Participatory and Workplace Democracy: A Theoretical Development in Critique of Liberalsim - Hardcover

Mason, Professor Emeritus Ronald

9780809309924: Participatory and Workplace Democracy: A Theoretical Development in Critique of Liberalsim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0809309920 ISBN 13: 9780809309924

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982

The times demand action and reaction, but not despair,” contends Ronald M. Mason in this soundly constructed argument that all should have more control over their lives and that this control should be exercised not only in the home and during hours of leisure but in the workplace as well.

Mason indicts liberalism, theoretically an ally of democracy, as the chief culprit in de�priving us of a voice in the workplace, the place where most of us spend nearly a third of our days. The problem is that classical lib�eralism divides life into two spheres: the so�cial and the political. Life, liberty, and prop�erty everything, in fact, that the human being values fall into the social orb. There�fore liberalism champions the social sphere, scorns the political. To the liberal, the politi�cal sphere is sordid, a thing to be avoided except by those few governmental represen�tatives we elect to protect life, liberty, and property.

Yet the political constitutes a major por�tion of our lives, and, according to Mason, it is at the level of the workplace that we can acquire the habits of participation that will carry over into our community lives as well. He demonstrates that people who participate in decision making in the workplace are likely to enter the governmental arena. Participation creates involvement; nonpar�ticipation breeds apathy. Thus, Mason ar�gues, democratic participation in the work�place benefits both the individual and the community.

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About the Author:

Ronald M. Mason is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Southern Illinois Univer�sity Carbondale.

Review:

Clear, logical and convincing. Mason develops his theory cogently, with excel�lent supporting data, and also addresses potential criticism from opposing view�points. This work would make an excel�lent classroom textbook, workshop man�ual, or study-group resource because it presents an understandable theory as well as a concise history of both the theory and practice of workplace democracy.”

Gloria Allen, Workplace Democracy

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