Capitalism, Neoliberalism, and Unfree Labour

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 921-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Private Ownership ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Wage Labour ◽  
Temporary Migrant ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Market Relations

The literature on the unfree character of temporary migrant labour has drawn much needed attention to the poor working conditions faced by migrant workers and opened up an important space to challenge those ubiquitous claims by defenders of the current political-economic status quo of the freedom expressed at the core of neoliberalism. However, there is a risk to focusing on legal unfreedom to the exclusion of a broader critique of the logic of capitalist reproduction, the very premise of which is the private ownership of society’s productive wealth and the alienation of the majority of people from that wealth. Unfreedom and coercion are systematic to capitalist market relations, and all wage labour, including that of formally ‘free’, is unfree. This article examines different conceptions of labour unfreedom and concludes with a discussion of unfree labour in the neoliberal context.

Humane Markets

2019 ◽  
pp. 293-315
Author(s):  
James R. Otteson
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Institutions ◽  
Moral Concern ◽  
Commercial Society ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Political Economic

Markets are often criticized for being amoral, if not immoral. The core of the “political economy” that arose in the eighteenth century, however, envisioned the exchanges that take place in commercial society as neither amoral nor immoral but indeed deeply humane. The claim of the early political economists was that transactions in markets fulfilled two separate but related moral mandates: they lead to increasing prosperity, which addressed their primary “economic” concern of raising the estates of the poor; and they model proper relations among people, which addressed their primary “moral” concern of granting a respect to all, including the least among us. They attempted to capture a vision of human dignity within political-economic institutions that enabled people to improve their stations. Their arguments thus did not bracket out judgments of value: they integrated judgments of value into their foundations and built their political economy on that basis.

Libertarian personal responsibility

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 621-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Preiss
Keyword(s):  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Core ◽  
Social Bases ◽  
The Status ◽  
Radical Revision ◽  
Political Value

While libertarians (by most accounts) affirm personal responsibility as a central moral and political value, libertarian theorists write relatively little about the theory and practice of this value. Focusing on the work of F. A. Hayek and David Schmidtz, this article identifies the core of a libertarian approach to personal responsibility and demonstrates the ways in which this approach entails a radical revision of the ethics and American politics of personal responsibility. Then, I highlight several central implications of this analysis in the American political and economic status quo. First, this analysis makes a mockery of so-called libertarian/conservative ‘fusionism’, such that libertarian personal responsibility cannot partner with meritocratic conservative thought to provide a plural grounding for rejecting progressive or redistributive economic policy. Next, preferred libertarian policies threaten the status, esteem and social bases of self-respect of citizens who are worse-off through little or no fault of their own. Finally, these policies undermine the ethics of personal responsibility that Americans from across the ideological spectrum value and many conservatives and libertarians celebrate. In the American status quo, those who value personal responsibility must reserve a central place for policies that mitigate opportunity and distributive inequalities.

scholarly journals Revisiting the Marginal Locations of Muslim Women on Various Sites in India

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Esita Sur
Keyword(s):  
Economic Status ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
The State ◽  
Politics Of Representation ◽  
Socio Economic Status ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Dominant Discourses ◽  
Political Structures ◽  
Academic Discourses

Dominant discourses on Muslim women have revolved around their marginal locations in commu-nity as well as in society. It has mainly been subjected to socio-economic and political structures and conditions as well. However, it is worth mentioning that marginality is not only a lived experi-ence but it also has metaphoric dimensions. The state of marginality relates not only to the poor socio-economic status of Muslim women but the politics of representation of their identities like veiled, passive as well as meek victims in various discourses also constructs the core of their mar-ginal location in the larger society. Therefore, the marginalisation of Muslim women seems to be visible in various discourses in India. Briefly, the paper will attempt to comprehend the undercur-rents functioning behind the construction of the very concept of marginality and locate Muslim women in popular and academic discourses on marginality.

Editor's Note

2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. i-iii
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Ethnic Origin ◽  
Fair Use ◽  
Good Education ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich

In this election year, 2004, people are grappling with the various forces that make up these United States. What forces encourage inclusion and which exclusion? Who is to be included and who excluded? Is this to be a country with wide discrepancies between the rich and the poor? Is this to be a country where public education is poorly funded and a good education depends upon private resources? Are we going to forget that discrimination on the basis of gender, race, ethnic origin, and economic status still exists and needs to be perpetually, vigilantly addressed? There is a deep division in the country over the proper and fair use of our resources that constitutes concern in all our citizens

Enterprise Education Research In The Context Of Moral Training In Chinese Colleges

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rufei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Education Research ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
High Quality ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Moral Training ◽  
Enterprise Education ◽  
Actual Operation ◽  
Practical Effect

AbstractIt has become a necessary requirement of the time for colleges to carry out enterprise education to produce high-quality personnel with entrepreneur spirit and ability. It is discussed at the beginning of this article that the purpose and status quo of the enterprise education for college students in China and then the reasons for the poor condition in enterprise education are explored. It is found out that colleges do not provide an effective systematic platform for enterprise education; necessary personnel are not provided for such purpose in the teaching staff in Chinese colleges; in actual operation practical effect is not achieved in the moral training in colleges. Therefore, new concept in moral training must be introduced and first-rate teaching staff must be provided for the effective enterprise education. Special courses must also be systematically compiled for the purpose.

