The Legal Concept of Work

Abstract

AbstractDrawing on a Marxian-inspired theoretical framework, The Legal Concept of Work develops an analysis of the legal constitution, conceptualization, and regulation of work as a lens through which to explore the emancipatory potential of law, and to understand whether, and if so how, law can be used to further struggles for structural and not merely surface-level change. The book explores how productive activities of various sorts come to be conceptualized as work; how they, the capacities required to perform them, and the persons who possess those capacities, come to be valued, or devalued, in various contexts; and how, and why, perceptions of these matters change over time. In exploring these questions, the book focuses specifically on the role of law and legal concepts in this process, how the law comes to constitute some forms of human labour as work and some forms of human labour as non-work; and how this legal constitution impacts upon the way in which work comes to be regulated, organized, and valued. As part of this analysis, the book presents a series of case studies, including of the publishing industry, academia, medicine, and retail, with a view to illustrating some of the distinctive regulatory challenges to which different types of work give rise, depending on their function in the context of capitalism.