The Ideology of Work: Theoretical Humanism, Work and Labour (Historical Materialism Book Series, 311)

In On the Reproduction of Capitalism, Louis Althusser cited an appendix which, it seems, remains lost or was never completed. This appendix was titled ‘the Ideology of Work’.This book takes inspiration from this appendix, to think about what is at stake for both Marxism and sociology in analysing work from an Althusserian perspective today. The dominant form of this ideology of work today is theoretical humanism. This book demonstrates how theoretical humanism has undermined the analysis of work and makes the case for a Marxism in sociology with a committed theoretical anti-humanism at the forefront of its endeavour.Samuel J.R. Mercer is a lecturer in social policy at Liverpool Hope University. He is a member of the editorial board of Rethinking Marxism and has published work in journals such as Economy and Society and Décalages. ‎Contents ‎Acknowledgements ‎Introduction. The Ideology of Work ‎1. A Crisis of Marxism ‎2. Structure of the Book ‎Chapter 1. The Humanist Controversy ‎1. Humanism as a Theoretical Problem ‎2. Humanism as a Political Problem ‎3. Anti-humanism after Althusser: The Spinozist Detour ‎4. Anti-humanism after Althusser: The Hegelian/Lacanian Detour ‎5. A Sociological Detour: Anti-humanism and Work ‎6. Conclusion ‎Chapter 2. The Concept of ‘Labour’ in Marx’s Critique of Political Economy ‎1. Marx Explodes the Concept of ‘Labour’ ‎2. A ‘Politics of Labour’ ‎3. Labour and Ideology ‎4. Conclusion ‎Chapter 3. ‘Social Labour’ and the Critique of Work in Marxist Theory ‎1. ‘Social Labour’ ‎2. Theory, Politics and ‘Social Labour’ in the Marxist Critique of Work ‎2.1. ‘Experience’, Labour and Class ‎2.2. De-skilling and the Labour Process ‎2.3. The Sociology of Immaterial Labour ‎2.4. The Crisis of Work ‎3. Conclusion ‎Chapter 4. Theoretical Humanism and the Post-work Imaginary ‎1. A Brave New World of (Post-)work ‎2. The Problem with Post-work ‎3. The Theoretical Humanism of Post-work Thought ‎3.1. The Theoretical Problem ‎3.2. The Political Problem ‎4. Conclusion ‎Chapter 5. Social Reproduction and Theoretical Anti-humanism ‎1. A ‘Crisis’ of Feminism? ‎2. Emotion, Alienation and Reproductive Labour ‎3. Towards an Anti-humanist Theoretical Feminism: Social Reproduction Theory ‎4. Conclusion ‎Chapter 6. ‘Making’ History: The Concept of Labour and the Anthropocene Discourse ‎1. Labour and the Theoretical Humanism of the Anthropocene ‎2. Alienation, Modernity and the Anthropocene ‎3. Humanism, Historicism, Marxism: Labour between ‘Fossil Capital’ and the ‘Capitalocene’ ‎4. Conclusion ‎Conclusion. Marxism in Sociology ‎References ‎Index Grounded in the Marxism of Louis Althusser, this book argues that theoretical humanism is the dominant ideological structure of contemporary sociological analyses of work and that the renewal of Marxism in sociology depends upon its dismantling.