How Necessary Are Unions? Insights from John R. Commons
Abstract: In this article, I assess Commons’s warning that union suppression endangers democracy. I do so by considering evidence from four viewpoints: (i) Commons’s view, (ii) the free market view, (iii) the power resource view, and (iv) the comparative sociology view. I expand on Commons’s insights with the question: What is democracy? My conclusion points to the reasonableness of his warning.