U.S. officials viewed unemployment as a deliberate worker-discipline tool.

Evidence

Similarly, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote in a memo to then Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan in 1996 that unemployment “serves as a worker-discipline device because the prospect of a costly unemployment spell produces sufficient fear of job loss to motivate workers to perform well without constant, costly supervision.” — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 18

Categorization

• XREF: This echoes the Marxist ‘reserve army of labor’ concept and Marx’s primitive-accumulation account of the discipline of want. — connects to: Unemployment functions as a deliberate worker-discipline device — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 18; Unemployment serves as discipline that keeps employed workers docile and grateful — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 282; Unemployment functioned as a deliberate political weapon to weaken labor — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 994 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Unemployment functions as a deliberate worker-discipline device #corroborates (0.98) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 18
• Unemployment functioned as a deliberate political weapon to weaken labor #corroborates (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 994
• Unemployment serves as discipline that keeps employed workers docile and grateful #expands (0.88) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 282
• Monetary austerity deliberately induced recession to discipline workers. #corroborates (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 154
• Fear of unemployment disciplines workers into subordination to capital. #expands (0.82) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 250
• Monetary austerity deliberately manufactures unemployment to compress wages. #corroborates (0.82) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 284
• Unemployment structurally disciplines workers and lowers labor costs in capitalism #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 150
• The unemployed reserve army disciplines employed workers into accepting overwork. #expands (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 258
• Depoliticized labor markets discipline workers through the threat of unemployment and lower wages #qualifies (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 796
• The pecule system withheld worker wages to enforce discipline and teach savings #exemplifies (0.75)