Introduction

In opposition to the traditional reading of Marx’s work as a form of radical political economy reliant upon an affirmative conception of labour, there is a growing body of thinkers seeking to develop his critique of political economy as a critical social theory. Such a conception recognises that labour is not the transhistorical essence of human society as such but is rather a specific form of human social praxis that results in the alienated totality of capital. This means that overcoming the insurmountable problems that human society faces under the capital form requires putting labour, as its central structuring activity, into question too. This book aims to contribute to and strengthen this current of though a critical examination of Marx’s conception of labour as ‘the real not-capital’.