scholarly journals CAPITAL WITHOUT WAGE-LABOUR: MARX’S MODES OF SUBSUMPTION REVISITED

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Vrousalis
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Capitalist Mode ◽  
Wage Labour ◽  
Authority Relations ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Workplace Authority ◽  
Mode Of Production

Abstract:This paper argues that capitalist social relations do not presuppose wage-labour. The paper defends a functional definition of the capitalist relations of production, in terms of what Marx calls the ’subsumption of labour by capital’. I argue that there are at least four modes of subsumption, one transitional to and one transitional from the capitalist mode of production. Unlike the capitalist mode of production, capitalist relations of production are compatible with the absence of a labour market, and even with the absence of workplace authority relations. The ambit of capitalist domination is therefore broader than typically thought.

scholarly journals Empresas recuperadas por trabalhadores no Brasil e na Argentina

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Flávio Chedid Henriques ◽  
Michel Jean-Marie Thiollent
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
Capitalist Mode ◽  
Central Thesis ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Mode Of Production

Este artigo é resultado de uma tese de doutorado que teve como objetivo identificar inovações no campo da organização do trabalho produzidas pelas experiências de empresas recuperadas por trabalhadores no Brasil e na Argentina. A tese central defendida é a de que as limitações impostas pela hegemonia do modo de produção capitalista não encerram a possibilidade de construção de novas relações sociais de produção. Os cinco estudos de caso realizados e a experiência de levantamentos da totalidade das experiências de empresas recuperadas nos dois países forneceram elementos que permitiram problematizar em vários aspectos a organização capitalista do trabalho e, por meio de uma crítica prática, como sugere Rebón (2007), propiciaram a reflexão sobre a possibilidade de superação do modelo hegemônico, que não passa apenas pela inovação no interior das organizações, mas também da relação dessas empresas com seus territórios.Palavras-chave: empresas recuperadas por trabalhadores; organização do trabalho; autogestão; estudos organizacionais críticos. Abstract: This article is the result of a doctoral thesis which aims to identify innovations in the field of labour organization produced by the experiences of companies recovered by workers in Brazil and Argentina. The central thesis defended is that the limitations imposed by the hegemony of the capitalist mode of production do not dismiss the possibility of building new social relations of production. The five case studies and the experience with surveys of all experiences recuperated enterprises in the two countries provided information that allowed questioning in several respects the capitalist organization of work and, through a critical practice, as suggested Rebón (2007), propitiated reflection on the possibility of overcoming the hegemonic model, it is not only about innovation within organizations, but also the relationship of these companies with their territories. Keywords: companies recovered by workers; work organization; workers self-management; critical management studies.

Imagination as Crisis: Spinoza on the Naturalisation and Denaturalisation of Capitalist Relations

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Anna Piekarska ◽  
Jakub Krzeski
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Material Force ◽  
Capitalist Mode ◽  
The Subject ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Established Order ◽  
Mode Of Production

Abstract Many current Marxist debates point to a crisis of imagination as a challenge to emancipatory thoughts and actions. The naturalisation of the capitalist mode of production within the production of subjectivity is among the chief reasons behind this state of affairs. This article contributes to the debate by focusing on the notion of imagination, marked by a deep ambivalence capable of both naturalising and denaturalising social relations constitutive of the established order. Such an understanding of imagination is constructed from within the framework of historical materialism, and it draws on Spinoza and Marx, taking advantage of the similarities between the two with respect to the constitution of the subject. From this stems an investigation into the imagination as a material force that partakes both in subjection and liberation. This is further demonstrated in regard to juridical forms of subjectivation and the possibility of subverting these forms through imagination.

Elements of a Historical-Materialist Theory of Racism

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Camfield
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Relation ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Racial Oppression ◽  
Capitalist Mode ◽  
Historical Materialist ◽  
Materialist Theory ◽  
Mode Of Production ◽  
Social Property

This article aims to advance the historical-materialist understanding of racism by addressing some central theoretical questions. It argues that racism should be understood as a social relation of oppression rather than as solely or primarily an ideology, and suggests that a historical-materialist concept of race is necessary in order to capture features of societies shaped by historically specific racisms. A carefully conceived concept of privilege is also required if we are to grasp the contradictory ways in which members of dominant racial groups are affected by social relations of racial oppression. The persistence of racism today should be explained as a consequence of two dimensions of the capitalist mode of production – imperialism and the contribution of racism to profitability – and of a social property emergent from racism: the efforts of members of dominant groups to preserve their advantages relative to the racially oppressed.

Marx's ‘Truly Social’ Labour Theory of Value: Part II, How Is Labour that Is Under the Sway of Capital Actually Abstract?

