Varieties of Unionism?

Abstract

Scholarly evidence on the causes of state-run unemployment insurance development is sometimes contradictory and disconnected, preventing our understanding of union-run unemployment insurance development. A set-theoretic approach based on Qualitative Comparative Analysis ( QCA ) can model the business–labor interaction in the development of union unemployment funds, revealing two paths by comparing 11 sectors in 20th-century France. In skill-intensive, low-risk firms, union funds developed only when unionization rates were low. In small, low-risk factories, funds developed regardless of workers’ wages. The sociability fostered by small unions and factories allowed for social control, reducing psychological barriers to insurance scheme establishment. By comparing the business–labor combinations in different industries, this study demonstrates the “variety of unionism” hidden beneath the existing macro cross-national evidence.