‘Democratic Socialism’ and the Concept of (Post)Capitalism

This article explores the ‘democratic socialism’ being proposed by new left movements on either side of the Atlantic, and evaluates its claim to be a form of anti- or postcapitalism. It argues that in the democratic socialist worldview, the line between capitalism and socialism rests on the balance of power between workers and capitalists in the economic sphere. While traditional social democracy seeks to redistribute wealth but leaves relations between workers and capitalists within firms untouched, democratic socialism seeks to abolish private property in the economic sphere. Production is controlled democratically by the workers themselves, in league with a workers’ state. The article critically appraises the claim that such a scenario constitutes a form of postcapitalism. Drawing on the work of critical Marxists such as Moishe Postone, it argues that capitalism is not primarily defined by private property relations in the economic sphere, but rather the peculiar social form of capitalist labour. Unlike in pre-capitalist societies, for labour in capitalism to secure a continued basis on which to reproduce the means of subsistence, it must be socially validated as ‘value-producing’. The criteria for value validation is not set in the workplace, or within a single nation state, but rather on the world market. The article concludes that, for all its merits, the democratisation of workplaces does not overcome the need for this social validation, but rather constitutes an alternative form of managing the process of production in this context. As such, democratic socialism, like social democracy, remains susceptible to the same imperatives and crises as other forms of capitalist production, and so cannot be said to constitute a form of ‘postcapitalism’.     

Gender Inequality,Social Reproduction and the Universal Basic Income

Despite extensive attention being paid to the effects of the Universal Basic Income (UBI) on society at large, there has been little analysis on the relationship between gender inequality and UBI. The purpose of this article is first to reflect on the feminist arguments in favour of UBI and then to examine some of these points by also considering other available policies. By looking into the role of women’s work in both productive and reproductive activities, it is argued that UBI should not be disregarded as a social policy. However, its transformative capacity to empower women and to strengthen their role in society should not be overestimated. In order to address this gap, policy makers should address misconceptions around gender norms and acknowledge the multiple forms of women’s work across the social relations of production and reproduction.     

Racialisation of Immigrants at Work: Labour Mobility and Segmentation of Peruvian Migrants in Chile

This article explores the emergent racialisation of Peruvian migrants as one element conditioning the labour segregation that characterises Peruvian insertion in Chile. We understand racialisation as a process of construction of categories in which both individual and collective actors participate, and whose expression is demonstrated by the differentiation and inequality that affects the racialised group. We tackle the articulation of racial differences among individual actors, both Chilean employers and Peruvian migrant workers, to suggest that the attribution of naturalised characteristics to migrants is related to segregation, mobility, and specific trajectories in the labour market.     

评析中世纪晚期英国济贫法

英国从封建主义向资本主义过渡时期曾出现过历史上最严重的贫困问题,贫困和流浪普遍存在,社会不安定因素急剧增加,这引起统治者的关注,为了维持统治,稳定社会秩序,统治者颁布了一系列的法令法规,确立了济贫原则,通过法律的形式将早期的社会保障活动固定下来.英国是世界上最早建立济贫法的国家,其立法精神一直对世界各国和地区的社会救济立法产生了重要影响.     

少数民族地区农村富余劳动力就业现状分析与思考

劳务输出,已逐步成为少数民族地区农村农民家庭经济收入的重要组成部分,成为一条促进农民增收的快捷途径。少数民族地区农村在富余劳动力就业上存在着“三多三少”的情况,通过加强政府对劳动力输出的引导和组织;加强对劳动力输出的宣传,创造优良环境,加大扶持力度;健全信息网络,健全劳动力就业服务体系;强化农村劳动力技能学习培训等措施,以推动少数民族地区农村富余劳动力转移工作的开展。     

两种分配方式相结合的经济运行

市场化的按劳分配具有四个鲜明特点:劳动计量市场化、分配主体企业化、工资形成市场化、政府对工资的调控宏观化。按生产要素分配必须首先把不同生产要素的不同使用价值抛开,使它们在质上等同,而利率机制在企业调节并实现剩余价值分配中发挥着重要作用。两种分配方式相结合需要有相应的配套工程。     

论我国劳动争议处理机制之完善

我国现行劳动争议处理机制是强制性的多轨制,这一机制尚存在诸多弊端:费时耗力,有悖于程序正义和效益的原则;缺乏对仲裁裁决的监督,仲裁程序的职能弱化;仲裁和审判之间缺乏协调,重复审理,浪费审判资源。因此,应借鉴市场经济发达国家的成功经验,完善我国劳动争议处理机制,加强工会的作用,突出调解职能,使劳动争议仲裁与民事仲裁衔接,并建立劳动公益诉讼制度。     

农民工实现身份转变对策研究——以桂林地区为例

农村劳动办转移已经进入一个新的历史阶段,实现农民工的身份转变,已成为加速实现城镇化、工业化、农业产业化以及全面推进我国社会主义新农村和全面小康社会建设的重要课题和当务之急。     

经济法主体论纲

现有的法主体理论注重从外延来界定法的主体,这必然会导致法主体的缺损。法主体的认知逻辑可以是:先从本质层面来界定法主体的内涵,再从现象层面来界定法主体的外延,法主体的外延具有相对的开放性。经济法主体研究在遵循上述认知逻辑的基础上,可追问并扬弃经济法的本体论,立足于解析生产方式的变更所导致的人类社会行为和社会关系的变化并抽象出经济法调整的社会关系——增量利益关系。增量利益源于剩余劳动的创造,可将劳动力权人作为经济法主体的内涵,而将自然人和自然人的组合作为经济法主体外延,并进一步对企业、国家、社会中间层等自然人组合的经济法主体属性进行分析。     

论劳动的分离及其现实意义

随着生产力的发展,劳动形态发生了三次较大的历史性分离。分离的结果,是劳动形态的多元化。多元化的劳动归源于人类的活劳动,活劳动是价值创造的终极来源。这对于坚持和发展劳动价值论具有十分重要的现实意义。