Industrial Relations in Britain

Abstract

OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS academic social science has seen the growth of hybrid fields that have challenged the position of such established dis ciplines as sociology, political science, economics, psychology, and history. Criminology, media studies, and industrial relations now compete favoura bly for resources, students, and influence. Their claims of practical relevance have not been lost on policy makers, job seekers, and those who hold the purse strings for higher education. The promise of combining academic rigour with practical solutions to contemporary problems, as well as the prospect of providing a training ground for fast growing professions, has given these and other hybrids a privileged position in many universities, to the conster nation of those in traditional fields. The latter have responded by defending the traditional academic division of labour, as their students stream elsewhere, or remodelling their programs to win back students with the promise of relevance and jobs. Whatever the choice, it does not take long to learn that hybrid disciplines are not without their problems. Perhaps most fundamental is the promise to provide theoretically sound explanation and practical guidance in day-to day conduct, to provide both text book and cook book in the same package. Hybrid departments try to deal with the problem by hiring both researchers and practitioners, who, whether or not they talk to one another (and my experience is that they do not), at least reflect the diverse leanings of the field. But this only displaces the problem and invites endless debates about whether