Roskilde University A Political Economy of Labor? Olesen, Henning Salling Publication date: 2015 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Citation for published version (APA): Olesen, H. S. (2015). A Political Economy of Labor?. Paper presented at 9th International Conference on Researching Work and Learning, Singapore, Singapore. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain. • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 28. Sep. 2021 A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF LABOR? Henning Salling Olesen Roskilde University Denmark ABSTRACT This paper seeks to theorize learning in and for work life as a link between the critique of the political economy of capital – in line with Marx – and a conception of economic democracy based in the everyday experiences of working people. Instead of opposing capitalist economy with pure spirit, morality and political will it must conceptualize the material basis of social relations and democracy in a way which discovers what the political economy of capital disguises. The pivotal concept of a political Economy of Labor based in the needs and interests of the working people and the qualitative and material aspects of work life - as opposed to the exchange values and the “dead labor” which form the basic elements of the political economy of capital (Negt, 1984; Negt&Kluge 2014; Salling Olesen, 2009). Global capitalism seems to extend its dominance not only extensively but also intensively. The globalized economy seems to undermine the domain of politics (nation states and institutions) as well as the strength of the working class (trade unions). The combination of neo-liberal policies and mass media penetrates social relations and culture of everyday life. But socialist thinking is running into a cul-de- sac if it only applies Marxism to understand the actual completion of a global capitalist system where every part of the world, every type of manufacturing and service, and every level of human needs are subordinated under capitalism and shaped by exchange value relations. The potential for democratic social change is in the everyday experiences of the living work process, depending on how they are understood and organized. The scientific task is to develop methods and theoretical tools to help excavate and understand these experiences and to help to form a vision/theory of the possibility of organizing the entire complex modern societal work and the exchange process as a (political) economy of the living workers. The response to the great issues may be found in empirical investigations at the micro level – among others in the study of work and learning. The present state of capitalism – where industrial as well as the colonial tools for profitability are being exhausted - has in a way already set this scene – manifested in the interest in human resources, lifelong learning and emotional labor. The notion of a political economy of labor is a theoretical framework in which the material (evolutionary and historical) development of the capacity to work is analyzed as a process of learning and self-regulation (Negt & Kluge 2014). Within this framework you can analyze work – also present day work under capitalist circumstances – as life processes in which concrete subjects relate to each other, to their work objects, their tools and their products. In this paper, the framework will focus attention on the zones of learning and self- regulation which are sometimes marginalized. The framework has potential to provide a new perspective on the learning processes defined by the needs of work or what is going on in work, consciously or unconsciously. I will outline the political challenges set by global capitalism, discuss the developments of “new Marxism” in Europe, and argue the central contribution of Negt&Kluge to a new democratic Marxism based in the experiences of working people. From this I will discuss the role of learning in and for work as a matter of producing self-regulative capabilities that may offer a material basis for a new democratic and sustainable political economy. THE CHALLENGES SET BY GLOBAL CAPITALISM Global capitalism seems to extend its dominance not only extensively but also intensively. The globalized economy seems to undermine the domain of politics (nation states and institutions) as well as the strength of working class (trade unions). The combination of neo-liberal policies and mass media penetrates social relations and culture of everyday life. But socialist thinking is running into a cul-de- sac if it only applies Marxism to understand the actual completion of a global capitalist system where every part of the world, every type of manufacturing and service, and every level of human needs are subordinated capitalism and shaped by exchange value relations. Marx did actually indicate theoretically the objective dependency of the material processes of living workers and the use values of their products and services – but he did not do much to elaborate the subjective dimension of these processes and their political potential. His political thinking was a shortcut from the formation of an industrial working class and the ambition of overthrowing the entire capitalist system by the collective will of this class (although he also developed the structuralistic idea about the collapse of the system because of the declining profit rate). This shortcut enabled the fatal authoritarian interpretation and development of the idea of the proletarian dictatorship in the Soviet Union and elsewhere. Instead of systemic alternatives, revolutionary shifts and highly unlikely changes of power relations we need to focus on the potential of workers for being the subject of societal economy. The social democrat tradition has, alternatively, theoretically dichotomized the relation between economy and democracy, accepting more or less the ideas of market dynamics as a result of the agency of “economic man” and referring all other human motives and drivers to be handled in the form of institutional politics, setting certain limitations and modifications to the market dynamics. This line of thinking has also produced significant results in the form of welfare states in some countries – until now may be the best “real existing democracies” - but it is also clear that the social democrat version of democracy is extremely vulnerable (the weakening of the nation state) and fails to provide convincing responses to some of the most the urgent issues caused by globalization – environment protection, climate, impoverishment, global migration. The political coherenceand solidarity is threatened by flooding from material forces – in concrete as well as more abstract sense. THE ROLE OF RESEARCH IN WORK AND LEARNING The scientific response to the great issues on societal level may be found in empirical investigations on micro level – among others in the study of work and learning. The present state of capitalism – where industrial as well as colonial tools for profitability are being exhausted - has in a way already set this scene – manifested in the interest into human resources, lifelong learning and emotional labor. The notion of a political economy of labor means an societal order in which economic relations and exchanges are based in the needs and interests of working people. It is at first a logical reversal of Marx’ “Critique of the political Economy of Capital”(Negt & Kluge, 1981; 2014). But it opens a horizon for a process oriented, non-deterministic and hence empirical elaboration. The paper will present a theoretical framework in which the material (evolutionary and historical) development of the capacity to work is analyzed as a process of learning and self-regulation. Within this framework you can analyze work – also present day work under capitalist circumstances – as life processes in which concrete workers relate as subjects to each other, to their work objects, their tools and their products. In doing so they learn and conduct forms of self-regulation, sometimes fully aligned with the needs of the capitalist organisations and exchanges in which they are embedded, sometimes in a dual, separated or contradictory parallel process. The potential for democratic social change is in the everyday experiences of the living work processes, depending on how experiences are understood and how processes are organized. The scientific task is to develop methods and theoretical tools to help excavate and understand these experiences and to help forming a vision/theory of the possibility to organize the entire complex modern societal work and exchange process as a (political) economy of the living workers. This framework will focus attention to zones of learning and self-regulation which are sometimes marginalized. And it will particularly give a new perspective on all the