Depoliticized labor markets discipline workers through the threat of unemployment and lower wages

Evidence

If one could not convince the majority to work hard (while consuming less), the experts knew that the depoliticization of the economy would get them to submit. Indeed, the agenda was to remove “controls in various forms,” including laws that protected labor. Th e reestablishment of an unfettered labor market, especially in times of defl ation, warranted a natural disciplining of the labor force through a threat of ending up in the ranks of the reserve army of labor if they refused to accept lower wages. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 796

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to modern ‘structural adjustment’ and reserve army of labor concepts in Marxian political economy; also anticipates Volcker’s 1979 austerity referenced later in the chapter. — connects to: Self-branding shifts economic risk onto workers while demanding constant unpaid labor — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 524; U.S. officials viewed unemployment as a deliberate worker-discipline tool. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 18; Poverty and unemployment function as deliberate system solutions, not failures — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 159 (+20 more)

Broader Connections

• Fear of unemployment disciplines workers into subordination to capital. #corroborates (0.98) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 250
• Unemployment structurally disciplines workers and lowers labor costs in capitalism #corroborates (0.95) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 150
• Unemployment functions as a deliberate worker-discipline device #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 18
• Worker insecurity functions as a deliberate competitive asset for capital #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 232
• A labor market favorable to workers triggers organizing and higher wages. #complicates (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 264
• Unemployment functioned as a deliberate political weapon to weaken labor #corroborates (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 994
• Austerity was capitalism’s manufactured response to worker challenges #expands (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 585