Work and Employment

Webinar: "Labour Law, Democracy and Capability – A Reappraisal" – 26th November 2024

On 26th November 2024, Simon Deakin, Professor of Law at the University of Cambridge, gave an online talk to the Thematic Group on the topic of "Labour Law, Democracy and Capability: A Reappraisal" (abstract below). Ruth Dukes, Professor of Labour Law at the University of Glasgow, was a discussant.

You can find an audio recording of the event below, together with a link to the slides:

Audio recording of the event: [ADD LINK]
Simon Deakin’s slides: [ADD LINK]
Ruth Dukes’ slides: [ADD LINK]

Abstract:

This paper explores the application of the capability concept to labour law through a re-reading of chapter 5 of The Law of the Labour Market (Deakin and Wilkinson, 2005). Although the wider work set out to explore the evolution of labour law concepts in the long durée of British industrialisation, the final chapter, in setting out a rationale for labour law reform which incorporated features of capability thinking, has attracted the most comment, much of it critical. One criticism was that the proposal too easily assumed away the political preconditions for meaningful change, another that the focus on re-regulating the market conceded too much to the neoliberal and pro-capitalist agenda which it had sought to counter. Twenty years on, labour law scholarship is increasingly taking a neo-Marxist turn, as part of which legally focused litigation and reform strategies are being questioned. Labour law’s complex relationship to imperialism and colonialism is also under scrutiny. In the academy, at least, neo-Fabian plans for the modernisation of the labour law and labour market could hardly be less in vogue. Yet, something like a modernisation programme of this kind is what is currently on offer from the UK government, with the Employment Rights Bill (ERB) a far from trivial first step in this direction, while the EU’s platform work and minimum wage directives draw on similar thinking. In defence of the arguments mounted in chapter 5 of The Law of the Labour Market, this paper will explore their radical roots in Marx’s analysis of factory legislation and the Webbs’ critique of labour market ‘disorganisation’, both of which found a resonance in the arguments mounted by the Cambridge Labour Studies Group in favour of the minimum wage and sectoral collective bargaining in the 1980s. This analysis informed the work of the Institute of Employment Rights, itself a direct influence on the new ERB. A solidaristic and egalitarian understanding of capabilities can be seen as informing the current cycle of labour law modernisation programmes in the UK and elsewhere.

-----

Thematic panel - “Reasons to value work – instrumental or intrinsic to wellbeing? Conceptual issues in capability accounts of work and employment” at 2024 HDCA Conference - September 2024

The Thematic Group Work and Employment convened a thematic panel “Reasons to value work – instrumental or intrinsic to wellbeing? Conceptual issues in capability accounts of work and employment” at the Annual HDCA Conference in Kolkata this September 2024. The panelist’s abstracts and presentations are available for download here.

---

Subscribe to our mailing list

---

"The Work and Employment Thematic Group" began meeting in 2019. It aims to promote and support the research of scholars, students and practitioners using the capability approach in the field of labour markets and employment, both in the context of the HDCA and beyond. The network is open to HDCA members and non-members alike to discuss work in progress and emerging new ideas. It is a particularly useful forum for students, academics and practitioners to share their work with a wider audience. The Work and Employment thematic group generates a space for sharing your own contributions to the field with colleagues and for developing new national and international partnerships. If you wish to plan a local or regional event, then please share your news with the coordinators. We welcome new and existing members to contribute ideas to take this new thematic group going forwards. Please do check out the publications section of the HDCA website and if you are aware of publications that are not currently mentioned do let us know.

The thematic group is open to suggestions for contributions to its meetings and workshops (online and in person), and it encourages panel submissions to the HDCA conference. The TG is working on a bibliography on the subject.