Patterns of Strike Activity

THIS chapter is mainly concerned with an assessment of Ross and Hartman’s conclusions in the light of more recent data and different measures of strike activity. As I have stated, Britain and Scandinavia will be the major focus of interest, but strike statistics from the United States and France will also be presented initially in order to place the former societies in a wider comparative perspective. The first task, however, is to outline briefly some of the persistent and seemingly intractable methodological problems which face the student of industrial conflict.