Capitalist Development, the Labor Process, and the Law

Accounting fundamentals and accounting change: Boulton & Watt and the Springfield Armory

“…In practice, as acknowledged by industrial sociologists (e.g., Price, 1983), real subsumption is not achieved and de facto control over the labor process is a compromise based on subordination and resistance. The transition described by Marx at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th was both premature and incomplete due to the persistence of craft control (Steinberg, 2003). Piece rates, which figure prominently in our discussion, are a good example.…”

‘Illegal’ Migration as Resistance: Legality, Morality and Coercion in Indonesian Domestic Worker Migration to Malaysia

“…However, standard employment contracts also force 'legal' domestic workers to accept quite unfavourable working conditions, such as 16-hour workdays, non-negotiable, standardised wages, and they require domestic workers to live with, and work for, employers that they have not chosen for a period of two years. As such, legal contracts need to be seen as instruments of subordination (Steinberg, 2003). In fact, as Pei-Chia Lan has argued for the case of migrant domestic workers in Taiwan, such employment contracts deprive workers of the basic right of labour market mobility -that is, the right to choose their employer, leave their job and seek better working conditions and better wages (2007:271).…”

Strike and changing workplace relations in a Chinese global factory

“…With his powerful concept of the ‘politics of production’, Burawoy (1985) indicated a regulation function of the state in the shaping of workplace relations. As an extension to Burawoy's theory, Steinberg (2003) pointed out that the labour regime is in fact embedded in legal institutions. The development of labour politics in contemporary China well confirms the significance of the state and law.…”