A che serve lo studio delle relazioni industriali?

Abstract

- This paper, starting from the decision of the Keele University's management to close the internationally renowned Centre for the Industrial Relations and, at the same time, to open a business school, presents a defense of industrial relations, both as an academic field of study, with its analytical and pedagogical value, and as a social and economic practice. In contrast with approaches which are mainly oriented to deliver prescriptive and predefined solutions, often without having a robust knowledge of the phenomenon under exam, industrial relations, with its critical, multi-disciplinary and multi-level approach, as well as a its multi-stakeholder perspective, proves its persisting analytical value and practical relevance to understand and govern the increasingly complex dynamics of labour and employment relationships in contemporary societies. It contributes as well to keep alive democratic citizenship rights at workplace level and in the wider society. In this sense, the defense of industrial relations means to support the reflexive and critical thinking and the academic freedom, traditionally recognized as the practical foundation of intellectual progress and of a healthy democratic life.