Class, Productive and Unproductive Labour - Journal of Alternative ...

Class, Productive and Unproductive Labour: Divisions in the Global Working Class?The most important question with regard to class is as towhether class as a construct can be used to explainapparent divisions between workers in the global North andthose in the global South. To this end, a discussion of thedistinction between productive and unproductive labour isundertaken which will relate to the various activities thattake place during the production and consumption of acommodity, and will endeavour to understand the divisionsthat exist between workers.2. ClassCapitalism has become increasingly global in itsoperation, but the key consideration at hand is whetherworkers can have power to influence capitalism. Wright(2001:29), in describing the potential power of workers,suggests that “…exploitation constitutes a social relationwhich simultaneously pits the interests of one group againstanother and which requires their ongoing interactions; andsecond, it confers upon the disadvantaged group a real formof power with which to challenge the interests of exploiters.”Put simply, to make profits, capitalists need workers as partof the productive process. It is this need that gives workersthe potential to exert influence within or against capitalism.From the position of workers engaged in globalproduction, to apply Wright’s logic to an increasinglyglobalized capitalism, is to stress the need for political actionbeyond the national boundaries of any particular workingclass. For workers and capitalists alike, globalization wassignificant because the shackles that bound capital toindividual nation states were removed. This process greatlyaltered the balance of power in favour of the capitalistagainst the worker. Critical to Wright’s argument about thepower the working class has to exert influence is the abilityof the working class to control its own labour, the right it hasto withhold that labour, or the ability it has to determine thelevel of exertion in performing that labour (2001:29). Thecritical point is that this power was greatly diminished whenit became possible for capital to simply shift production to amore favourable location with a more compliant workforce.Indeed, capitalists need not shift their investment in18