The Intellectual and Institutional Development of BUIRA: A 60 Years Retrospective

The foundation of BUIRA’s predecessor in 1950 signified an important turn in the academic life of Great Britain, as it set the proper bases for the development of the field of Industrial Relations in the country.

Although the study of industrial relations- related matters occupied the British literature since the 19th century, it was the establishment of BUIRA that gave the impetus for the further institutionalisation of the field.

However, BUIRA was not always perceived, either by its members or by the rest of the society, as a professional association actively representing a community of “Industrial Relations” scholars; the passage of BUIRA from an informal annual meeting, or “gentlemen’s club”, to a professional association occurred gradually.

In parallel to the evolution of BUIRA’s identity, its role also changed, from an association interested primarily in the promotion of its members’ interests to an association actively interfering in the public debate concerning the future of the field of Industrial Relations in Britain.

Operating, nowadays, in a rather hostile environment for the study of industrial relations, BUIRA seems to resist the degenerating trends in British academia, and to continue to be valued as an important institution for British Industrial Relations.

Dr. Horen Voskeritsian (April 2010)

Source:

Voskeritsian, H. (2010) The Intellectual and Institutional Development of BUIRA: a 60 Years Retrospective. BUIRA

The article is available in full here.

BUIRA Presidents and Officers 1950-2010