The national project of the African National Congress (ANC), the National Democratic Revolution (NDR), guides the post-apartheid state’s work to develop a new African middle class through policies such as Affirmative Action and Black Economic Empowerment. A substantial portion of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) public sector trade union members have been the beneficiaries of this project. COSATU is considered as a working-class organisation with a commitment to socialist politics, whereas the ANC is seen as a party that has emerged out of multi-class interests, dominated by the politics of nationalism. The underlying assumption is that much of the conflict between COSATU and the ANC is connected only to class politics. In the post-apartheid era, there has been a shift to Africanism as the ANC’s hegemonic non-racialism nationalism. This has acquired momentum both inside and outside the ranks of the ANC and its allies, including COSATU. As a result, questions about COSATU’s political traditions and its membership composition have emerged. To address this, my study’s contribution is that there are signs of new worker identity, organic workerism, emerging amongst the membership of the Democratic Nursing Association of South Africa (DENOSA) and to a lesser extent amongst the membership of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), two public sector affiliates of COSATU, in the province of Gauteng. The ANC’s ideology was hegemonic through the NDR in COSATU but as it endeavoured to manage too many contradictions, it has now run its course in post-apartheid South Africa. What is striking about organic workerism is that it is challenging the hegemonic ANC’s NDR within COSATU. The identification of organic workerism emerged through an interrogation of a selection of COSATU’s public sector trade union members’ class location, guided by the notion of contradictory class location, their racial identities and subjectivities and intersections with their gendered identities and subjectivities. My study concludes that COSATU and its public sector trade unions are far more complex and contested in terms of their political traditions and in terms of their membership in post-apartheid South Africa. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Sociology / PhD / Unrestricted

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo investigar a formação do conceito de trabalho ima-terial na filosofia de Antonio Negri. Para cumprir essa tarefa, principiamos com o exame de certo itinerário do que se convencionou chamar de operarismo italiano, do qual destacamos alguns aspectos metodológicos de fundamental importância no pensamento de nosso autor, es-pecialmente a copesquisa, desenvolvida por Romano Alquati, e a hipótese operarista, for-mulada por Mario Tronti. Além disso, dedicamo-nos também ao exame da própria reflexão metodológica negriana, a partir do estudo por ele realizado sobre os Grundrisse de Marx. Acre-ditamos que o exame das metodologias operarista, em geral, e negriana, em particular, seja de grande valia para a compreensão das preocupações eminentemente práticas que envolviam es-ses autores e do lugar que é reservado à classe operária em seu pensamento. Em nosso segundo capítulo é investigada a noção de composição de classe, criada e difundida entre os teóricos e militantes operaristas durante os anos sessenta, bem como as variações dessa composição ao longo do último século. Atentamo-nos particularmente ao ciclo de lutas do operário massa e, de maneira ainda mais circunscrita, aos eventos reunidos em torno da criação dos muitos Vietnãs, que, a partir do que foi interpretado por Negri como a recusa do trabalho, levaram à passagem do operário massa para uma figura de classe renovada, chamada de operário so-cial. Nessas lutas, e especialmente na recusa do trabalho, residem os primeiros elementos que permitem a compreensão não só das demandas operárias dos anos sessenta como também das estratégias capitalistas de reestruturação da produção efetuadas nos anos setenta e oitenta, fun-damentais para o advento do trabalho imaterial. Por fim, baseados em algumas pesquisas soci-ológicas realizadas por Negri na virada da década de oitenta para a década de noventa, dedi-camo-nos à compreensão da restruturação da produção capitalista e, paralelamente, das insuficientes considerações negrianas sobre o operário social, duma parte, e à primeira for-mulação do conceito de trabalho imaterial, doutra. A partir dessas pesquisas sociológicas, é possível verificar como essa nova forma de trabalho chamada por Negri de imaterial se vincula com a reestruturação capitalista da produção e à recuperação das demandas operárias feitas no ciclo de lutas do operário massa pelo capital, compreender alguns aspectos empíricos relacio-nados à organização e à realização do trabalho imaterial, a nosso ver ausentes das posteriores obras de nosso autor, e indicar as bases teóricas para as suas mais recentes reflexões sobre esse tema. / The present dissertation has as its purpose the investigation on the making of the concept of immaterial labor in the philosophy of Antonio Negri. To do so, we began by examining a certain itinerary of the so called Italian workerism, highlighting some methodological aspects of fun-damental importance in the thought of our author, especially the coresearch developed by Romano Alquati, and the workerist hypothesis, formulated by Mario Tronti. In addition, we also examine the Negris methodological reflection, based on his study on Marx\'s Grundrisse. We think that examining the workerist methodology in general and the Negris methodology in particular is of great value in understanding which were the eminently practical preoccupations involving these authors and what was the space reserved for the working class in their thinking. In our second chapter, the notion of class composition, created and diffused between the the-oreticians and militant workerists in the 1960s, as well as the variations of this composition over the twentieth century, is investigated. We are particularly paying attention to the cycle of struggles of the mass worker and, even more, to the events gathered around the creation of the many Vietnams, which, from what was interpreted by Negri as the refusal of work, led to the passage of the mass worker to a renewed figure of class, the social worker. In these struggles, and especially in the refusal of work, rely the first elements that allow the under-standing not only of the workers demands in the 1960s but also the capitalist restructuring strategies of the 1970s and 1980s, fundamental in the making of the concept of immaterial labor. Finally, based on some sociological research carried out by Negri from the 1980s to the 1990s, we devoted ourselves not only to the understanding of the restructuring of capitalist production and as well as of the - insufficient Negris considerations about the social worker on one hand and the first formulation of the concept of immaterial labor on the other. From this sociolog-ical research, it is possible to verify how this new form of work called immaterial by Negri is linked to the capitalist restructuring of production and to the recovery of the demands made by the mass worker in their cycle of struggles, to understand some empirical aspects related to the organization and execution of immaterial work, in our view absent from the later works of our author, and to point the theoretical basis for his more recent reflections about this subject.

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo investigar a formação do conceito de trabalho ima-terial na filosofia de Antonio Negri. Para cumprir essa tarefa, principiamos com o exame de certo itinerário do que se convencionou chamar de operarismo italiano, do qual destacamos alguns aspectos metodológicos de fundamental importância no pensamento de nosso autor, es-pecialmente a copesquisa, desenvolvida por Romano Alquati, e a hipótese operarista, for-mulada por Mario Tronti. Além disso, dedicamo-nos também ao exame da própria reflexão metodológica negriana, a partir do estudo por ele realizado sobre os Grundrisse de Marx. Acre-ditamos que o exame das metodologias operarista, em geral, e negriana, em particular, seja de grande valia para a compreensão das preocupações eminentemente práticas que envolviam es-ses autores e do lugar que é reservado à classe operária em seu pensamento. Em nosso segundo capítulo é investigada a noção de composição de classe, criada e difundida entre os teóricos e militantes operaristas durante os anos sessenta, bem como as variações dessa composição ao longo do último século. Atentamo-nos particularmente ao ciclo de lutas do operário massa e, de maneira ainda mais circunscrita, aos eventos reunidos em torno da criação dos muitos Vietnãs, que, a partir do que foi interpretado por Negri como a recusa do trabalho, levaram à passagem do operário massa para uma figura de classe renovada, chamada de operário so-cial. Nessas lutas, e especialmente na recusa do trabalho, residem os primeiros elementos que permitem a compreensão não só das demandas operárias dos anos sessenta como também das estratégias capitalistas de reestruturação da produção efetuadas nos anos setenta e oitenta, fun-damentais para o advento do trabalho imaterial. Por fim, baseados em algumas pesquisas soci-ológicas realizadas por Negri na virada da década de oitenta para a década de noventa, dedi-camo-nos à compreensão da restruturação da produção capitalista e, paralelamente, das insuficientes considerações negrianas sobre o operário social, duma parte, e à primeira for-mulação do conceito de trabalho imaterial, doutra. A partir dessas pesquisas sociológicas, é possível verificar como essa nova forma de trabalho chamada por Negri de imaterial se vincula com a reestruturação capitalista da produção e à recuperação das demandas operárias feitas no ciclo de lutas do operário massa pelo capital, compreender alguns aspectos empíricos relacio-nados à organização e à realização do trabalho imaterial, a nosso ver ausentes das posteriores obras de nosso autor, e indicar as bases teóricas para as suas mais recentes reflexões sobre esse tema. / The present dissertation has as its purpose the investigation on the making of the concept of immaterial labor in the philosophy of Antonio Negri. To do so, we began by examining a certain itinerary of the so called Italian workerism, highlighting some methodological aspects of fun-damental importance in the thought of our author, especially the coresearch developed by Romano Alquati, and the workerist hypothesis, formulated by Mario Tronti. In addition, we also examine the Negris methodological reflection, based on his study on Marx\'s Grundrisse. We think that examining the workerist methodology in general and the Negris methodology in particular is of great value in understanding which were the eminently practical preoccupations involving these authors and what was the space reserved for the working class in their thinking. In our second chapter, the notion of class composition, created and diffused between the the-oreticians and militant workerists in the 1960s, as well as the variations of this composition over the twentieth century, is investigated. We are particularly paying attention to the cycle of struggles of the mass worker and, even more, to the events gathered around the creation of the many Vietnams, which, from what was interpreted by Negri as the refusal of work, led to the passage of the mass worker to a renewed figure of class, the social worker. In these struggles, and especially in the refusal of work, rely the first elements that allow the under-standing not only of the workers demands in the 1960s but also the capitalist restructuring strategies of the 1970s and 1980s, fundamental in the making of the concept of immaterial labor. Finally, based on some sociological research carried out by Negri from the 1980s to the 1990s, we devoted ourselves not only to the understanding of the restructuring of capitalist production and as well as of the - insufficient Negris considerations about the social worker on one hand and the first formulation of the concept of immaterial labor on the other. From this sociolog-ical research, it is possible to verify how this new form of work called immaterial by Negri is linked to the capitalist restructuring of production and to the recovery of the demands made by the mass worker in their cycle of struggles, to understand some empirical aspects related to the organization and execution of immaterial work, in our view absent from the later works of our author, and to point the theoretical basis for his more recent reflections about this subject.

The thesis analyses representations of body and class, and their wider ideological meaning, in Swedish power sports from 1920 to 1960. Boxing and weightlifting – sports dominated by manual workers – are chosen as study objects. The sources used are magazines connected to the power sports, and autobiographies by four prominent athletes. The thesis relates to different areas of previous research. One concerns the body as such, from a social and cultural history perspective, another revolves around medial and autobiographical representations in relation to sports, and a third is about the relationships between body, class and sport. In the analysis, the Bourdieusian concepts capital and hexis are added to a discussion on the ways that value is attached to the body, linked to the notions of use value and exchange value. The content analysis of the source material makes ground for an analysis of more implicit ideological aspects, e.g. using Barthes’s theory on mythology. Manual labour and working life appear as central organising themes in the source material. Boxing and weightlifting were largely regarded and designated as professions, challenging ideals of amateurism. A physically demanding manual work was depicted as natural breeding grounds where sports practitioners became skilled. This masculine ideal united people from various manual working groups (not only from the working class in its socio-economic sense) where the emphasis was put on the physical strength and ability of the athlete to work hard. The body was used in a form of class polemics, preferably against middle and upper class people. Certain aspects of strength and style of athletic performance were related to particular levels of intelligence and education. Power athletes from the manual working groups were depicted as “natural”, with associations to rural areas, not least working in the forest. The ideas of naturalness in its most derogatory sense of being close to animals and lacking civilisation, was however mostly used in connections with black athletes. Success stories were common narratives about power sports as arenas of success. They included a powerful norm that success must be cultivated, where the responsibility was put upon the athlete himself. Successful athletes from manual working groups could transform their physical capital into economic capital, which was often depicted as short-lived because of aging and individual shortcomings. A commercial consumer culture became more explicit in the 1950s, when bodybuilding had its Swedish breakthrough within weightlifting. Sports training was rationalised and largely decoupled from its associations with manual work. This led to an increased reification of the body as pure surface, which was attributed a value itself. The body became an area of consumption, a commodity with an exchange value, when decoupled from its use value as labour or tool for sporting success. As to the ideological aspects of the development, it is shown that there was a widespread individualist norm. Only the individual himself had the possibility to rise up and achieve success. The ideal of manual work was more of a moral and cultural nature, than political. Although there were some collectivist features in that rhetoric, the manual worker idealisation fundamentally carried an individualistic tendency. It is argued that this idealisation, or workerism, is a fruitful object for further analyses.