Globalization and class compromise: Political change in 15 advanced capitalist democracies, 1980--1999

This dissertation challenges conventional thinking about the political consequences of globalization. Much of the social science literature contends that globalization, by undermining the autonomy of national governments and enhancing the political power of transnational corporations, undermines the ability of democratic governance to produce “class compromise,” defined briefly as a political bargain between workers and corporations that results in an egalitarian class structure. Other scholars disagree. They maintain that, at least for the advanced capitalist democracies, the political effects of globalization have been significantly overstated. Drawing on this debate and the literature on comparative political systems and welfare states, this dissertation argues that the structure of a country's political system, not its level of global market integration, decisively affects many social and political patterns associated with class compromise. Several statistical models and data from 15 advanced capitalist democracies support this argument and related propositions. Overall, the findings of this dissertation make two important contributions to sociology. One, they help clarify several important debates within the globalization literature, and two they demonstrate a novel approach to studying political power within the advanced capitalist democracies.