WEBER’S PROTESTANT WORK ETHIC AND UNIONS: ARE THEY COMPATIBLE?

Öz

From the 19th century onwards, the Western world witnessed the existence of two completely different dynamics at play: the rise of capitalism and the formation of unions. While the former was a result of the Protestant work ethic put into practice as argued by Weber, the latter was inspired by Marxist ideas, and they still exist to a certain extent together. Even though the existing literature on both the Protestant work ethic and unions is abundantly rich, the area of the relationship between the Protestant work ethic and unions is rather understudied. This essay aims to question the companionship of capitalistic Protestant work ethic and labour unions and argues that unionisation is in general not compatible with Weberian arguments as unions have a serious potential to undermine the justifications, principles and objectives of the Protestant work ethic, and they are products of completely different perspectives which share little in common

Anahtar Kelimeler

• weber
• protestant
• ethic

WEBER’IN PROTESTAN AHLAKI ILE SENDIKALARIN UYUMLULUĞU: MÜMKÜN MÜ?

Öz

19. yüzyıldan itibaren Batı dünyası, tamamen farklı iki yaklaşımın eşzamanlı olarak varlık gösterdiği bir döneme tanıklık etmiştir: kapitalizmin yükselişi ve sendikaların oluşumu. İlki, Weber’in savunduğu üzere Protestan iş ahlakının pratikte uygulanmasının bir sonucu olarak ortaya çıkarken; ikincisi, Marksist düşünceden ilham almıştır ve bu iki yapı, belirli ölçülerde günümüzde de bir arada varlığını sürdürmektedir. Protestan iş ahlakı ve sendikalar üzerine mevcut literatür oldukça zengin olmasına rağmen, bu iki olgu arasındaki ilişki büyük ölçüde ihmal edilmiş bir çalışma alanı olarak kalmıştır. Bu makale, kapitalist Protestan iş ahlakı ile işçi sendikalarının birlikteliğini sorgulamayı amaçlamakta ve sendikalaşmanın genel olarak Weberyen argümanlarla uyumlu olmadığı, hatta Protestan iş ahlakının gerekçelerini, ilkelerini ve hedeflerini zayıflatma potansiyeli taşıdığı savını ileri sürmektedir. Zira sendikalar, büyük ölçüde farklı dünya görüşlerinin ürünü olup, Protestan iş ahlakı ile çok az ortak paydaya sahiptirler.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Weber
• Protestan Ahlakı
• Sendikalar

Kaynakça

1. Asheenfelter, & Johnson. “Bargaining Theory, Trade Unions and Industrial Strike Activity”, The American Economic Review, vol. 59 (1), 35-49.
2. Colon, Alicia. Unions Need to Install a Work Ethic, Workforce Magazine, http://www.workforce.com/2000/12/07/unions-need-to-install-a-work-ethic/, December 7, 2000.
3. Furnham, Adrian. “The Protestant Work Ethic, Voting Behaviour and Attitudes to the Trade Unions”, Political Studies, vol 32 (1), 420-436.
4. Sherk, James. What Unions Do: How Labour Unions Affect Jobs and Economy, The Heritage Foundation, May 21, 2009.
5. Stark, Rodney. The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism and Western Success, New York: Random House Publishing, 2007.
6. Jones, Eric. The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
7. Klein, Philip. Amazing chart shows thanks to capitalism, global poverty rate is at its lowest rate in history, Washington Examiner, March 30, 2015.
8. Levine, Peter. “The Libertarian Critique of Labor Unions”, Philosophy and Public Policy Quarterly, Vol. 21 (4), Fall 2001, 1-5.

9. Spenkuch, Jörg. The Protestant Ethic and Work: Contemporary Evidence from Germany, SOEP papers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research, Berlin, November 2010.
10. Mayer, Gerald. Union Membership Trends in the United States, Washington DC: Congressional Research Service, 2004.
11. Lewis, Simon. How union membership has grown – and shrunk, The Guardian, 30 April 2010. Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto, London: Pluto Press, 1996.
12. Whimster, Sam. The Essential Weber, London: Routledge, 2006, 25-34.
13. Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, New York: Courier Corporation, 2003.