Labour Process Theory and the legacy of operaismo. New directions, old problems

Titolo Rivista SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO
Autori/Curatori Paul Thompson, Frederick Harry Pitts
Anno di pubblicazione 2024 Fascicolo 2023/167
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 24 P. 163-186 Dimensione file 245 KB
DOI 10.3280/SL2023-167008
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

Qui sotto puoi vedere in anteprima la prima pagina di questo articolo.

Se questo articolo ti interessa, lo puoi acquistare (e scaricare in formato pdf) seguendo le facili indicazioni per acquistare il download credit. Acquista Download Credits per scaricare questo Articolo in formato PDF

Anteprima articolo

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA)associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche

Simultaneous with the rise of Labour Process Theory (LPT), Italy was the centre of a parallel and prominent theorisation of the labour process in an overlapping intellectual and social context: operaismo. Both have undergone a recent resurgence. This paper provides a critical commentary on the development and claims of operaismo, drawing out some comparisons with LPT. Diversity in the operaist traditions and trajectories are recognised, but the paper focuses on areas where contrasts and conflicts between LPT and aspects of operaismo continue to have salience. There are similarities in the ideas and goals of the two approaches, with both focusing on the dynamic interplay between labour and capital in the hidden abode of production. But operaismo is also an explicitly political project in that it seeks to identify privileged class subjects that can act as the vanguard of broader social transformation. Through an examination of a range of issues concerning changing workplace regimes and how to study them, we find this and other differences have significant analytical, normative and methodological dimensions.

Keywords:Labour Process Theory; Operaismo; Class Composition; Politics of Production.

