Corporatism from the Firm Perspective: Employers and Social Policy in Denmark and Britain

Abstract

This is an evaluation of the impact of corporatist and pluralist employers' associations on firms' programmatic participation in active labour-market and social policies in Denmark and Britain. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with randomly-selected companies, it explores whether employers' associations engage differently with their constituent firms in corporatist and pluralist settings, and whether corporatist countries have an advantage in implementing active social policies. Variations in type of employer organization are found to constitute a determinant of cross-national differences in business attitudes towards the welfare state. Membership in a Danish employers' association confers an entirely different set of effects from membership in a British group and associational membership is a significant positive determinant of firm participation in Denmark but not in Britain. Active social policy has been viewed as a growth opportunity in a new issue area by the Danish ‘peak’ employers' association and its sectoral members. Although this association is losing some control over collective bargaining, its constituent associations have developed other functions, such as creating deliberative forums for managers, especially at the local level. The research also highlights the role of the state in the renegotiation and survival of corporatist institutional arrangements.