Putting Critical Theory to Work: Labor, Subjectivity and the Debts of the Frankfurt School

Abstract

This article considers 1) the relevance of subjectivity and the problem of its absence in regard to recent debates around labor-process theory; and 2) the importance of maintaining a phenomenological conception of labor to the broader political project of critical theory and labor-process theory. By drawing on some of the classic texts of critical theory and some of the more recent texts in labor-process theory, I argue that understanding labor as both an instrumental and communicative practice works to undermine Habermasian conceptions of communication and praxis. What is at stake here is a critical conception of praxis that is able to recover labor as a fundamental problem in critical sociology. It is my contention that this mediation between critical phenomenology and labor-process theory can be productive not only in reinvigorating the political dimension of labor-process theory but also critical theory itself.