Modes of class formation.

Two quite different approaches to the problem of class formation were examined. Implicit in the first, used primarily by social historians, is the notion that the presence or absence of a predisposition to radicalism is the main determinant of organized working-class behavior. Here, class formation involves the development of revolutionary class consciousness. The second, used primarily by political scientists, employs deductive models to analyze class formation as a routine problem in collective organization. By placing the insights provided by the social history perspective into a rational choice framework, the existence of contrasting modes of class formation is hypothesized. Differences in labor militancy serve as the key intervening variable between more particularistic and more universalistic labor movements. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century aggregate cross-sectional data from 14 capitalist democracies is used to examine the relationship between contemporary labor militancy and particular historical structural conditions. Distinct modes of class formation are the product of specific structural characteristics. Labor movement particularism, as represented by higher strike rates in recent years, is strongest where the lag between democratization and industrialization is minimal and industrialization commenced relatively early,, while greater time between democratization and industrialization and late industrialization are associated with low militancy and solidaristic labor movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]