  1. Ackroyd S., Thompson P. (2022). Organizational Misbehaviour. London: Sage.
  2. Alquati R. (2013). Organic composition of capital and labour-power at olivetti. Viewpoint, 27 September. -- Available at: https://viewpointmag.com/2013/09/27/organic-composition-of-capital-and-labor-power-at-olivetti-1961/
  3. Bailey D. J. (2023). Worker-Led Dissent in the Age of Austerity: Comparing the Conditions of Success. Work, Employment and Society, 1-21, DOI: 10.1177/09500170231169675
  4. Barbieri P. (2002). La sociologia del lavoro in Italia. Sociologia del Lavoro, 86-87: 129-141.
  5. Berggren C. (1993). Lean production—the end of history? Work, employment and society, 7(2):163-188. DOI: 10.1177/095001709372001
  6. Beverungen A., Böhm S., Land C. (2015). Free labour, social media, management: Challenging Marxist Organization Studies. Organization Studies, 36(4): 473–489. DOI: 10.1177/017084061456156
  7. Boffo M. (2012). Historical immaterialism: from immaterial labour to cognitive capitalism. International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 6(4): 256-279. DOI: 10.1504/IJMCP.2012.05145
  8. Böhm S., Land C. (2012). The new ‘hidden abode’: reflections on value and labour in the new economy. The Sociological Review, 60(2): 217-240.
  9. Bologna S. (2013). Workerism: An inside view – From the mass-worker to self-employed labour. In: van der Linden M. and Roth K. H., eds, Beyond Marx. Leiden: Brill, pp. 121–143.
  10. Bolton S. C. (2005). Emotion management in the workplace. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  11. Braverman H. (1974). Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century. New York: Monthly Review.
  12. Brighton Labour Process Group (1977). The capitalist labour process, Capital & Class, 1: 3–22.
  13. Brook P., Darlington R. (2013). Partisan, scholarly and active: arguments for an organic public sociology of work. Work, employment and society, 27(2): 232-243. DOI: 10.1177/095001701246183
  14. Burawoy M. (1982). Manufacturing consent: Changes in the labor process under monopoly capitalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  15. Burawoy M. (1985). The Politics of Production. London: Verso.
  16. Callaghan G., Thompson P. (2001). Edwards revisited: technical control and call centres. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 22(1): 13-37. DOI: 10.1177/0143831X01221002
  17. Conference of Socialist Economists (1976). The Labour Process & Class Strategies (CSE Pamphlet No. 1). London: CSE
  18. Cressey P., MacInnes J. (1980). Voting for Ford: Industrial democracy and the control of labour, Capital & Class, 11: 5–37.
  19. Curcio A. (2020). Marxist Feminism of Rupture. Viewpoint Magazine, January 14, 2020. -- https://viewpointmag.com/2020/01/14/marxist-feminism-of-rupture/
  20. Dessì M. (2023). Bringing labour process theory back to Marx: an Operaista approach to LPT. Paper presented at the International Labour Process Conference, Glasgow, April 2023
  21. Dyer-Witheford N. (2015). Cyber-Proletariat. London: Pluto.
  22. Eden D. (2016). Autonomy: Capitalism, Class and Politics. Abingdon: Routledge.
  23. Edwards P.K. (1990). Understanding conflict in the labour process: The logic and autonomy of struggle. In: Knights D. and Willmott H., eds, Labour Process Theory. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 125–152.
  24. Edwards R. (1979). Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the Twentieth Century. New York: Basic Books.
  25. Ellis V., Taylor P. (2006). ‘You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’: re‐contextualising the origins, development and impact of the call centre. New Technology, Work and Employment, 21(2): 107-122.
  26. Federici S. (2012). Revolution at Point Zero. Oakland: PM Press
  27. Flecker J., Haidinger B., Schönauer A. (2013). Divide and serve: The labour process in service value chains and networks. Competition & Change, 17(1):6-23. DOI: 10.1179/1024529412Z.0000000002
  28. Friedman A. (1977). Responsible autonomy versus direct control over the labour process. Capital & Class, 1(1): 43–57. DOI: 10.1177/030981687700100104
  29. Fortunati L. (2013). Learning to Struggle: My Story Between Workerism and Feminism. Viewpoint Magazine. September 15, 2013. https://viewpointmag.com/2013/09/15/learning-to-struggle-my-story-between-workerism-and-feminism/
  30. Fumagalli, A., Mezzadra S., eds. (2010). Crisis in the Global Economy. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e).
  31. Gandini A. (2019). Labour process theory and the gig economy. Human relations, 72(6): 1039-1056. DOI: 10.1177/0018726718790002
  32. Gasparri S. (2017). Studying work in theory and practice: insights for a globalising academia from the IR trajectory in Italy. Industrial Relations Journal 48(4): 310–325.
  33. Hardt M., Negri A. (2000). Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  34. Hochschild A. (1983). The Managed Heart. Barkeley: University of California Press
  35. Howcroft D. and Bergvall-Kåreborn B. (2019). A typology of crowdwork platforms. Work, Employment and Society, 33(1): 21-38. DOI: 10.1177/095001701876013
  36. Kelly J. (1985). Management’s redesign of work: labour process, labour markets and product markets’. In Knights D., Willmott H. and Collinson D., eds., Job Redesign-critical perspectives on the labour process. Aldershot: Gower, 30-51.
  37. Knights D., Willmott H. (1990). Labour Process Theory. London: MacMillan
  38. Krzywdzinski M. and Gerber C. (2021). Between automation and gamification: forms of labour control on crowdwork platforms. Work in the Global Economy, 1(1-2): pp.161-184. DOI: 10.1332/273241721X1629543473916
  39. Marx K. (1976). Capital. Vol. I. London: Penguin.
  40. Marx K. (1972). Notes on machines. Economy and Society, 1(3): 244–254.
  41. McKinlay A. (2002). The limits of knowledge management. New Technology, Work and Employment, 17(2): 76-88. DOI: 10.1111/1468-005X.00095
  42. Milkman R. (1998). The new labor movement: possibilities and limits. Contemporary Sociology, 27(2): 125-129. DOI: 10.2307/2654770
  43. Moore S., Taylor P. (2021). Class reimagined? Intersectionality and industrial action–The British Airways dispute of 2009–2011. Sociology, 55(3): 582-599. DOI: 10.1177/003803852097360
