Social Power and the Labour Market: A Radical Approach to Labour Economics

287 Pages·1988·26.475 MB·English

by  David Purdy (auth.)

Radical Economics
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Social Power and the
Labour Market
A Radical Approach to Labour Economics
DAVID PURDY
Lecturer in Economics
University of Manchester
M
MACMILLAN
EDUCATION
© David Purdy 1988
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
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civil claims for damages.
First published 1988
Published by
MACMILLAN EDUCATION LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
Typeset by Wessex Typesetters
(Division of The Eastern Press Ltd)
Frome, Somerset
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Purdy, David
Social power and the labour market: a
radical approach to labour economics.
(Radical economics).
1. Labour market. Econometric models
I. Title II. Series
331.12'0724
ISBN 978-0-333-29180-1 ISBN 978-1-349-19545-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-19545-9
In memory of Judith Gray
Contents
Acknowledgements x
Part One: The Theory of the Labour Market
1 Two Paradigms: Exchange and Reproduction 3
1 Paradigms and models 3
2 The exchange paradigm 4
3 Blind spots and distortions 12
4 The reproduction paradigm 16
5 The plan of this book 20
2 The Concept of Power 24
1 Preliminary definitions 24
2 The three dimensions of power 26
3 Issues, interests, decisions and non-decisions 30
3 Power in the Exchange Paradigm 36
1 Introduction 36
2 Power as capacity and power as relationship 38
3 The identification and measurement of power 41
4 Power forces as supplementing market outcomes 45
5 Exchange models and the three dimensions of
power 51
6 The central claim of the exchange paradigm 56
4 Power in the Reproduction Paradigm 59
1 Introduction 59
2 The labour process and the critique of the exchange
paradigm's central claim 60
3 The 'social bases of obedience' 63
vii
viii Contents
4 The reproduction cost theory of wages 69
5 The moral and historical element 74
6 Systemic power and the moral and historical
element 79
5 The Peculiarities of Labour Power 85
1 Introduction 85
2 The inalienable character of labour power 86
3 The reproduction of labour power 87
4 Classical Marxism and Labour's existential problem 93
5 Trade unions and the logic of collective action 102
6 Labour's Goals and the Reproduction of Unequal Power 111
1 Introduction 111
2 A choice theoretic model of goal selection 113
3 Systemic goal containment and countervailing
pressure 122
4 The transformatory project 132
Part Two: The Future of the Labour Market
7 Capitalism, Gender and Toil 145
1 Introduction 145
2 Capitalism and working time 146
3 'Part-time' work and reduced working time 150
4 Gender and the sexual division of labour 155
5 The components of toil 160
8 Reduced Working Time and the Redivision of Labour 167
1 Introduction 167
2 A modest proposal for reducing working time:
sabbatical and caring leave 168
3 The obstacles to a shorter working week 173
4 The shorter working week: a taxonomy of losers
and the agenda for a winning strategy 176
9 Basic Income, Social Security and the Labour Market 193
1 Introduction 193
2 The meaning of basic income 193
3 The secular preconditions for basic income 198
4 The dual crisis of the labour market and social
security system 201
Contents ix
10 Basic Income and the Transformation of Work 219
1 Introduction 219
2 Overcoming the defects of the present social 220
security system
3 Reducing working time and redistributing 223
employment
4 Deconstructing employment status 229
5 Abating toil 235
11 Basic Income: Incentives, Ethics and Political Strategy 241
1 Introduction 241
2 Economic incentives 242
3 Ethical objections to basic income 246
4 The logic of citizenship 251
5 The political feasibility of a basic income strategy 254
6 Basic income and the labour movement 257
7 Sectionalism, trade unions and incomes policy 260
References 268
Index 275
Acknowledgements
Among the people whose ideas and suggestions I have borrowed,
adapted or resisted during the long gestation of this book I should
particularly like to thank Beatrix Campbell, Pat Devine, Ann
Long, Barbara MacLennan, Ian Steedman, Philippe Van Parijs,
and the series editor Sam Aaronovitch. I am also grateful to the
members of Manchester University's Economics Research Seminar
for their helpful and sometimes provocative comments on draft
versions of several chapters; to the members of the Basic Income
Research Group; and to the participants at the first International
Conference on Basic Income organised by the Collectif Charles
Fourier at Louvain-Ia-Neuve, Belgium, in September 1986. lowe
a special debt of gratitude to my friend and former colleague,
Claudette Williams, who toiled with enthusiasm and patience to
produce a first-class typescript. For the content of the book -
errors, warts and all-I bear sole responsibility.
David Purdy