Disciplinary Practice

A Study of Railways in Britain, 1860-1988

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2375692
AutoresPatricia Klobus Edwards (0000-0002-2946-8577, University of Warwick), Paul K Edwards (Industrial Relations Research Unit, University of Warwick), Colin Whitston (0000-0002-8963-2201, Industrial Relations Research Unit, University of Warwick)
Año1994
Volumen8
Número3
Páginas317-337
Fecha de publicación1994-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaWork Employment and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0950-0170 • E-ISSN: 1469-8722
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/095001709483001
OpenAlexW2101041623
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas22

Does disciplinary practice by employers evolve over time? Not only conventional analyses of discipline but also Foucauldian theories assume that it does. Three features may be tested: the rate of discipline (which should fall); the types of behaviour punished (which should reflect the maintenance of routine); and the dynamics of the process (which should indicate a rationalised approach and the absence of disciplinary purges). Yet there are very few studies of the process. One previous study of the US textile industry found a remarkable continuity between the early nineteenth and late twentieth centuries. The present analysis confirms this finding in the very different context of British railways: though types of behaviour subject to discipline were as expected, the rates of action in the late twentieth century were similar to those of the nineteenth, and the dynamics of the process in both periods contradicted an image of rationalisation. The paper also examines links between formal rules and workplace practice. Some findings, for example the particular ways in which rules and practice were connected, are specific to railways. Others, notably the unchanging dynamics of discipline, have a more general relevance and challenge evolutionary assumptions

Action (physics · Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Discipline · Dynamics (music · Epistemology · Political science · Process (computing · Rationalisation · Relevance (law · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Computer Science · Globalization and Cultural Identity · History · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Management Theory and Practice · Philosophy