Theories of immaterial labour

A critical reflection based on Marx

Bibliographic Data

ID21189776
AuthorsHenrique Amorim (0000-0002-0715-9191, corresponding author), Henrique Amorim Henrique Amorim
Year2014
Volume8
Issue1
Publication date2014-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWork Organisation Labour & Globalisation (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1745-641X • E-ISSN: 1745-6428
PublisherPluto Journals (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.13169/workorgalaboglob.8.1.0088
OpenAlexW2369546311
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited8

Proponents of the notion of a ‘knowledge economy’ argue that immaterial labour is the main productive force in contemporary society. This article takes issue with this view. It critically assesses the concepts of labour, value and class that underlying these arguments and seeks to find alternatives to them. It then goes on to propose an alternative interpretation that, in the author's view, is more closely aligned to the general principles of Marxist theory. It concludes that the ‘knowledge economy’ theorists demonstrate an analytical reductionism: by limiting the definition of ‘labour’ to physical industrial labour performed in a factory, by reducing the concept of ‘value’ to an arithmetically measurable expression of exploitation in the manufacture of goods, and by restricting the concept of ‘working class’ or ‘proletariat’ to the position of the manual labourer. It concludes that the thesis which presents immaterial labour as a new productive force and announces the end of labour, value and the working class ignores the realities of the processes of labour precarisation currently taking place around the globe

Child labour · Class analysis · Class conflict · Economic system · Economics · Epistemology · Globe · Limiting · Marxist philosophy · Neoclassical economics · Political science · Positive economics · Productive forces · Proletariat · Sociology · Education and Work Dynamics · Engineering · Latin American social science · Law