Abstract labour: Against its nature and on its time
Abstract
Recent debates on abstract labour have highlighted Marx’s ambivalent conception of this important term. This article criticises current physiological definitions of the term, and against the background of earlier debates in Capital & Class, develops abstract labour as a specifically capitalist form of labour which entails a specific conception of social labour time—a time made abstract. The political implications of these rival accounts are formidable.
- © The Author(s) 2010