Exit or Voice: Two Paradigms for European Industrial Relations after the Keynesian Welfare State

It has become commonplace to discuss recent socioeconomic changes as a transition from Fordism to post-Fordism. Fordism is usually defined in terms of a combination of mass production, Keynesian macroeconomic management and social-democratic welfare provision. Themeaning of post-Fordism is rarely defined clearly. This, argues the author, is because on each dimension there are alternative possibilities of development, which he analyses in terms of the distinction between `voice' and `exit', suggesting strategies for maximizing the benefits of the former and minimizing the negative effects of the latter.