Translating Commons’ ‘Industrial Goodwill’ Into Italian: Some Conceptual and Linguistic Considerations

Abstract

This paper examines the English-language term ‘industrial goodwill’, which was introduced into industrial relations discourse by John R. Commons in his book Industrial Goodwill (1919). The paper then goes on to investigate the challenges resulting from the attempts to translate this concept into Italian, as no equivalent exists in the target language which fully captures its English meaning. More generally, this case study is used to highlight the relevance of language in comparative research. This is particularly true in industrial relations, as concepts in this domain are frequently culture and context specific.