Socialization,Yes. Skill Upgrading,Probably. Robust Theory of the Capitalist Labour Process,No

Abstract

This response welcomes and endorses a concern to recognize and restore labour process theory as central to the critical study of management. It accepts the importance attached by Marx to the socialization of labour and its implications for skill; and identifies other specific points of broad agreement with Adler's `paleo-Marxism'. At the same time, we point to a number of limitations of paleo-Marxism, not least of which is an absence of engagement with neo-Marxism. The capacity to appreciate the significance of forms of inequality and struggle other than class — among which may be included gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, ageism, ecology and anti-globalization — is conspicuously absent from paleo-Marxism. The importance of subjectivity is acknowledged by Adler, yet he concedes nothing to the so-called neo-Marxists who have sought to address its relevance in the development of labour processes.

Keywords

Labour process socialization skill subjectivity

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