For this reason, it is also legitimate to make the inverse inference: the nomination of an impartial arbitrator is always a sign that the conflicting parties recognize a certain reciprocal coordination. In voluntary English arbitration, worker and entrepreneur must subject themselves, by contract, to the decision of the arbitrator, who can be neither an entrepreneur nor a worker. Evidently, only the entrepreneurs' recognition of the workers' coordination could make them renounce the participation of entrepreneurs in the settlement of a conflict, and make them entrust it to an outsider.

XREF: Connects to coordination/collective action theory — the willingness to accept third-party arbitration reveals implicit acknowledgment of counterpart power.

Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simm…, loc. 5762