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Two Classes and One Vision?

Managers’ and Workers’ Attitudes Toward Workplace Democracy

University of Southern Maine

Workplace democracy has been advocated by labor as a means of worker empowerment and by management as an effort to improve productivity and quality. This article seeks to clarify this contradictory support through an analysis of American managers’ and workers’ attitudes. Class ideology and class experience are tested as factors that underlie attitudes toward three different forms of workplace democracy. Ordinary least squares regression and path analysis are employed in an analysis of national survey data from 1991. Class location is found to be a weak predictor, whereas class experience is a strong determinant. The findings indicate that American workers want more control once they get some influence over workplace decision making, highlighting a paradox behind the often narrow goals of managers. Implications are discussed vis-à-vis the labor movement and contemporary corporate participation programs.

Key Words: workplace democracy • worker participation • social class • political attitudes • class consciousness

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