CI 402 Theoretical and Historical Perspectives on Labour

Monsoon Semester 2023

Course Instructor: Archana Prasad (archie.prasad11@gmail.com)

Credits: 4 Credits

Timings: Tuesday: 11AM-1PM; Thursday: 11AM-1PM

Assignments: Internal Assessment 2 Credits; End Semester:2 Credits

Course Structure
This course is about the historical evolution of ideas on work and labour in different phases of the
modern development. It discusses the different forms of labour relations and regimes in history.
The study of labour processes and the formation of the working class are located in the context of
the historical changes in economic, social and political processes.

I. Concept of Labour: The concept of labour and work from multi-disciplinary perspectives;
Classical and contemporary perspectives on labour.

II. Unfree Labour and Other Pre-Capitalist Labour Regimes: Labour regimes and the
transition debate. Old and new forms of slavery and other forms of unfree labour. The
social existence and organisation of labour.

III. Theories of Wages, Labour Market Formation and Capitalism: An overview of the
theories of wages and wage formation. Formation of labour market and factors
determining wages, collective bargaining and wages.

IV. The Household, Paid and Unpaid Labour: The changing nature of household and its
relationship with capitalism. Social reproduction and the links between paid and unpaid
work and theories .

V. Factory Regimes and Formal/Informal Labour Relations under Capitalism: The labour
process and its transformation under different stages of industrial capitalism. Changing
character of the work space, technology and its impact on the division of labour. The
emergence of the idea of formal and informal labour relations.

VI. Capitalism and the International Division of Labour: Capitalism as a global system, and
the colonial division of labour. Transnational corporations and their transformation under
corporate capitalism. Global value chains and the new international division of labour.

VII. Working Class and their Organisations: The nature and character of workingclass
consciousness in capitalist and colonised countries. Early forms of trade unionism and
workers organisations. Changing character and demands of trade unions and their
 movements. Contemporary challenges before trade unions.
Basic Readings:

General Readings

1. Galbrith, John. K. History of Economics: Past and Present, Penguin, 1991. 2.

Huberman, Leo. Man’s Worldly Goods: The Story of the Wealth of Nations, Monthly Review
Press, 1936.
3. Heinrich, M, An Introduction to Karl Marx’s Three Volumes of Capital, Monthly Review
Press, 2012.

I. Concept of Labour
Essential Readings:

1. Braverman, Harry. ‘Labour and Labour Power’ in Labour and Monopoly Capital: The
Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century, Monthly Review Press, 1974, pp. 31-40.

2. Durkheim, Emile. Division of Labour in Society, Macmillan, 1984, Book One.

3. Marx, Karl. Capital: Critique of Political Economy, Penguin, Volume 1 pp. 27-84 and
pp.127-213.
4. Mazzucto, Mariana, The Value of Everything, Penguin Random House, 2019.
5. Prabhat Patnaik ed., Marx’s Capital: An Introductory Reader, Leftword, 2017.
Further Readings:

1. Dobb, Maurice, Theories of Value and Distribution since Adam Smith, pp. 38-65.

2. Patnaik, Prabhat. Accumulation and Stability under Capitalism, Claredon Press, 1997.

3. Arendt, Hannah. ‘Labour’ in Hannah Arendt The Human Condition, University of

Chicago Press, 1958 (1998 reprint).
4. Badaro, Mattos. Marcelo, ‘Labour History in Comparative Perspective’ in Sabyasaachi
Bhattacharya eds., Towards a New History of Work, Tulika Books, 2014, pp. 256-285.
5. Behal Rana, Alice Mah, and Babacar Fall. Rethinking Work: Global Historical and
Sociological Perspectives, Tulika, eds. 2011.
6. Bhattacharya, Sabyasaachi. ‘Introduction’ in Sabyasaachi Bhattacharya eds., Towards a
New History of Work, Tulika Books, 2014, pp.1-16.
7. Kocka, Jurgen. ‘Work as a Problem in European History’ in Jurgen Kocka Work in a
Modern Society: The German Historical Experience in Comparative Perspective, Oxford,
2010.
8. Parsons Talcott et al (eds). Theories of Societies: Foundations of Modern Sociological
Thought, Volume 1, Free Press Glancone, 1961, pp. 409-443.
9. Edgell Stephen. ‘Work and Alienation’ in Stephen Edgell, Sociology of Work: Continuity
 and Change in Paid and Unpaid Work, Sage, 2012.
10. Sen, Amartya. Employment, Technology and Development, Oxford University Press,
1975, pp.3-41.

