Labor sector/by Neil W. Chamberlain and Donald E. Cullen

In preparing this revision of The Labor Sector, we attempted particularly to cope with the problem of fragmentation that plagues the shady of industrial relations It is true that much of the fascination of this subject stems from the fact that there is no all-embracing theory of industrial relations. Instead, both the scholar and practitioner in this field must draw upon the insights of all the social sciences history, economics, political science, sociology, psychology-and frequently upon the pages of the daily newspaper as well. Yet, to the reader of a survey text, this rich diversity can also be a source of confusion if he sees no relationship among such subjects as occupational mobility, personnel management, and the Taft-Hartley Act.

To provide this needed integration, we have adopted several devices. First, a new opening chapter presents an overview of the labor sector to help students see, from the outset, the general shape of the terrain they will be exploring. Second, we have retained the stress of the first edition upon the household as a decision making unit, a fact which is crucial to an understanding of both the causes and effects of nearly every labor problem in our society. Third, we have argued that most of the controversial issues in the labor field are variations on one or more of the following themes: the debate over how a modern society should resolve the clash of consumer and producer interests; the search for the ideal mixture of security and incentives in the labor sector; and the question of whether a modern economy can simultaneously enjoy full employment, stable prices, and a minimum of government controls. These themes are neither original nor mutually exclusive ideas, but we believe they pose the questions of primary interest to most students of industrial relations and will, therefore, provide a useful frame of reference.

This edition also includes, of course, the significant developments in the labor sector since the early 1960s, when the first edition was written. In reviewing those eventful years, we were struck by the importance but also the difficulty-of por traying the labor sector as having reached a stage in which, in certain basic re spects, it is now poised between the worlds of the known and the unknown, the old and the new.