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Publication Detailed Description
The centrality of work: A foundation for political economy
Journal Title
Review of Political Economy
Year (definitive publication)
2023
Language
English
Country
United Kingdom
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Abstract
Building on Alfred Marshall's claim that political economy should be a science of activities rather than a science of wants, the paper proposes to ground political economy on the centrality of work. Work is central in three different senses: (i) factual — work plays a central role in human lives and societies; (ii) epistemic — giving work center stage has constitutive theoretical effects; (iii) political — work is a primary tool of and for the transformation of society. Grounding political economy on work entails prioritizing economic agents as workers/producers over economic agents as consumers and acknowledging that changes in the world of work are major drivers of history. This contrasts with mainstream economics, which has always overlooked the activity of work, giving priority to consumer sovereignty and treating work as if it were a commodity. We propose a concept of work, based on Dejours’ approach, that highlights the key role of work organization in making work a source of fulfillment versus suffering. The arguments and concepts proposed lead to advocating the participation of workers in firm governance.
Acknowledgements
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Keywords
Centrality of work,Concept of work,Alfred Marshall,Democratization of work
Fields of Science and Technology Classification
- Economics and Business - Social Sciences
- Political Science - Social Sciences
Funding Records
Funding Reference | Funding Entity |
---|---|
UIDB/03127/2020 | Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia |