Can Workplace Democracy Transform Capitalist Society? Durkheim and Burawoy Compared

Comparisons between the theories of Emile Durkheim (The Division of Labor in Society, New York: Free Press, 1933) & Michael Burawoy (Manufacturing Consent, Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1979) on the link between work & a just social order are used to speculate on the question of whether democratization of the labor process can transform capitalist society. Several points of agreement & disagreement are discussed to advance understanding of the societal effects of changes being introduced at the point of production. It is argued that both the organizational perspective of Durkheim & the political economy perspective of Burawoy agree that the worker as moral factor is the key to how work life will articulate with life in society. 11 References. HA