The labour process debate has failed to analyse systematically the `deus ex machina' in Braverman's original contribution, capital. This paper elaborates a complex conception of capital which differentiates circuits of capital - industrial, banking and commercial - both within the firm and in the economy as a whole. The specific way in which these circuits are integrated and the meaning of this for firms is examined through a case study of events within Imperial Tobacco in the 1970s. The labour process and strategies towards the labour process are seen as only one element in the complex articulation of the circuits of capital within firms and in the economy as a whole. The role of owners and ownership in particular requires greater consideration.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alford, B. 1973. W.D. and H.O. Wills and the Development of the UK Tobacco Industry. London: Macmillan.
Armstrong, P. 1983. `Competition between the Organizational Professions and the Evolution of Management Control Strategies', in Thompson 1984:97-121.
4.
Armstrong, P. 1985. `Accountancy in British Controls of Industry and the Progress of the Profession in Industrial Management Hierarchies' (paper presented to the Third Joint Aston/ UMIST Conference on the Labour Process, March 1985).
5.
Baran P. & Sweezy, P. 1966. Monopoly Capital. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
6.
Braverman, H. 1974. Labour and Monopoly Capital, New York: Monthly Review.
7.
Burawoy, M. 1979. Manufacturing Consent. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
8.
Burawoy, M. 1985. The Politics of Production. London: Verso.
9.
Chapman, S.D.1986. `Aristocracy and Meritocracy in Merchant Banking,'British Journal of Sociology27:180-193.
10.
Child, J. 1984. New Technology and the Service Class. Work Organization Research Centre: Working Paper No. 7.
11.
Child, J.1985. `Managerial Strategies, New Technology and the Labour Process', in Knights 1985:107-141.
12.
Coakley, J. & Harris, L. 1983. The City of Capital. Oxford: Blackwell.
13.
Corina, M. 1975. Trust in Tobacco. London: Joseph.
14.
Crouch, C. ed. 1979. State and Economy in Contemporary Capitalism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
15.
Cyert, R. M. & March, J.G. 1963. A Behavioural Theory of the Firm. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
16.
Friedman, A. 1977. Managerial Strategies, Activities, Techniques and Technology: towards a Complex Theory of the Labour Process. (mimeo March 1985).
17.
Gospel, H. and Littler, C. 1983. Managerial Strategies and Industrial Relations. London: Heinemann.
King, R. ed. 1983. Capital and Politics. London: RKP.
20.
Knights, D., Willmott, H. & Collinson, D. ed. 1985. Job Redesign. Aldershot: Gower.
21.
Lisle-Williams, M.1984a. `Beyond the Market: the Survival of Family Capitalism in the English Merchant Banks', British Journal of Sociology25:241-271.
22.
Lisle-Williams, M.1984b. `Merchant Banking Dynasties in the English Class Structure', British Journal of Sociology25:333-362.
23.
Littler, C.R. & Salaman, G.1982. `Bravermania and Beyond', Sociology. 16:251-269.
24.
Longstreth, F.1973. `The City, Industry and the State', in Crouch 1979:157-191.
25.
Miles, R.M. 1982. Coffin Nails and Corporate Strategies. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
26.
Minns, R. 1980. Pension Funds and British Capitalism. London: Heinemann.
27.
Minns, R. 1982. Take Over the City. Pluto Press.
28.
Mintz, B. & Schwartz, M. 1985. The Power Structure of American Business. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
29.
Moran, M1983. `Power, Policy and the City of London', in King 1983:49-68.
30.
Morgan, G. & Hooper, D. 1985. The Class of Capital and Inter-organizational Linkages: an Empirical Analysis (Paper presented to EGOS Colloquium, June 1985).
31.
Pollert, A. 1981. Girls, Wives, Factory Lives. London: Macmillan.
32.
Scott, J. 1982. The Upper Classes. London: Macmillan.
33.
Scott, J. 1985. Corporations, Classes and Capitalism2nd ed.London: Macmillan.
34.
Scott, J. & Griff, C. 1985. Directors of Industry. Oxford: Polity Press.
35.
Smith, C. 1984. Managerial Strategies: Capital and Labour, A Reply to John Child and an Alternative Model Part One. Work Organization Research Centre Working Paper no. 2.
36.
Storey, J.1985a. `The Means of Management Control'Sociology, 19:193-211.
37.
Storey, J.1985b. `Management Control as a Bridging Concept', Journal of Management Studies, 22:269-291.
38.
Taylor, P. 1984. Smoke Ring: the Politics of Tobacco. London: Bodley Head.
39.
Teulings, A.1985. `The Power of Corporate Management', Economic and Industrial Democracy6; 403-434).
40.
Thompson, G.1978. `Capitalist Profit Calculation and Inflation Accounting', Economy and Society7:395-429.
41.
Thompson, G. 1985. Economic Calculation and Policy Formation: Introduction (mimeo)
42.
Thompson, G.1982. `The Firm as a Dispersed Social Agency', Economy and Society. 11:233-250.
43.
Thompson, G.1977. `The Relationship between the financial and industrial sector in the United Kingdom economy', Economy and Society. 6:235-282.
44.
Thompson, K. ed. 1984. Work, Employment and Unemployment. London: Open University Press.
45.
Thompson, P. 1983. The Nature of Work. London: Macmillan.
46.
Thurley, K. & Wood, S. ed. 1983. Industrial Relations and Management Strategy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
47.
Tomlinson, J. 1982. The Unequal Struggle? British Socialism and the Capitalist Enterprise. London: Methuen.
48.
Tomlinson, J.1984. `Economic and Sociological Theories of the Enterprise and Industrial Democracy', British Journal of Sociology. 35:591-605.
49.
Tomlinson, J.1986. `Democracy inside the Black Box? Neo-Classical Theories of the Firm and Industrial Democracy', Economy and Society15:220-250.