II. Unfree Labour and Other Pre-Capitalist Labour Regimes

Essential Readings:
1. Utsa Patnaik and Prabhat Patnaik. Capitalism and Imperialism: Theory, History and the
Present, Tulika Books, 2021.
2. Polanyi, Karl. The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our
Times, 1944, Beacon Books reprint 2001, Introduction by Fred Block and Part One.
3. Takahashi, Kohachiro. ‘Contributions to the Debate’ in Rodney Hilton eds., The Transition
From Feudalism to Capitalism, Verso, 1976 (Reprint Aakar, 2006).
Further Readings:

1. Bales, Kevin. Disposable People: The New Slavery in a Global Economy, University of
California Press, 2012, pp. 1-33 and India Chapter.
2. Breman, Jan. The Political Economy of Unfree Labour in South Asia, Centre for
Development Studies Trivandrum and University of Amstredam, 2010.
3. Sinha, Arvind. ‘Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism: The Debate’ in Europe in
Transition, Manohar, 2013.
4. Selwyn, Benjamin and Satoshi Miyamura. ‘Class Struggle and Embedded Markets: Marx,
Polanyi and the Possibilities of Social Transformation’ New Political Economy, Volume 9
Number 5, 2014.
5. Williams, Eric, Capitalism and Slavery, 1944, Part One
6. Angela Davis: Women, Race and Class

III. Theories of Wage, Labour Market Formation and Capitalism

Essential Readings:

1. Jha, P, Sam Moyo and Paris Yeros, ‘Capitalism and Labour Reserves’ in C.P.
Chandrasekhar and J Ghosh eds, Interpreting the World to Change It: Essays in Honour of
Prabhat Patnaik, Tulika Books, 2016.
2. Marx, Karl. Capital: Critique of Political Economy, Penguin, Volume 1 pp. 379-401.
3. International Labour Organisation, Minimum Wages Systems, 2014.
4. Bharadwaj, Krishna. The Formation of Rural Labour Markets: An Analysis with Special
Reference to Asia, International Labour Organisation, 1989.

Further Readings:

1. Dobb, Maurice. Wages, Nisbet and Company, London, 1933.

2. Rowthorn, Bob. ‘Marx’s Theory of Wages’ in Bob Rowthorn eds., Capitalism, Conflict
and Inflation, Lawrence and Wishart, 1980.
 3. Dreze, Jean and Anindita Mukherjee. ‘Labour Contracts in Rural India: Theory and
Evidence’, Development Research Programme Working Paper Number 7, LSE, 1987.
4. Papola, T.S. ‘Structural Adjustment, Labour Market Flexibility and Employment’ in J.
Krishnamurthy and Rajendra P Mamgain eds., Growth, Employment and Labour Markets,
Daanish Books, 2013.
5. Solow, Robert. M. The Labour Market as Social Institution, Blackwell, 1990.
IV. The Household, Paid and Unpaid Labour
Essential Readings:

1. Tithi Bhattacharya: Mapping Social Reproduction

2. Lise Vogel: Marxism and the Oppression of Women
3. Jayati Ghosh: Women, Labour and Capital Accumulation in Asia in Pete Custer
Capitalist Accumulation and Women in Asian Economies.

Further Readings:

1. Elson, Daine. ‘The Economic, The Political and The Domestic: Businesses, States and
Households in the Organisation of Production’ New Political Economy, Volume 3
Number 2, 1998.
2. Janssens, Angelique. ‘The Rise of the Male Breadwinner Family: An overview of the
Debate’ in Angelique Janssens, (ed). The Rise and Decline of the Male Breadwinner
Family: Studies in Gendered Division of Labour and Household Organisation.
Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp.1-33.
3. Ray, Raka and Seemin Qayum. Cultures of Servitude: Modernity, Domesticity and Class
in India, Kali for Women, 2009.
4. Razavi, Shahra. The Political and Social Economy of Care in a Development Context,
UNRISD, 2007.

