Labor in Culture, Or, Worker of the World(s) (Palgrave Studies in Globalization, Culture and Society)

This Book Is A Cultural Critique Of Labor And Globalization That Considers Whether One Can Represent The Other. The Cultural Representation Of Labor Is A Challenge In How Globalization Is Understood. Workers May Be Everywhere In The World But Cultural Correlatives Are Problematic. By Elaborating Cultural Theory And Practice This Book Examines Why This Might Be So. If Globalization Unites Workers Via Production And Capital Flows, It Often Writes Over Traditional Or Progressive Forms Of Unity. Worlds Of Work Have Expanded In The Last Half Century, Yet Labor Has Receded Within Cultural Discourse. By Considering Critical And Historical Concepts In The Workers’ Inquiry, The Subject, And Value, And Provocative Projects In Cultural Representation Itself, This Study Expands Our Lexicon Of Labor To Understand More Fully What “workers Of The World” Means Under Globalization. As Such The Book Offers Broad Appeal To Students And Teachers Of Global And Cultural Studies And Will Interest All Those Who Take Seriously How The Worker Is Articulated At A Global Scale. An Inquiry Of Labor -- The Worker Subjects -- On The Cultural Representation Of Labor (value) -- Sensing Lass In John Berger's Into Their Labors Trilogy -- A Gift: Workers To Sebastiao Salgado -- The Paradox Of Moving Labor: Workers In The Films Of Jia Zhangke -- Peter Hitchcock. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "This book is a cultural critique of labor and globalization that considers whether one can represent the other. The cultural representation of labor is a challenge in how globalization is understood. Workers may be everywhere in the world but cultural correlatives are problematic. By elaborating cultural theory and practice this book examines why this might be so. If globalization unites workers via production and capital flows, it often writes over traditional or progressive forms of unity. Worlds of work have expanded in the last half century, yet labor has receded within cultural discourse. By considering critical and historical concepts in the workers' inquiry, the subject, and value, and provocative projects in cultural representation itself, this study expands our lexicon of labor to understand more fully what "workers of the world" means under globalization. As such the book offers broad appeal to students and teachers of Global and Cultural Studies and will interest all those who take seriously how the worker is articulated at a global scale."--Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-xx Front Matter....Pages 1-1 An Inquiry of Labor....Pages 3-45 The Worker Subjects....Pages 47-74 On the Cultural Representation of Labor (Value)....Pages 75-100 Front Matter....Pages 101-101 Sensing Class in John Berger’s “Into Their Labors” Trilogy....Pages 103-132 A Gift: Workers to Sebastião Salgado....Pages 133-190 The Paradox of Moving Labor: Workers in the Films of Jia Zhangke....Pages 191-223 Back Matter....Pages 225-248