division of labor

trivia

is a capitalist form of social production whereby workers specialize in one task and produce an object together.

worker specialize in one task and produce an object together 'The division of labor is a specifically capitalist form of social production... it is a way of creating surplus-value at the expense of the worker. It is both a necessary part of civilizations progress and a more refined way to exploit workers. There are obstacles to the development of the division of labor during the manufacturing period. However, with the advent of machines these obstacles are pushed aside and capital takes center stage' (Spark notes Marx).

For Smith, the division of labor is the source of wealth of nations, whereas for Marx it is a catastrophe for the working class. For Marx, humans are many-sided beings, who require a wealth of activities and free-conscious self-determination ro realize their basic human powers.

is responsible for the creation of a uniformity, a regularity, an order, an intensity of labour. 'The overseer's book of penalties replaces the slave-driver's lash.' All punishments naturally resolve themselves into fines and deductions from wages.

The division of labor in the factor is such he writes (1990:465), that it 'creatses a continuity, a uniformity, a regularity, an order, and even an intensity of labour quite differnt from that found in the independent handicraft' In sentences that anticipate. . . foucault. . . he sdescribess how 'the overseer's book of penalties replaces the slave-driver's lash'..'all punishments naturally resolve themselves into fines and deductions from wages'. . . ' (in Chakrabarty public culture 12(3):660). . .

division of labor, n.Definitions

division of labor