Japan works
Japan works: power and paradox in postwar industrial relations John Price
Publisher: Ithaca : ILR Press, 1997.
ISBN: 0801432855
DDC: 331.0952
LCC: HD8726.5
Edition: (alk. paper)
Summary:
The postwar miracle, says John Price, made Japan and its corporations
the toast of the global village, with scholars across the United
States pointing to Japan as the model for future enterprise. The
economic bubble burst, however, in 1989, and Price documents
difficulties that have surfaced since that time. In Japan itself, the
common self-assessment is "rich country, poor people," and government
reports regularly criticize society for being too enterprising. In
emulating Japan, Price asks, are we choosing a path Japan itself is
rejecting? Price probes the paradoxes in postwar labor-management
relations, particularly in the years between 1945 and 1975. Basing
his analysis on the history of labor in Mitsui's Miike mine in
Kyushu, Suzuki Motors in Hamamatsu, and Moriguchi City Hall, the
author questions the common interpretation that industrial relations
are based on lifetime jobs, seniority-based wages, and enterprise
unions. He also asks whether Japanese workers have been genuinely
empowered by the developments in recent years. In his description of
the rough-and-tumble world of postwar Japanese industrial relations,
Price pays particular attention to the Occupation period, the rise of
Shunto, the increase in industrial conflict before 1975, and the
transition to generalized labor-management cooperation. Relying on
French regulation theory and on Michael Burawoy's concept of
production regimes, Price suggests a revisionist interpretation of
the transformation of Japan's political economy, offering new
insights into the rise of lean production and the quality movement in
Japan.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (p. [295]-305) and index.
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