The (re)organisation of conflict at work: mobilisation, counter-mobilisation and the displacement of grievance expressions

The article provides a conceptual critique of Kelly’s mobilisation theory in terms of its analytical reach into debates regarding alternative forms of dispute, in order to develop more satisfactory ways to evaluate the meaning and significance of various acts of opposition in the contemporary workplace. Rethinking Industrial Relations reinvigorated its field, stimulating optimism, theoretical rigour and renewed faith in radical perspectives. However, most subsequent work has focused upon its implications for trade union organising and specific moments of collective mobilisation. Less well appreciated is the way in which mobilisation theory provides a theoretical foundation upon which to build a more expansive and detailed account of grievance formation within alternative trajectories of worker opposition in the context of state and employer counter-mobilisation