The Fictions of Free Labour: Contract, Coercion, and So-Called Unfree Labour

Banaji, Jairus

doi:10.1163/156920603770678319

Cited by 163 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The capitalist mode of production requires that our labour is commodified and sold on the market in return for a wage in what appears to be an equal exchange. However, wage labour is only ever formally free (workers are 'free' to sell their labour power to any buyer but are also compelled to do so in order to survive) and is always exploited (albeit to different degrees) because the production of surplus value, part of which equates to profit, is essential for the reproduction of the capitalist mode of production (Banaji 2003;Brass 1994;Holmstrom 1977;LeBaron 2015;Strauss and Fudge 2013;Strauss and McGrath 2016). Marxist feminists have, however, expanded our understanding of the capital-labour relationship beyond capital's need for labour that produces surplus value.…”

Section: The Centrality Of Labourmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whereas the classical liberal approach defines unfree labour as extreme instances of coercion and abuse at the micro level of the workplace, this Marxist feminist approach traces the connections between a whole range of troubling workplace practices and experiences that are constituted by, and constitutive of, broader macro forces and relations (see also LeBaron 2015;Strauss 2012). In contrast to the classical liberal tradition, then, unfreedom is not incidental to capitalism (Banaji 2003). At one end of the continuum is 'free' labour; the quotation marks signalling that freedom within capitalist social relations cannot exist because we cannot reproduce families, communities, and ourselves without access to a wage.…”

Section: A Continuum Of Labour Unfreedommentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond Liberalism: Marxist Feminism, Migrant Sex Work, and Labour Unfreedom

Cruz

2018

Fem Leg Stud

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In this article, I use a Marxist feminist methodology to map the organisation of migrant sex workers' socially reproductive paid and unpaid labour in one city and country of arrival, London, UK. I argue that unfree and 'free' (sexual) labour exists on a continuum of capitalist relations of (re)production, which are gendered, racialised, and legal. It is within these relations that various actors implement, and migrant sex workers contest, unfree labour practices not limited to the most extreme forms. My analysis reveals that many migrant sex workers have very limited 'freedom'. This is in stark contrast to the classical liberal claim of sex worker rights activists and academics that the vast majority of migrant sex workers are free, and therefore not coerced, exploited or trafficked. I then consider whether the emerging labour approach to trafficking could help achieve 'freedom' for migrant sex workers. Advocates argue that anti-trafficking efforts must, and can, be refocused on extending minimum labour and social protections to all vulnerable workers. I argue that this approach is disconnected from material interests and history. Rather, migrant sex workers, sex worker rights activists, and all migrant and citizen workers and activists globally must collectively organise against 'labour unfreedom' and hence for meaningful control over their labour and lives.

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Section: The Centrality Of Labourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Continuum Of Labour Unfreedommentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Liberalism: Marxist Feminism, Migrant Sex Work, and Labour Unfreedom

Cruz

2018

Fem Leg Stud

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“…There has been considerable debate regarding the ideological role of unfreedom, but there has also been a great deal of work on the different ways in which forced labour is produced and also transmitted from one socio-economic context to another (for example : Brass 1999: Brass , 2002Rao, 1999;Harriss-White, 2003;Banaji, 2003;Bremen 2007). It is this latter issue that interests us here.…”

Section: T the Context Of Forced Labour As A Concept: Neo-liberalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Absence of Decent Work: The Continued Development of Forced and Unfree Labour in India

Morgan¹,

Olsen²

2015

GLJ

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The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has developed a concept of decent work and set this as a standard in 1999. However, in many places in the world people labour under conditions that are far from 'decent'. Many people are subject to forced labour and experience unfreedoms, which raises important theoretical and practical issues. In this contribution we set out some of the ways in which forced labour manifests and how it has been changing over recent years in India. India is of particular interest because, according to the ILO, Asia, and India within Asia, has more victims of forced labour than any other region. India illustrates that specific structures of social relations underpin one's vulnerability to becoming a victim of forced labour. It illustrates also that forms of forced labour integrate into and develop within capitalism. Although neo-liberal policy prescriptions are formally opposed to forced labour, the neo-liberal capitalist system also facilitates its reproduction and spread.

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“…This concept is contentious and its definition has been widely debated within the literature on severe exploitation (see Miles 1989, Banaji 2003, O'Connell Davidson 2010, Strauss 2012, Morgan and Olsen 2015, LeBaron 2018. It is beyond the scope of our paper to resolve these debates.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%