Umney, Charles, Greer, Ian, Onaran, Özlem ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6345-9922 and Symon, Graham (2017) The state and class discipline: European labour market policy after the financial crisis. Capital and Class, 42 (2). pp. 333-351. ISSN 0309-8168 (Print), 2041-0980 (Online) (doi:10.1177/0309816817738318)

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Abstract

This paper looks at two related labour market policies that have persisted and even proliferated across Europe both before and after the financial crisis: wage restraint, and punitive workfare programmes. It asks why these policies, despite their weak empirical records, have been so durable. Moving beyond comparative-institutionalist explanations which emphasise institutional stickiness, it draws on Marxist and Kaleckian ideas around the concept of ‘class discipline’. It argues that under financialisation, the need for states to implement policies that discipline the working class is intensified, even if these policies do little to enable (and may even counteract) future stability. Wage restraint and punitive active labour market policies are two examples of such measures. Moreover, this disciplinary impetus has subverted and marginalised regulatory labour market institutions, rather than being embedded within them.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	financialisation, policy systems, wage restraint, active labour market policies, workfare, Marxism
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Business Faculty of Business > Department of International Business & Economics Faculty of Business > Institute of Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability (IPEGFA) Faculty of Business > Institute of Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability (IPEGFA) > Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre (GPERC)
Last Modified:	04 Aug 2021 16:33
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/17464

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