Change in Trade Unions Since 1945: A Response to Heery and Kelly

Ed Heery and John Kelly's claim that the relationship between British trade unions and their members has passed through 'three discernible phases in postwar Britain' is a thought-provoking contribution which raises some important questions of both substance and method. This response addresses, first, their substantive case and presents an alterna tive cultural interpretation of the pivotal 'participative' middle period, before noting some issues of social science method arising from their handling of the historical material. With Paul Smith, I believe that it is impossible to disentangle the servicing relationship from the entire changing character of British unionism, over a fifty-year period, and that is the approach taken below.