A third cheer for empowerment? In search of a framework

Building on the arguments of an earlier paper which argued that “empowerment” and repression may go hand‐in‐hand, argues that the study of empowerment at work has been ripped from its contextual setting. Argues that studies of empowerment, if they are to be meaningful theoretically and useful practically, must locate and embed “empowering” initiatives within the wider context of their creation and propagation. Analysing institutions of industrial and civil decision making, concludes by making suggestions for the (re)development of empowerment in Britain.