, employee resistance was impacted by a conjuncture of individual circumstances, including, grade, age and family commitments. It is concluded that a critical realist lens offers a ‘fuller’ analytical picture of resistance (Bhaskar, 1998; Thompson and Vincent, 2010). Social constructivists and Marxist LPT are not as well-equipped analytically to adequately capture the interface between structure and agency, or between discursive and extra-discursive domains; regarding issues like worker resistance in the labour process (see Thompson and Vincent, 2010; Thompson and Harley, 2012).

Selected References

Edwards, P. K, O'Mahoney, J., and Vincent, S. (eds). (2014) Putting Critical Realism into Practice: A Guide to Research Methods in Organization Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fleetwood, S. (2014) ‘Critical realism and systematic dialectics: a reply to Andrew Brown’, Work, Employment and Society, 28(1): 124-138.

Thompson, P., and Harley, B. (2012) ‘Beneath the Radar? A Critical Realist Analysis of ‘The Knowledge Economy’ and ‘Shareholder Value’ as Competing Discourses’, Organization Studies, 33(10): 1363-1381.

Thompson, P., and Vincent, S. (2010) Labour process theory and critical realism. In: Thompson P, Smith C (eds.). Working Life: Renewing Labour Process Analysis. Critical Perspectives on Work and Employment. London: Palgrave Macmillan.