Marx, automation and the politics of recognition within social institutions

Burns, Tony

Abstract

This paper deals with the issue of Karl Marx’s views regarding automation, about which a great deal has been written recently, not least because of developments which have taken place in computing technology, Artificial Intelligence, and digital capitalism. One issue here is whether Karl Marx, one of the foremost theoreticians of the history of capitalism in its industrial phase, in the mid-nineteenth century, has anything to say about automation that is relevant to those writing about that subject today. The paper is also a contribution to a research project that is devoted to the politics of recognition within social institutions from the time of the ancient Greeks to the present. It offers a new way of thinking about Marx’s criticisms of a capitalist society and his views regarding the organization of economic production under communism. The particular social institution which Marx has in mind is the factory. These two issues are related because Marx holds that the organization of labour within the factory is closely connected to the phenomenon of automation. Marx assumes that the expression ‘automatic factory’ is a pleonasm.

The paper is composed of three parts. In Part 1, I offer an account of Marx’s views regarding automation as an economic phenomenon in Capital. In Parts 2 and 3, I consider two different readings of Marx’s views regarding the social and political significance of automation. One of these focuses on the idea of the politics of distribution, the material standard of living, and regards workers as ‘patients.’ The other focuses on the politics of recognition, the phenomenon of alienation, the idea of the quality of life, and thinks of workers as being ‘agents.’ There is evidence to support each of these readings in Marx’s writings and they are best thought of as being mutually supportive or complementary, rather than as being directly opposed to one another. If we are to adequately grasp Marx’s views regarding the significance of automation overall, then we need to take both of these readings into account. The paper emphasises the significance of Marx’s views regarding democratic ‘citizenship’ within the factory, an aspect of Marx’s theory of alienation which tends to be overlooked.

Citation

Burns, T. (2024). Marx, automation and the politics of recognition within social institutions. Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory, 52(2-3), 357-378. https://doi.org/10.1080/03017605.2024.2391619

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 6, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Oct 30, 2024
• Publication Date: Oct 30, 2024
• Deposit Date: Nov 8, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: May 1, 2026
• Journal: Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory
• Print ISSN: 0301-7605
• Electronic ISSN: 1748-8605
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 2-3
• Pages: 357-378
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03017605.2024.2391619
• Keywords: Marx; automation; alienation; politics of recognition; social institutions
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/27078748
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03017605.2024.2391619#d1e107