Book cover of Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century

Book description

First published in 1974, this text is written in a direct way by Harry Braverman, whose years spent as an industrial worker gave him insight into the labour process and the conviction to reject the reigning wisdoms of academic sociology. Here, he analyzes the division of labour between the design…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Labor and Monopoly Capital as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book provides a linkage between Marx’s time and contemporary capitalism through an in-depth study of scientific management or Taylorism. Braverman shows that the essence of Taylorism, the capture, by capital, of the worker’s skills and knowledge, is a necessary precondition for automation. Automation, Braverman reveals, is not simply a technical process, but a deeply social one. 

From James' list on what automation is.

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