"This article proposes a general theoretical framework for understanding the concept of “class compromise ” in terms of a “reverse-J ” model of the relationship between the associational power of workers and the interests of capitalists: increases in working-class power adversely affect capitalist-class interests until such power crosses some intermediate threshold beyond which further increases in working-class power are potentially beneficial to capitalists ' interests. This article argues that the reverse-J curve is itself the result of two distinct kinds of effects of workers ' power on capitalists ' interests: one, a negative effect, in which workers ' power undermines the capacity of capitalists to unilaterally make various kinds of decisions, and the second, a positive effect, in which workers ' power helps capitalists solve the various kinds of collective action problems they face. The concept of “class compromise ” invokes three quite distinct images."

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