Working-class power, capitalist-class interests, and class compromise

This article proposes a general theoretical framework for understanding the concept of "class compromise" in terms of a "reverse-J" model of the relat ionship between the associational power of workers and the interests of cap italists: increases in working-class power adversely affect capitalist-clas s interests until such power crosses some intermediate threshold beyond whi ch further increases in working-class power are potentially beneficial to c apitalists' interests. This article argues that the reverse-J curve is itse lf the result of two distinct kinds of effects of workers' power on capital ists' interests: one, a negative effect, in which workers' power undermines the capacity of capitalists to unilaterally make various kinds of decision s, and the second, a positive effect, in which workers' power helps capital ists solve the various kinds of collective action problems they face.