Democratic Work: Radical Democracy and the Future of Labour

ISBN-13: 9783031278556 / Angielski

Alexis Cukier

Opis

This book proposes a radical transformation of labour institutions, in order to lay the foundation for the democratization of society rather than capitalist accumulation. Using an empirical analysis of the contemporary world of work, Alexis Cukier examines the democratic meaning of today’s critique of work organization and questions the theoretical models (linked to class struggles and to industrial democracy) to conceive of a "democratic work." Considering particular historical experiments (such as cooperatives, self-management, worker’s councils) that try to realize democracy at work, this book also analyzes the political issue of "democratic work" in relation to issues such as labour law, feminist struggles and political ecology. Ultimately, this book proposes some institutional paths that could overtake the divide between the rights of the citizens and the rights of the workers, arguing finally: if we really want to radicalize democracy, we should begin with democratizing work. 

Spis treści

1.       Introduction

 

1.1. Context and method

1.2. Beyond workplace democracy

1.3. A Marxist approach to the democratization of work

 

Part I:   Democratic Criticism of Work

 

2.       Chapter 1 : The Political Meaning of the Critique of Work

 

2.1   Worker’s voice : democracy concealed

            2.1.1 Impeding discussion

            2.1.2. Impossible decision-making

            2.1.3. Disorganized collective action

            2.1.4. The political function of work and the loss of meaning at work

 

2.2   New alienations and neo-managerial organisation of work: the challenge of democratic power

            2.2.1. Alienation at work, a democratic issue

            2.2.2. From subjective alienation to social alienation

            2.2.3. Reification as the impossibilisation of democratic activity at work

 

 

3.       Chapter 2. Neoliberalism versus Democratic Work

 

3.1. Financialisation of the economy and political management of public debt

3.2. Dismantling labour law and anti-democratic “governance” in the European Union

3.3. Financialisation of the company and new managerial power

3.4. Gender, race and class in the neoliberal division of labour

 

            Conclusion of part. I : Democratic Work and the political centrality of labour

 

Part II:   Theoretical Models and Political Issues

 

4.       Chapter 3. The class struggle : revolutionising institutions to democratise labour

 

4.1. Marx, labour and revolution

4.2. Class struggle and working class government

5.       Chapter 4. Industrial democracy: democratising work to transform institutions

 

5.1. Dewey and the normative foundations of industrial democracy

5.2. Korsch: industrial democracy and class struggle through the lens of workers’ councils

           

6.       Chapter 5. Materialist feminism: the democratic stakes of the definition of work-for

 

6. 1. Sexual division of labour and gender relations: redefining the concept of work

6.2. Mode of domestic production and social reproduction

6.3. The political struggle of women workers and the problem of the State

 

 

7.                   Chapter 6. Political ecology : what kind of work does the critique of productivism lead to ?

 

7. 1. Contributions of and limits to Gorz’s critique of work

7.2. The metabolic rift between man and nature: an alternative ecological critique of labour

7.3. Ecosocialism and democratic work

 

 

 

Conclusion of Part. II : Democratic work and economic democracy

 

                        Part III:   Work, democratic experiments

 

8.                   Chapter 7. Self-management: towards a revolution in the process, organisation and division of labour

 

 

8. 1. Reorganising work and its purposes?

8.2. Workers and non-workers: a new social relationship

8.3. Political issues of self-management production

8.4. Towards new institutions: ‘work councils’, ‘economic councils’ and producer autonomy

 

 

9.                   Chapter. 8. Workers’ councils and council democracy: towards a democratic transformation of the company, the State, and the municipality

 

9. 1. Soviets, consigli di fabbrica, control obrero, cordones industriales... from workers’ control to political opposition

9.2. Workers’ control, the State, and the municipalities

9.3. Towards new institutions: ‘social councils’ and democratic mode of production

 

 

 

10.               Conclusion.

O autorze

Alexis Cukier is Associate Professor in Moral and Political Philosophy, member of the research laboratory Métaphysique Allemande et Philosophie Pratique, University of Poitiers, France.

Blurb

"This book is an exceptionally rich study that will mark a major intervention in the live discussions on the social and political centrality of work. Cukier investigates the many ways in which democratic life depends on the democratic control of the economy, from workplaces to the economy as a whole."
–Jean-Philippe Deranty, Professor of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Australia. ​

This book proposes a radical transformation of labour institutions, in order to lay the foundation for the democratization of society rather than capitalist accumulation. Using an empirical analysis of the contemporary world of work, Alexis Cukier examines the democratic meaning of today’s critique of work organization and questions the theoretical models (linked to class struggles and to industrial democracy) to conceive of a "democratic work." Considering particular historical experiments (such as cooperatives, self-management, worker’s councils) that try to realize democracy at work, this book also analyzes the political issue of "democratic work" in relation to issues such as labour law, feminist struggles and political ecology. Ultimately, this book proposes some institutional paths that could overtake the divide between the rights of the citizens and the rights of the workers, arguing finally: if we really want to radicalize democracy, we should begin with democratizing work. 

Alexis Cukier is Associate Professor of Moral and Political Philosophy and member of the research laboratory Métaphysique Allemande et Philosophie Pratique, University of Poitiers, France.