Postoperaist perspective on productive and unproductive labour in science and higher education Cover Image

Postoperaistyczne spojrzenie na pracę produkcyjną i nieprodukcyjną w nauce i szkolnictwie wyższym
Postoperaist perspective on productive and unproductive labour in science and higher education

Author(s): Krystian Szadkowski
Subject(s): Marxism, Higher Education
Published by: Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: capital; productive/unproductive labor; academic labor; higher education; Marx

Summary/Abstract: This text starts with the inadequacy of the dispossession theory for the analysis of the relationship between publishing capital and academic labor; it is necessary to develop a Marxian theory of productive and unproductive labor within the field of science and higher education. For this purpose, a post-operaist perspective on productive labor has been proposed, which makes it possible to analyse the phenomenon of contemporary subsumption of academic labor under capital, as well as resistance against it. The essence of this approach is rooted in an exposition of the dual perspective on Marxist categories of the critique of political economy. It is used here to approximate the concept of directly productive academic labor, as well as to point out its apparent limitations. The next step is to present a view on the systemic productivity of academic labor. This is the only way to address the issue of truly productive academic work in the Marxian sense, and the obstacles on the way to its full implementation, the key to which is the smooth functioning of capitalist measures within the field of science and higher education.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 18
  • Page Range: 62-92
  • Page Count: 31
  • Language: Polish