Workers of the World …: The ‘Economic Corporate Moment’ of Contemporary World Politics

Abstract

In the previous chapter Jeffrey Harrod provided an account of his and Robert Cox’s approach to the study of unprotected work through ‘patterns of social relations of production’ (Harrod, 1987; Cox, 1987). This was in part a retrospective account and in part a consideration of possible future developments of the approach. He also made the case that his neomaterialist approach was better equipped to analyze poverty as a social force of world politics than the approaches that dominate at present. He made this case through a critique of both Marxism and fashionable approaches that are characterized by ‘work-empty’ discourses.

I thank Jeffrey Harrod for his thorough review and comments on a previous version of this chapter. Thanks also to Matt Davies, Marlea Clarke, Robert Imam, Mustapha Kamal Pasha, Karim Knio and Mark Neocleous for their very helpful comments and suggestions.