Participation has become a buzzword and lost much of its impact. Nevertheless, there are enough arguments to revisit the concept and its use in social research. One of them is that it is part of a tradition of action and participatory research which acquired specific features in different parts...

Participation has become a buzz word in many an economic and social context. This however hides the fact that there is a great variety of different participative practices, both on micro and macro levels, practiced for very different purposes. Sometimes speaking of participation is just juggling...

This paper takes another look at the concept of employee participation in European Workplaces. It does so by combining a review of the research literature and case study material to describe contemporary practice inside enterprises, and documents the variety and differentiated forms of workplace...

The use of temporary agency workers is closely linked to the concept of numerical flexibility, entailing a need for additional staff in booms. However, previous research has also revealed a trend towards a more extensive and constant use of temporary agency workers. Even though the long-term use...

Using data from the German case, the paper examines a new form of client firms’ utilization of temporary agency work that is distinctly different from traditional forms responding to production problems. Client firms, particularly from manufacturing, increasingly use temporary agency workers...

The article deals with the problem of union representation in the low-pay-sector. Regarding especially (but not only) the situation in Germany, it claims a cultural gap between traditional unions and employees in the expanding precarious job sector. This is due to the difficult circumstances for...

This contribution deals with developments in German Trade Unionism since the world economic crisis of 2008/09. Internationally, the crisis management of the German metalworker’s union IG Metall is held in high esteem and regarded as a role model. It seems as if social integrative corporatism...

The present economic crisis has sparked a new debate in a wider political and academic public about the role of the state in advanced capitalist societies. The paper discusses this issue in a comparative perspective: How have different models of capitalism in Europe coped with major economic and...

This article addresses a key problem of the German system of co-determination that primarily relates to the changed economic framework conditions of work. It presents a find as a variant of democratic participation that could function as a hinge between direct participation and representative...

Exploring and exploiting the richness and reach of large scale action research projects is a challenge. This challenge focuses inwards as it addresses critical issues of enacting, managing and coordinating the actions of the project and engaging in the reflective processes of learning-in-action...