Richard Hyman
{{Short description|British industrial relations expert}}
This article describes the British social scientist. For the American jazz pianist, see Dick Hyman.
Richard Hyman (born 9 July, 1942) is a British academic in the field of industrial relations.{{Cite web |title=Richard HYMAN personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/lvGiucA1s7aB37u9lxJocthWPdg/appointments |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last1=Frege |first1=Carola |last2=Kelly |first2=John |last3=McGovern |first3=Patrick |date=2011 |title=Richard Hyman: Marxism, Trade Unionism and Comparative Employment Relations |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2010.00845.x |journal=British Journal of Industrial Relations |language=en |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=209–230 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8543.2010.00845.x |issn=1467-8543|url-access=subscription }} Hyman is a Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics and a fellow of the British Academy. A conference was held in his honour by the British Journal of Industrial Relations (BJIR) in 2009.
Life and work
Hyman graduated from the University of Oxford with a bachelor's degree and a Ph.D. in 1968.{{Cite web |last=Science |first=London School of Economics and Political |title=Professor Richard Hyman |url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/management/people/emeriti/richard-hyman |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=London School of Economics and Political Science |language=en-GB}} His doctoral thesis on the evolution of trade unions in the United Kingdom was the basis for his 1971 book The Worker's Union.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/784577123/?match=1&terms=%22Richard%20Hyman%22%20professor | title=Uniting Workers | first=George | last=Pritchard | newspaper=The Birmingham Post | date=March 6, 1971 | page=11}} As a student of Allan Flanders and Hugh Clegg, he developed a critical perspective on the Oxford School of pluralism that they espoused, challenging the theoretical foundations within the field.{{Cite book |last=Hyman |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fTyvCwAAQBAJ |title=Industrial Relations: A Marxist Introduction |date=1975-12-01 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-15623-8 |language=en}}
In 1968, Hyman became a reader and later as a professor of industrial relations at the University of Warwick. In 2000 he was made Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics.{{Cite web |title=Papers of Professor Richard Hyman |url=https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/HYM |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk |language=en-gb}} He is the author of numerous books and essays (including Strikes and Industrial Relations: A Marxist Introduction), writing extensively on the themes of industrial relations, industrial conflict, collective bargaining, trade unionism, and labour market policy.{{Cite news |date=2012-07-08 |title=Feature Essay: The books that inspired Richard Hyman: "As an act of provocation I chose the Marx-Engels selected works as a school prize" |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2012/07/08/academic-inspiration-richard-hyman/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20210513001039/https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2012/07/08/academic-inspiration-richard-hyman/ |archive-date=2021-05-13 |access-date=2025-04-15 |work=LSE Review of Books |language=en-US}}[https://www.ineteconomics.org/research/experts/rhyman Institute for New Economic Thinking]{{Cite journal |last=Gall |first=Gregor |date=2012-02-15 |title=Richard Hyman: An assessment of his Industrial Relations – a Marxist introduction |url=https://researchprofiles.herts.ac.uk/en/publications/richard-hyman-an-assessment-of-his-emindustrial-relations-a-marxi |journal=Capital and Class |language=English |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=135–149 |doi=10.1177/0309816811431874 |issn=0309-8168|url-access=subscription }} His comparative study Understanding European Trade Unionism: Between Market, Class and Society is widely cited by scholars working in the field.{{Cite journal |last=Nieminen |first=Ari |date=1999 |title=Review of Changing Industrial Relations in Europe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4201137 |journal=Acta Sociologica |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=170–172 |doi=10.1177/000169939904200207 |jstor=4201137 |issn=0001-6993}}{{Cite book |last1=Baccaro |first1=Lucio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_y47DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 |title=Trajectories of Neoliberal Transformation: European Industrial Relations Since the 1970s |last2=Howell |first2=Chris |date=2017-10-12 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-54617-1 |language=en}} He is the founder and former editor of the European Journal of Industrial Relations.{{Cite web |date=2025-03-15 |title=European Journal of Industrial Relations |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ejd |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Sage Journals |language=en}}
Whilst Hyman's primary impact has been on theoretical approaches to industrial relations, his influence has extended to practitioner audiences. International organisations that have sought his collaboration include the International Labour Organization in Geneva, the European Union and the European Trade Union Institute.{{Cite web |last=Science |first=London School of Economics and Political |title=Revolutionising the study of industrial relations |url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/Research/research-impact-case-studies/revolutionising-study-industrial-relations |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=London School of Economics and Political Science |language=en-GB}} He has given presentations to conferences and congresses organised by a wide range of European bodies, including the German Trade Union Confederation, IG Metall, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the General Confederation of Greek Workers and the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers.
Hyman was involved in the left-wing British student movement and now identifies as an independent leftist.[http://www.igmetall-kurswechselkongress.de/expertenportal/richard-hyman/ IG Metall: Autorennotiz] In May 2009, the British Journal of Industrial Relations (BJIR) held a conference in his honour. In 2020, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.{{cite web|access-date=2020-10-15 |publisher=British Academy |title=Fellows: Richard Hyman |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/fellows/richard-hyman-fba/}}
Selected writings
- Strikes (1972)
- Industrial Relations: A Marxist Introduction (1975)
- (Ed. with Wolfgang Streeck): New Technology and Industrial Relations (1988)
- The Political Economy of Industrial Relations (1989)
- Understanding European Trade Unionism. Between Market, Class and Society (2002)
- Trade Unions in Western Europe: Hard Times, Hard Choices (with Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick) (2013)
- Democracy in trade unions, democracy through trade unions? (2018, in: Economic and Industrial Democracy)
- Concise Introduction to Employment Relations (2025)
Literature about Richard Hyman
- Symposium in Honour of Richard Hyman. In: British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 49, Issue 2, June 2011, pp. 209–410
- Carola Frege, John Kelly and Patrick McGovern: Richard Hyman: Marxism, Trade Unionism and Comparative Employment Relations. In: British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 49, Issue 2, June 2011, pp. 209–230
- Gregor Gall: Richard Hyman: An assessment of his Industrial Relations: A Marxist Introduction. In: Capital & Class, Vol. 36, Issue 1, February 2012, pp. 135–149