{"title":"Race and Colonialism in the Construction of Labour Markets and Precarity","authors":"Diamond Ashiagbor","doi":"10.1093/INDLAW/DWAB020","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the interconnections and continuities between racial inequalities in the contemporary labour market and the legacies of colonialism and racial distinctions woven into the evolution of market economy. It argues that race is embedded in the legal form by which labour is regulated. In its focus on the legal relations between individual subjects, namely, the contract of employment, the dominant legal form for governing work relations, the standard employment relationship, erases from view the broader social and economic structures within which the bilateral relationship exists—that is, the unpaid work of social reproduction and the colonial extraction which make paid work possible. The article identifies a number of ways in which race, racism and the legacies of colonialism are implicated in the evolution of market economy and latterly in the construction of the postwar welfare state and contemporary labour market institutions. First, in the racial capitalism of slavery. Second, in the colonial extraction and commodification of labour power from the global South for the benefit of markets in the global North. Third, in relation to migrant labour and racialised segmentation of the labour market.","PeriodicalId":1,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of Chemical Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"11","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounts of Chemical Research","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/INDLAW/DWAB020","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 11
Abstract
This article explores the interconnections and continuities between racial inequalities in the contemporary labour market and the legacies of colonialism and racial distinctions woven into the evolution of market economy. It argues that race is embedded in the legal form by which labour is regulated. In its focus on the legal relations between individual subjects, namely, the contract of employment, the dominant legal form for governing work relations, the standard employment relationship, erases from view the broader social and economic structures within which the bilateral relationship exists—that is, the unpaid work of social reproduction and the colonial extraction which make paid work possible. The article identifies a number of ways in which race, racism and the legacies of colonialism are implicated in the evolution of market economy and latterly in the construction of the postwar welfare state and contemporary labour market institutions. First, in the racial capitalism of slavery. Second, in the colonial extraction and commodification of labour power from the global South for the benefit of markets in the global North. Third, in relation to migrant labour and racialised segmentation of the labour market.
期刊介绍:
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.