The Labour Debate
An Investigation into the Theory and Reality of Capitalist Work
Michael Neary(Author)
Ana C. Dinerstein(Editor)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 20. December 2023
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-138-72576-8 (ISBN)
Description
This title was first published in 2002: In a world dominated by capitalist work (labour), working for a wage is the central unavoidable reality of modern social life, and yet,A the category of labour remains underdeveloped in social sciences. While waged labour in all its forms, including unemployment and mass poverty, has now invaded all aspects of social life, labour appears to have disappeared as a practice that constitutes modern society. This book revitalises labour as the fundamental constitutive principle of the social world, through a radical reinterpretation of Marx's social theory. Each chapter develops a central Marxist theme: the continuing centrality of work; class and classification; commodity fetishism and primitive accumulation; labour movements and the way in which labour moves; unemployment, subjectivity and class consciousness, and the new forms of resistance developed in Europe, Latin America and East Asia.A In conclusion, the editors give an account of what they consider to be the main critical and practical problems and possibilities confronting the concept and reality of labour in the 21st century.
Reviews / Votes
'...an interesting counter-point to the mainstream industrial relations literature...an excellent introduction and up-date on recent theoretical developments in Marxism...well worth reading and studying, and not just for nostalgic reasons.' Journal of Industrial Relations 'It can help a lot in the understanding of social relations dominating the dynamic of the global production process and its political implications.' CLR News 'This was a highly focused collection of chapters, deriving, as each does, much of their theoretical structures from detailed analysis of Marx and Marxism. It also possessed a stylistic uniformity.' Labour & IndustryMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
ISBN-13
978-1-138-72576-8 (9781138725768)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
Contents: From here to utopia: finding inspiration for the labour debate, Ana C. Dinerstein and Michael Neary. What Labour Debate?. Class and classification: against, in and beyond Labour, John Holloway; Class struggle and the working class: the problem of commodity fetishism, Simon Clarke; The narrowing of Marxism: a comment on Simon Clarke's comments, John Holloway; Capital, labour and primitive accumulation: on class and constitution, Werner Bonefeld; Labour and subjectivity: rethinking the limits of working class consciousness, Graham Taylor; Hayek, Bentham and the global work machine: the emergence of the fractal-panopticon, Massimo De Angelis; Work is still the central issue! New words for new worlds, Harry Cleaver; Labour moves: a critique of the concept of social movement unionism, Michael Neary; Fuel for the living fire: labour-power!, Glenn Rikowski; Regaining materiality: unemployment and the invisible subjectivity of labour, Ana C. Dinerstein; Anti-value-in-motion: labour, real subsumption and the struggles against capitalism, Ana C. Dinerstein and Michael Neary; Index.