Un patronat paternel

Abstract

Paternal Bosses. Paternalism cannot be reduced to merely a deliberate, Machiavellian strategy for exploiting the «workforce». An example from the Meuse valley shows that relations betwen employers and workers, often sharing the same social and geographical origins, are deeply ambiguous, since the management of these firms appeals as much to moral as to economie principles, a combination which can be effective and well adapted to a state of the labour market in which skilled workers occupy a strategic position.