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Lopes, H. (2019). The (de)politicisation of work – an inquiry into the political function of work. Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais. 119, 149-170

H. M. Lopes,  "The (de)politicisation of work – an inquiry into the political function of work", in Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais, no. 119, pp. 149-170, 2019

@article{lopes2019_1714808450034,
	author = "Lopes, H.",
	title = "The (de)politicisation of work – an inquiry into the political function of work",
	journal = "Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais",
	year = "2019",
	volume = "",
	number = "119",
	doi = "10.4000/rccs.9276",
	pages = "149-170",
	url = "https://journals.openedition.org/rccs/9276"
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - The (de)politicisation of work – an inquiry into the political function of work
T2  - Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais
IS  - 119
AU  - Lopes, H.
PY  - 2019
SP  - 149-170
SN  - 0254-1106
DO  - 10.4000/rccs.9276
UR  - https://journals.openedition.org/rccs/9276
AB  - The paper revisits the debate on the political function of work, defined as the con‑
tribution of work to the production and transformation of social relations, in both
conceptual and empirical terms. It begins by briefly recalling the terms of the debate
about the emancipatory potential of work as seen by Karl Marx and Hannah Arendt, and
then proceeds to argue, contra Arendt, that since work is a collective and cooperative
activity, it is not a ‑political. The major contribution of the paper consists of discuss‑
ing the issue by critically considering the literature on both economic theories of the
firm and labour economics, two strands of literature usually kept apart. We regard the
quantification and individualisation trends that characterise the contemporary world
of work as a de ‑politicisation process, one linked to the (mainstream) agency theory of
the firm which legitimises financialisation. We conclude by outlining a way in which to
re ‑politicise work and the firm.
ER  -