  44. Mueller G., (2020). Breaking Things at Work. London: Verso.
  45. Newsome K. (2015). Value in motion: labour and logistics in the contemporary political economy. In: Newsome K., Taylor P., Bair J. and Rainnie A., eds., Putting Labour in Its Place: Labour Process Analysis and Global Value Chains. London: Palgrave: 29-45.
  46. Newsome K., Taylor P., Bair J. and Rainnie A., eds. (2015). Putting labour in its place: Labour process analysis and global value chains. London: Palgrave Publishing.
  47. Notes from Below (2018). The workers’ inquiry and social composition. Notes from Below #1. Available at: http://www.notesfrombelow.org/article/workers-inquiry-and-social-composition
  48. Notes from Below, (2023). Class Composition in Britain. Available at : https://notesfrombelow.org/issue/class-composition-project
  49. Pitts F. H. (2014). Follow the money? Value theory and social inquiry. Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization, 14(3): 335–356.
  50. Pitts F. H. (2016). Beyond the Fragment: The Postoperaist Reception of Marx’s Fragment on Machines and its Relevance Today. SPAIS Working Papers, University of Bristol.
  51. Pitts F. H. (2020). Value. Cambridge: Polity.
  52. Pitts F. H. (2022). Measuring and managing creative labour: Value struggles and billable hours in the creative industries. Organization, 29(6): 1081-1098. DOI: 10.1177/135050842096818
  53. Pitts F. H. (2023). Contemporary class composition analysis: The politics of production and the autonomy of the political. Capital & Class, Online First, 1-26. DOI: 10.1177/03098168221139284
  54. Pulignano V. (2019). Labour Sociology in Italy: Resisting Erosion Through Transformation and Dynamism. In: Stewart P., Durand JP. and Richea MM., eds., The Palgrave Handbook of the Sociology of Work in Europe, Cham: Palgrave, 125-151.
  55. Smith C., McKinlay A. (2009). Creative labour: Content, contract and control. In: Smith C., McKinlay A., eds., Creative labour: Working in the creative industries, Houndsmills: Macmillan: 29-50.
  56. Taylor P., Bain P. (1999). ‘An assembly line in the head’: work and employee relations in the call centre. Industrial relations journal, 30(2): 101-117. DOI: 10.1111/1468-2338.00113
  57. Taylor P., Moore S. (2015). Cabin crew collectivism: Labour process and the roots of mobilization. Work, employment and society, 29(1): 79-98. DOI: 10.1177/0950017014538336
  58. Thompson P. (1989). Nature of Work. London: Macmillan.
  59. Thompson P. (1990). Crawling from the wreckage. In: Knights D. and Willmott H., eds., Labour Process Theory. London: MacMillan, 95–124.
  60. Thompson P. (2005). Foundation and Empire: A critique of Hardt and Negri. Capital & Class, 29(2): 73–98. DOI: 10.1177/030981680508600105
  61. Thompson P. (2010). The capitalist labour process: Concepts and connections. Capital & Class, 34(1): 7-14. DOI: 10.1177/030981680935347
  62. Thompson P. (2018). The refusal of work: Past, present and future. Futures of Work #1. Available at: https://futuresofwork.co.uk/2018/09/05/the-refusal-of-work-past-present-and-future/
  63. Thompson P., Briken K. (2017). Actually existing capitalism: some digital delusions. In: Briken K., Chillas S., Krzywdzinski M., Marks A., eds., The New Digital Workplace: How New Technologies Revolutionise Work, Houndsmills: Macmillan, 241-263.
  64. Thompson P., Jones M. , Warhurst C. (2009). From conception to consumption: creativity and the missing managerial link. In: Smith, C., & McKinlay, A., eds., Creative labour: Working in the creative industries, Houndsmills: Macmillan, 51-71
  65. Thompson P., Laaser K. (2021). Beyond technological determinism: revitalising labour process analyses of technology, capital and labour. Work in the Global Economy, 1(1-2): 139-159. DOI: 10.1332/273241721X1627638483211
  66. Thompson P., Pitts F.H., Ingold J. , Cruddas J. (2022). Class composition, labour’s strategy and the politics of work. Political Quarterly, 93(1): 142–149. DOI: 10.1111/1467-923X.13097
  67. Thompson P., Smith C. (2017). Capital and the labour process. In: Schmidt I. and Fanelli C., eds., Reading ‘Capital’ Today, London: Pluto Press, 116-37.
  68. Tronti M. (2019). Workers and Capital. London: Verso.
  69. Turchetto M. (2008). From ‘mass worker’to ‘empire’: The disconcerting trajectory of Italian operaismo. In: Bidet J. and Kouvelakis S., eds., Critical companion to contemporary Marxism. Leiden: Brill, 285-308.
  70. Virno P., Hardt M., eds. (1996). Radical thought in Italy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  71. Vidal M. (2018). Was Marx wrong about the working class? Reconsidering the Gravedigger thesis. International Socialism, 158. Available at: http://isj.org.uk/gravedigger-thesis
  72. Villar A. G. (2019). Del operaismo al (post) operaismo: la importancia del cruce con el postestructuralismo francés. Pensamiento. Revista de Investigación e Información Filosófica, 75(287): 1545-1569.
  73. Warhurst C., Thompson P., Nickson D. P. (2008). Labour process theory: putting the materialism back into the meaning of service work. In: MacDonald C. and Korczynski M., eds., Service work: Critical perspectives, London: Routledge, 91-112.
  74. Woodcock J. (2014). The workers’ inquiry from Trotskyism to Operaismo: A political methodology for investigating the workplace. Ephemera, 14(3): 493–513.
  75. Woodcock J. (2023). There Has Never Been More Marxist “Evidence”’: Comparing Labour Process Theory and Class Composition. Paper presented at New Directions in Labour Process Theory, a workshop at University of Padua, January 2023.
  76. Wright S. (2002). Storming Heaven. London: Pluto.
  77. Wright S. (2014). Revolution from above? Money and class-composition in Italian operaismo. In: van der Linden M. and Roth K.H., eds., Beyond Marx. Leiden: Brill, 369–394.
  78. Wright S. (2021). The Weight of the Printed Word. Leiden: Brill.

  • From the age of immanence to the autonomy of the political: (Post)operaismo in theory and practice Frederick Harry Pitts, in Philosophy & Social Criticism 01914537241240430/2024
    DOI: 10.1177/01914537241240430

Paul Thompson, Frederick Harry Pitts, Labour Process Theory and the legacy of operaismo. New directions, old problems in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 167/2023, pp 163-186, DOI: 10.3280/SL2023-167008