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Neoliberalism and the Governance of Unfree Labor: a Feminist Political Economy Account

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Neoliberalism and the Governance of Unfree Labor: a Feminist Political Economy Account NEOLIBERALISM AND THE GOVERNANCE OF UNFREE LABOR: A FEMINIST POLITICAL ECONOMY ACCOUNT GENEVIEVE LEBARON A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN POLITICAL SCIENCE YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO AUGUST 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-80530-5 Our file Notre r6f6rence ISBN: 978-0-494-80530-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Abstract This thesis is a study of the resurgence of institutionalized unfree labor in the contemporary United States (US). Its central argument is that the neoliberal resurgence of unfree labor has not been an anomalous or individuated phenomenon, but rather, its systemic growth across the neoliberal period has been rooted in fundamental shifts in power, production and social reproduction that have heightened insecurity, inequality, and immobility across the entire spectrum of labor exploitation. On the one hand, this has meant that unfree labor is an increasingly prominent feature of global capitalism. On the other, it has meant an intensification of forms of market discipline and state coercion that have increased free workers' insecurity in relation to the labor market, as well as unfreedom within labor contracts and processes. Far from having remained neutral as is generally assumed in the liberal paradigm, states have facilitated this tilt as they have, since the late 1970s, restructured labor market, immigration, and social provisioning policies in ways that have privileged the security of capital over the security of the majority of the population. Departing from the formal abstractionism generally employed in the study of unfree labor, this thesis employs a feminist historical materialist approach that conceives of the material foundation of social life as the productive and reproductive activities of everyday life, and emphasizes the ways that the conditions and organization of these activities are transformed by social struggles at the levels of the state and daily life. Investigating the various relations of unfreedom that have shaped labor processes iv throughout US history, this thesis contends that in the neoliberal period, the resurgence of unfree labor can be understood as a central moment of capitalist state power wherein increased social discipline exercised through market-based structures has resulted in a shifting of the labor spectrum towards greater unfreedom for the laboring classes. Rather than having occurred separately from the social transformations of neoliberalism, through which capital and the state have sought to recompose the laboring class into a cheaper, more flexible, and more vulnerable labor force, drastically transforming the productive and reproductive activities of daily life, the resurgence of institutionalized unfree labor has been one component of this wider process. Drawing on a historical analysis of prison labor—the most consistent and widespread example of institutionalized unfree labor in US history—this thesis documents that far from being exclusive to the nineteenth century, this is a strategy that has corresponded to moments of significant ferment and decline in the conditions and organization of labor. The study begins with the initial use of prison labor in the post-civil war period as a strategy to re-appropriate the labor power of freed slaves in the South, and impose factory discipline on immigrants in the North. It then documents the near elimination of productive prison labor in the Post-World War II period, and its resurgence and for-profit-use by corporations in the neoliberal period. Incorporating the wider dimensions of social life, the study demonstrates that in each historical era, the institutionalization of prison labor has not been exclusively an accumulation strategy, but has also been related to strategies to promote social discipline and order in ways that have v cultivated racialized and gendered division within the laboring classes. Just as the convict lease system violently entrenched a social order based on white supremacy into the post- emancipation money economy, while the industrial prison contract system disciplined human bodies into the forms of factory labor that were fundamental for the new industrial capitalist system, prison labor programs in neoliberalism have been part of a larger state strategy to coercively impose the forms of labor discipline that are fundamental to the flexible, lean, labor regimes of neoliberal order. In this way the thesis links macro shifts in the global economy to the micro level of the human body, documenting that increasingly corporeal forms of discipline and unfreedom have resulted from the expanded power of capital on a global scale. vi Acknowledgements Writing a PhD dissertation is a long and often solitary task. Mine was made much easier by the strong support I received from colleagues and friends at York University. My sincere thanks are extended to my supervisor, David McNally, who has been a dedicated mentor and friend since I began my M.A. at York University in 2005. David has influenced me and contributed to my personal development in ways that go far above what any student could expect from a supervisor, and his encouragement, lucidity, and earnest, unfailling support lie at the heart of this project's timely completion. I also owe a large debt of gratitude to my second committee member Isabella Bakker, who has been an invaluable mentor and trusted friend throughout my doctoral studies and who has had an enormous impact on my intellectual development. In addition to guiding my professional development, and going above and beyond to support me at every turn of my graduate career, Isa's kindness, generosity, and unfailing encouragement leave me grateful beyond words. In addition to David and Isa, I am very grateful to my third committee member, Laam Hae, whose incisive comments on my dissertation proposal shaped and guided my project in important ways. I'd also like to thank my professors in the Department of Political Science: Greg Albo, Anna Agathangelou, Leo Panitch, Ellen Meiksins Wood, Leah Vosko, John Saul, and Stephen Gill. The theoretical tools that these talented teachers fostered in me, and the intellectual curiosity that each instilled, have been central to the project and to my intellectual development. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the political science departmental program staff, and to Marlene Quesenberry in particular, who has vii been instrumental in helping me navigate this complex process. In addition to providing me with excellent mentors, York University also provided me with four years of generous support—three in the form of a Graduate Fellowship for Academic Distinction and one in the form of a President Susan Mann Dissertation Award. These awards, as well as the additional research funding provided to me by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, were indispensable to the timely completion of this project and I remain truly grateful for SSHRC and the University's generous support of my work. In addition to my colleagues at York, I must also thank my family for their steadfast support and their tolerance of my very busy schedule. It is difficult to adequately express the debt that I owe to my mother, Michelle LeBaron, who has always been the most enthusiastic and generous supporter of my academic endeavors. For more reasons than I can list here, without her, the completion of this project would have been impossible. In gratitude for all that she has given me, this work is dedicated to her. Special thanks must also be given to my dear sister, Emily, and my amazing brothers, Justin and Daniel, whose energy and kindness have made my graduate school experience infinitely more fun and much less lonesome than it would have been without them. I must also thank Karen Bhangoo who paved my way by completing her own PhD in record timing under difficult circumstances, proving that such a feat is truly possible. Several important friendships have sustained me personally and intellectually throughout my studies. I would especially like to thank Adrienne Roberts for her friendship, support, and benevolence in letting me follow in her footsteps-1 look forward to viii our future collaborations.
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