LABOUR-POWER-POINTS
Labour-Power-Points is the paper I presented at the Twenty-First Historical Materialism London Conference, SOAS, 7-12 2024.ABSTRACT
Following
a brief outline of labour-power through Marx, Ciccarelli (2021) and my own
work, it is argued that the fragmentation of Marxist work on labour-power
undermines what is critical for its understanding in contemporary society: the
notion that labour-power is a ‘unity of the diverse’ (Marx). In Marxist theory
and empirical work today, labour-power as ‘unity’, as a unified social force
within humans, is sacrificed to its ‘diversity’. The result is theorisations
and empirical research that split the study of labour-power into seemingly
competing projects; either as arguments regarding whether the key focus should
be on the social production of labour-power through education and training, or
the social reproduction of labour-power through the
family and domestic labour. This paper argues that labour–power is better
viewed through its various diversities
that constitute its unity. Each of
these diversities is a spectral (but real) point in analysis of labour-power, but its unity blends the
pinpointing analysis of its diversities. These labour-power diversities are social
forms of its social re/production that are manifested in and through various
institutions in capitalist society. In this light, the following diversities of
labour-power and their institutional forms can be viewed directly through the
work of Marx: the social production of labour-power (e.g. in education and
training); its social reproduction 1 (e.g. through the family and domestic
labour); social reproduction 2 (e.g. through state pensions, unemployment
benefits); maintenance of labourers 1 (e.g. through consumption, food);
maintenance of labourers 2 (e.g. through health, and mental health services).
These labour-power diversities constitute a web of social forms
shaping labour-power in contemporary capitalism. The paper ends by exploring
some recent empirical examples illustrating how moving between the spectral
points of labour–power and its diversities solidifies their unity in
analysis.
The paper is now available at:
Paper
at Academia: https://www.academia.edu/124791066/Labour_Power_Points
and at:
Paper at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384971765_LABOUR-POWER-POINTS
Glenn Rikowski
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