2000 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Murray
Keyword(s):  
Value Theory ◽  
Surplus Value ◽  
Capitalist Mode ◽  
Social Forms ◽  
Wage Labour ◽  
The Social ◽  
Commodity Money ◽  
Theory Of Value ◽  
Mode Of Production

AbstractIn the first part of this two-part article, I argued that, unlike the asocial classical (Ricardian) labour theory of value, Marx's labour theory of value is a ‘truly social’ one. In fact, it is a purely social one. Marx's theory of value is nothing but his theory of the social forms distinctive of the capitalist mode of production. Thus, we may speak of those forms as value-forms, the (generalised) commodity, money (in its several forms), capital, wage-labour, surplus-value and its forms of appearance (profit, interest, and rent), and more. The labour that produces value, then, is labour of a peculiar social sort. This thought is entirely foreign to the classical labour theory of value, and, likewise, to Marxist accounts of value theory that mistake it for a radical version of Ricardian value theory. The gulf between the classical and the Marxian labour theories of value is wide.

scholarly journals Land Reform and Social Structure. A Sociohistorical Survey of the Impact of 1950’s Italian Land Reform on Property Relations and Class Formation in the Mezzogiorno

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-115
Author(s):  
Dana Domşodi
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Class Formation ◽  
Socioeconomic Condition ◽  
Capitalist Mode ◽  
Property Relations ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mode Of Production

Abstract This paper retraces the historical, structural, socioeconomic and political conditions of the Italian land reform, from the 1950’s, with a particular interest in the dynamic of class formation and property relations reconfiguration before and in the aftermath of the agrarian reform. We particularly discuss the class reconfiguration processes that ensued after the reform, displaying a particular interest in analysing the transformation of the class of absentee lords (latifundists) into a capitalist proprietary or entrepreneurial class, while rural landless or poor laborers - the new small owners - suffered further deterioration of their socioeconomic condition under the generalization of capitalist property forms, dissemination of market constraints and imperatives into Southern agriculture and the reconfiguration of social relations within the capitalist mode of production.

The Compatibility of Freedom and Necessity in Marx’s Idea of Communist Society

2021 ◽  
pp. 162-191
Author(s):  
David James
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Capitalist Society ◽  
Communist Society ◽  
Capitalist Mode ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practical Necessity ◽  
Historical Necessity ◽  
Mode Of Production

It is argued that the manner in which workers organize production and determine its goals explains how freedom and necessity are reconciled in Marx’s idea of communist society. Freedom and necessity are reconciled, moreover, in such a way that both self-realization and engagement in activities that possess some intrinsic value become possible, whereas this is not the case for workers in capitalist society. Communist society is explained in terms of a concept of freedom that incorporates three distinct types of freedom, whereas this concept of freedom is incompatible with the constraints generated by the capitalist mode of production and the social relations that emerge on its basis. The theme of how historical materialism is committed to the idea of historical necessity and seeks to explain this necessity in terms of practical necessity is then introduced.

Wage labourers in the fragmented labour market of the Gezira, Sudan

Africa ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbas Abdelkarim
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Wage Labour ◽  
The Social ◽  
Transition To Capitalism ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphThe Gezira scheme has been the focus of considerable attention in the literature of development in tropical Africa, especially during the colonial period. This was because the scheme represented one of the largest agricultural projects initiated by a colonial government. Views on the scheme have been divergent: Gaitskell (1959) describes it as a ‘story of development’ while Barnett (1977) calls it an ‘illusion of development'. The focus of the studies, which are extensive compared to other Sudanese studies, has largely concentrated on the relationship (or so-called partnership) between tenants and government, production requirements and output, as well as occasionally on various aspects of the tenants’ lives and activities. Wage labour, which is the main form of labour, has only been given scant consideration. Even so, the focus has been on its contribution to the total labour requisite and its supply and demand patterns. The social relations of wage labour, and especially relations between tenants and wage labourers as the essential core of production relations in the scheme, have been awarded very little attention. This is the main concern of this article. Compared with most labour-market studies, my intention is to go beyond a mere study of factors affecting supply and demand. In conditions of transition to capitalism and fragmented labour markets, the perception of the social and cultural aspects of labour is indispensable for an adequate understanding of the internal mechanisms of the labour market.

Massey, Marx, and human geography: disjunctures and provocations

2020 ◽  
pp. 194277862097309
Author(s):  
Kevin Cox
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Human Geography ◽  
Uneven Development ◽  
Capitalist Mode ◽  
The Social ◽  
Important Challenge ◽  
Mode Of Production ◽  
The Way

Doreen Massey made contributions that command the attention of historical geographical materialists. Although she was close to the left, her work strayed very significantly from Marx. Nevertheless, through her emphases she revealed, intentionally or not, important lacunae in the work of Marxist geography. Methodologically she was close to critical realism. She accepted the idea of separate structures of social relations and patriarchy was one that she emphasized. This put her at odds with Marxist views of the social process as constituted by moments that internalize one another. Her work on space was set in opposition to classical Marxist views, most notably in its insistent particularizing tendency as opposed to one that recognizes particularity but also the way in which it gets structured by the capitalist social process as a whole. This emphasis is also apparent in her work on uneven development where production and the contradictions entailed by the capitalist mode of production get neglected. Even so, in her emphasis on particularity, she provided an important challenge, not least for the way in which we approach questions of gender, the constitution of regions and countries, and the importance of the particularity of place for understanding uneven development.

scholarly journals Labour process theory and critical accounting: Conceptualising managerial control

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Branka Mraović
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Class Action ◽  
Process Theory ◽  
Managerial Control ◽  
Capitalist Mode ◽  
Corporate World ◽  
Labour Process ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Theory Of Value ◽  
Mode Of Production

This paper examines the need to limit managerial control in the corporate world, by using the contribution of the labour process theory and critical accounting, in which the theoretical complementarity of these two scientific disciplines is pointed out. Neither labour process nor accounting are mere technical phenomena, but should be placed in the totality of social relations, which means the context of alienating effects of the capitalist mode of production. Relying on the works by Braverman, Tinker and Thompson, this paper is the introduction to an interdisciplinary methodology based on Marx’s labour theory of value, and its goal is to provide a guide for working-class action to change society.

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