The Idea of a Meaningful Synthesis of Marxist and Non-Marxist Systems of Political Economy as a Mirror of Intellectual Turmoil (About V.T. Ryazanov’s Book «Modern Political Economy: Prospects of Neo-Marxist Synthesis»)

2019 ◽  
pp. 74-98
Author(s):  
A.B. Lyubinin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Economic Science ◽  
Objective Reality ◽  
Commodity Production ◽  
Subjective Assessments ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Political Economic

Review of the monograph indicated in the subtitle V.T. Ryazanov. The reviewer is critical of the position of the author of the book, believing that it is possible and even necessary (to increase the effectiveness of General economic theory and bring it closer to practice) substantial (and not just formal-conventional) synthesis of the Marxist system of political economy with its non-Marxist systems. The article emphasizes the difference between the subject and the method of the classical, including Marxist, school of political economy with its characteristic objective perception of the subject from the neoclassical school with its reduction of objective reality to subjective assessments; this excludes their meaningful synthesis as part of a single «modern political economy». V.T. Ryazanov’s interpretation of commodity production in the economic system of «Capital» of K. Marx as a purely mental abstraction, in fact — a fiction, myth is also counter-argued. On the issue of identification of the discipline «national economy», the reviewer, unlike the author of the book, takes the position that it is a concrete economic science that does not have a political economic status.

Jeremy Bentham: Pauperism, Colonialism, and Imperialism

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
BARBARA ARNEIL
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Jeremy Bentham ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Poor ◽  
First Contact

Using two recently published folios by Jeremy Bentham, I draw out a fundamental but little-analyzed connection between pauperism and both domestic and settler colonialism in opposition to imperialism in his thought. The core theoretical contribution of this article is to draw a distinction between a colonial, internal, and productive form of power that claims to improve people and land from within, which Bentham defends, and an imperial, external, and repressive form of power that dominates or rules over people from above and afar, that he rejects. Inherent in colonialism and the power unleashed by it are specific and profoundly negative implications in practice for the poor and disabled of Europe in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries subject to domestic colonialism and indigenous peoples subject to settler colonialism from first contact until today. I conclude Bentham is best understood as a pro-colonialist and anti-imperialist thinker.

Ideological bases of attitudes towards meat abstention: Vegetarianism as a threat to the cultural and economic status quo

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022110203
Author(s):  
Samantha K. Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Economic Status ◽  
Meat Consumption ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Political ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Political Right

Those on the political right engage in greater meat consumption and animal exploitation than their left-wing counterparts. Previous research suggests this is because they view vegetarianism as threatening the nation’s dietary customs and economy. Across two studies, I extend this concept of “vegetarianism threat” by showing that it separates into two distinct dimensions of concern: cultural (symbolic) threats and economic (realistic) threats. The resultant multidimensional scale allows a finer grained understanding of the roots of ideology-based threat responses to meat-free movements. Together, results implicate symbolic concerns as the key element of vegetarianism threat contributing to negative attitudes towards meat abstention and its proponents.

Inter‐ethnic and labour‐community coalitions in class struggle in Taiwan since the advent of temporary immigration

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Support Groups ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Class Struggle ◽  
Community Coalitions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Labour Unions ◽  
Illegal Migrants ◽  
Temporary Migrant ◽  
Temporary Migrants

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the class dimensions of racism in Taiwan against temporary migrant workers and migrants' efforts to build inter‐ethnic and labour‐community coalitions in struggle against racism.Design/methodology/approachAn important source of data for this study were the unstructured interview. Between September 2000 and December 2005, more than 50 temporary migrants and their support groups in Taiwan were interviewed, specifically about migrants' experiences of racism and their resistance strategies. These interviews were conducted face‐to‐face, sometimes with the assistance of translators. Between 2001 and 2007, some 70 people were interviewed by telephone, between Australia and Taiwan.FindingsIn Taiwan, temporary migrants suffer the racism of exploitation in that capital and the state “racially” categorize them as suitable only for the lowest paid and least appealing jobs. Migrants also suffer neglect by and exclusion from the labour unions. However, migrants have succeeded, on occasions, in class mobilization by building powerful inter‐ethnic ties as well as coalitions with some labor unions, local organizations and human rights lobbies.Research limitations/implicationsThe research raises implications for understanding the economic, social and political conditions which influence the emergence of inter‐ethnic bonds and labour‐community coalitions in class struggle.Practical implicationsThe research will contribute to a greater appreciation among Taiwan's labour activists of the real subordination of temporary migrant labour to capital and of the benefits of supporting migrants' mobilization efforts. These benefits can flow not only to migrants but also to the labour unions.Originality/valueA significant body of academic literature has recently emerged on temporary and illegal migrants' efforts to engage the union movements of industrialized host countries. There is a dearth, however, of academic research on the capacity of temporary migrants to invigorate union activism in Asia, including Taiwan.

Cooling discourses, agnosis and environmental harm

2020 ◽  
pp. 174165902097372
Author(s):  
Sarah Monod de Froideville
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Environmental Harm

Critical scholars consider a lack of action around issues of environmental harm a ‘product of persuasion’ by way of various forms of denial, downplay and spin on behalf of elite parties invested in maintaining a neo-liberal social and economic status quo. This paper introduces to this body of work the concept of ‘cooling discourses’ in relation to two cases of environmental harm in the New Zealand (NZ) context. Cooling discourses are employed to settle concerns about harmful activity that are gathering momentum through acknowledging the harm and appearing to address the activity in some manner. Cooling discourses are temporary stupefying discourses that facilitate a state of ignorance, or agnosis so that harmful activity can continue or resume unopposed.

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