Marx's Ideas on Work Organization: Reinvestigating the Conceptions of Cooperation, the Division of Labor, and Machinery

Abstract

Harry Braverman's “degradation thesis” is only one aspect of Marx's analysis of the labor process. A close reading of Chapters 13 to 15 of Capital Vol. 1, based on English and Japanese preceding studies, shows a dual system of work organization under the capitalist mode of production: concentrated and dispersed. Today's information and communications (ICT)-based work organization could be seen as an example of the latter, i.e., an online-controlled putting-out system. The concentrated work organization has two types: the automation-oriented model consists of mechanized processes maintained by unskilled labor. In contrast, the craft-oriented model is a set of mechanized work that requires different kinds of skilled labor. These definitions urge us to reconsider the general law of capitalist accumulation and the traditional strategy regarding class struggle.