The Transition to Labour Management as a Gestalt Switch
Gestalt Theory 1979, 1, 54-67
Abstract
The essay contains a highly speculative theory of social change together
with an application to the theory of labour management. It draws on previous
work done by the author (1972, 1978), partly in collaboration with
C.C.v.weizsäcker (Weizsäcker/Schlicht 1979).
In Part I the proposed theory of social change is developed in some detail. The
argument leads to the conclusion that society interpets its rules of social
organization and interaction as modifications of pure, or simple, or prototype
rules, rather than viewing the prevailing set of rules as a self-sufficient
archetype. This leads tothe proposition that continuous social changes might
entail discontinuous switches in the scheme of social organization. Since the
theory draws heavily on Gestalt psychology, these switches are termed Gestalt
switches; discontinuous changes in superstructure brought about by smooth
changes within the existing socio-economic framework.
Part 2 deals with an application of this general kind of argument to the theory
of labour management. Starting with a sketch of why labour immobility is a
precondition for the viability of labour management in a competitive economy, it
will be argued that technical progress will lead, through competitive pressure,
to just that: a de-facto-immobility of labour. Thereby, the stage is set for the
development of an efficient type of labour-managed organization which might
evolve from competition; but immobility of labour will have another important
consequence: The very notion of the firm will undergo a change, socially. People
will cease to interpret employment relations as exchange relations. Rather, they
will view the employment contract as establishing permanent rights and
obligations. Since workers are tied permanently to a firm, firms will be
considered as being constituted by their staff rather than by changing
physicalequipment, just in the same way as a firm is viewed socially as being
constituted by the owners of capital under capitalist conditions. Thus, firms
will become ultimately identified with their staff rather than with the
suppliers of capital, and the labour managed firm will appear as the
"natural" form of organization. Actual firms will be considered as
modifications of this pure form just in the same way as co-determination is
considered as a modification of the pure capitalist mode of organization
today.
Thus, this precarious kind of theorizing leads to the conclusion that strong
pressures are working towards a gestalt switch to labour management. The reader
is kindly rtequested, however, not to take those conclusions at face value,
since the foundations on which the theory is built are not excelling in
firmness. Take all this, please, as a Gedanken-experiment, as one particular
attempt towards a better understanding of social and economic change containing,
perhaps, some elements of a fruitful approach.
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