V. Factory Regimes and Formal/Informal Labour Relations under Capitalism

Essential Readings:

1. Braverman, Harry. Labour and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the
Twentieth Century, Monthly Review Press, Part II onwards, 1974.
2. Burawoy, Michael. The Politics of Production: Factory Regimes Under Capitalism and
Socialism, Verso, 1985, pp.85-155.
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4. Guy Standing, The Precariat: A New Dangerous Class, Bloomsbury, 2011. 5. Scully Ben,
‘Precariaty North and South: A Southern Critique of Guy Standing, Global Labour Journal,
2016.
6. Wright, Eric Olin, ‘Is the Precariat A Class’ Global Labour Journal 2016
Further Readings:
 1. Bhalla, Shiela. Definitional and Statistical Issues Relating to Workers in Informal
Employment, NCEUS, 2008.
2. Bhattacharya, Sabyasaachi and Jan Luccassen (eds). Workers in the Informal Sector,
Macmillan, 2005.
3. Papola, T.S. ‘Informal Sector: Concept and Policy’ Economic and Political Weekly 3 May,
1980.
4. Jha Praveen, Labour in Contemporary India, 2016.
VI. Capitalism, and the International Division of Labour
Essential Readings:

1. Ietto-Gillies, Grazia. ‘A Theory of Transnational Corporations 50+’ Paper presented at

17th Annual Conference of the European Society for the History of Economic
Thought, 18 May, 2013.
2. Jha Praveen and Paris Yeros ‘Global Agricultural Value Systems in the South: Some
Critical Issues in Current Juncture Agrarian South Vol 8 (1-2) 2019.
3. THE
3. Jha, Praveen and Paris Yeros.
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Global Value Systems:
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DEVELOPMENT, the Developing Countries’, in Christina Teipen, Hansjorg Herr et al
HYMER
eds. Economic and Social Upgrading of Global Value Chains, Palgrave Macmillan,
2022.
Further Readings:

1. Bagchi, Amiya. Perilious Passage: Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of Capital,
Oxford University Press, 2006, pp.305-327.
2. Nathan, Dev, Meenu Tiwari and Sandeep Sarkar eds., Labour in Global Value Chains
in Asia, Routledge, 2017, Chapter One.
3. Burawoy, Michael. The Politics of Production: Factory Regimes Under Capitalism and
Socialism, Verso, 1985, pp.209-269.
4. Barrientos, Stephanie. Global Production Networks and Decent Work, International
Labour Organisation Working Paper, 2007.
5. Cattaneo, Olivier, Gary Gereffi, and Cornelia Staritz. Global Value Chains in A Post
Crisis World, World Bank, 2010.
6. International Labour Organisation. Special Issue on Decent Work and Global Value
Chains, International Labour Review, 2011.

VII. Working Class and their Organisations

Essential Readings:

1. Amircal Cabral, Unity and Struggle

2. Fanon, Franz Wretched of the Earth.
3. Thompson, E.P. Making of the English Working Class, Penguin, 1991.
Further Readings:

1. Bagchi, Amiya. ‘Class Struggles, Ideologies, Economic Transformation and

 Colonialism’ Economic and Political Weekly 14 April 2012.
2. Van der Linden, Marcel. Workers of the World: Essays towards Global Labour History,
Brill, 2008, pp. 173-285.
3. Patnaik, Prabhat. Irfan Habib and Aijaz Ahmed, A World to Win: Essays on the
Communist Manifesto, Leftword, 1999.
4. Ahuja, Ravi. Working Lives and Worker Militancy: The Politics of Workers in Colonial
India, Tulika, 2013.
4. Chakrabarty, Dipesh. Rethinking Working Class History, Princeton University Press,
2002.
5. Hobsbawm, Eric. Labouring Men: Studies in the Histories of Labour, Basic Books,
1986.