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The Economic and Organizational Basis of Early United States Strikes, 1900–1948

The Economic and Organizational Basis of Early United States Strikes, 1900–1948 This paper examines the question of whether economic factors played an important role in determining strike activity in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. A review of recent research shows one author, David Snyder, concluding that economic factors mattered little during that period and that union organization and political variables explained much more; and another, P. K. Edwards, concluding the opposite. A retest of these authors' analyses, employing ordinary least squares regression and a variety of measures, suggests that Snyder's position is more sound. This author argues, however, that Edwards was correct in claiming that economic factors are major determinants of the extent of unionism as well as of strike activity, and thus one needs to apply a two-stage least squares test of the Snyder hypothesis. When that is done, the results show that economic variables are highly significant determinants of strike activity throughout the pre-1949 period, but for the subperiod 1921–29 noneconomic factors also play a role. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png ILR Review SAGE

The Economic and Organizational Basis of Early United States Strikes, 1900–1948

Skeels, Jack W.
ILR Review , Volume 35 (4): 13 – Jul 1, 1982
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Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 1982 Cornell University
ISSN
0019-7939
eISSN
2162-271X
DOI
10.1177/001979398203500403
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This paper examines the question of whether economic factors played an important role in determining strike activity in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. A review of recent research shows one author, David Snyder, concluding that economic factors mattered little during that period and that union organization and political variables explained much more; and another, P. K. Edwards, concluding the opposite. A retest of these authors' analyses, employing ordinary least squares regression and a variety of measures, suggests that Snyder's position is more sound. This author argues, however, that Edwards was correct in claiming that economic factors are major determinants of the extent of unionism as well as of strike activity, and thus one needs to apply a two-stage least squares test of the Snyder hypothesis. When that is done, the results show that economic variables are highly significant determinants of strike activity throughout the pre-1949 period, but for the subperiod 1921–29 noneconomic factors also play a role.

Journal

ILR Review – SAGE

Published: Jul 1, 1982

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