Rick Turner, Participatory Democracy and Workers’ Control
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10830207 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alex Lichtenstein (0000-0002-9928-4247) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue | 151 |
| Publication date | 2017-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | THEORIA An International Journal for Theory History and Foundations of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0495-4548 • E-ISSN: 2171-679X |
| Publisher | Berghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3167/th.2017.6415107 |
| OpenAlex | W2618789430 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 9 |
This article considers the contribution of radical South African philosopher Rick Turner to theories of ‘workers’ control’. Turner’s philosophical work, especially his book, The Eye of the Needle (1972), posited the workplace as a fundamental site of ‘participatory democracy’ and a space for the potential radical transformation of South African society. During the early 1970s, Turner’s philosophical writings, teaching at the University of Natal, and political activism in Durban helped galvanise a cohort of radical white students who joined in support of protesting black workers in the 1973 Durban mass strikes. The confluence of Turner’s ideas about workers’ control, the students’ activism, and the collective action of the black working class gave South Africa’s labour movement a radically democratic, shop-floor orientation that deserves a revival in the new South Africa
Citizen journalism · Democracy · Participatory democracy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · White (mutation · Gender Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · South African History and Culture
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |