My ambition in the midst of the myriad of conflicting views in Smith scholarship has been to examine Smith’s perspective on wage labour, as formulated in The Wealth of Nations, in light of previous research, the historical context, his moral psychology described in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and his presentation of rights developed in Lectures on Jurisprudence. Therefore, the central question has been, “How did Adam Smith perceive wage labour?” Since The Wealth of Nations was formulated in a specific historical context - which has come to be known as the Scottish Enlightenment -, it is necessary to approach the text with an understanding of these historical conditions in order to grasp Smith's economic theory. Thus, it has been crucial to situate him within the political, philosophical, cultural, and linguistic contexts in which he operated. In order to assess Smith's views on wage labour, I have not only familiarised myself with the historical contexts but also examined Smith's positions on issues that constitute his perspective on the matter. A crucial assumption for the fruitful application of the aforementioned method is that the political, philosophical, cultural, and linguistic contexts fluctuate depending on time and place, thus constructing a framework for what is practically possible to investigate, problematise, debate, etc. This characteristic is referred to as paradigm (Kuhn) or episteme (Foucault). The study has applied a synthesis of both concepts. Throughout The Wealth of Nations, Smith assumes the existence of wage labour. However, beyond this fundamental assumption, his perspective on the issue is more complex. He indeed believed that an industrialised capitalist society based on private property rights, production for profit, and wage labour was better suited than any other economic-political system to generate growth and effectively address problems of poverty and inequality. The merits that Smith saw in wage labour were, in many respects, indirect, insofar as wage labour is a logical consequence of the free market and, to a lesser extent, division of labour. For Smith, the free market and division of labour were ultimate. Rather, any problems that might arise from them were expected to be resolved within the framework of these two immutable cornerstones. However, the purpose of Smith's economic and political program was both economic and ethical in character. His analysis of the labour market and its actors was that "the labouring poor" - whose interests intersected greatly with those of society - were at risk of exploitation by employers - whose interests always differed from the general public's - but this could be prevented through full employment, as companies would then need to compete for workers instead of vice versa. However, this is only the lesser of the two problems that wage labour, combined with division of labour, gives rise to, according to Smith. The other being what is somewhat anachronistically referred to as alienation in Smith research. In particular, Smith placed his trust in education to free workers' minds from the monotony of work and prevent them from being dulled, allowing them to think about something other than their jobs and helping them form a realistic understanding of where their own interests lay - and how they harmonised with society's. How then did Smith view wage labour? The short answer is that he saw it as something inevitable, inherent in the free market. However, he did highlight two serious risks associated with the free market and division of labour, namely the exploitation of the working class and alienation. While the former can be mitigated through full employment, the latter can be addressed through the education of the labouring poor.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-61493 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Jönsson, Richard |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för lärande och samhälle (LS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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