Individualism and collectivism

Susan Ressia

Chapter 12 in Theories and Concepts in Work and Employment Relations, 2025, pp 107-115 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter focuses on the concepts of individualism and collectivism that occur within the employment relationship, and how their dominance has changed over time. The chapter provides definitions of both concepts and steps through a series of developments. The chapter denotes the shift from individualism to collectivism at the turn of the twentieth century; however, by the mid-1970s, the shift back to individualism took place due to increasing competition from emerging global markets. Neo-liberal reforms introduced to address these challenges had implications for industrial relations, as established collectivist approaches were said to inhibit the opening up of the free market economy. The restructuring of industrial relations frameworks took place, removing state intervention and devolving responsibility for the employment relationship to the firm level. As such, firm-based human resource management policies and practices became central to managing the employer–employee relationship, shifting to individualist forms of agreement-making. The chapter critiques the arguments for and against individualism and collectivism in managing the employment relationship and provides an explanation of the use of these concepts. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research and leaves a question: will the push towards individualism continue, or could we see a swing back to collectivist practices?

Keywords: Collectivism; Coordinated market economies; Individualism; Liberal market economies; Pluralism; Unitarism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035316199
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