CLV213 | Labour, value and world(s) of work

This course develops on prior courses and introduces students to the concepts of work and  labour that has been central to production of values and commodities as well as to social  relations. The course will begin with a historical sketch of how the concept of labour came  about with the distinctions between use and exchange value to manual and intellectual labour to free and unfree labour. Building further on this, the course will unpack how labour  transitions into ‘work’; and the market-oriented or transactional assumptions built into the  term. It further looks at the managerial assumptions about labour that align with the interests  of the global economic processes that help in identifying the work regime that comes into  existence through various narratives of losses and value. It becomes important here to note  the distinctions drawn between paid and unpaid labour that is central to understanding how  value is assigned to labour and measure work that lies outside the boundaries of reciprocal  exchange. Additionally, the course will explore the world(s) of work that emerges and  intersects with diverse sociological contexts in building identities and networks in the  contemporary spaces. Essentially, this course deals with the following questions: What can  be considered as work? Who is the ideal worker? What kind of work does not adhere to the  equations of capitalist notion of exchange? What happens when this work becomes amenable  to exchange? Does gender and class identity of the performer determine the economic value  of the task performed?

The reading materials included in the course range from ethnographies to rhetorical writings  on the concept of work. The idea, primarily, is to be able to map the transitions in the concept  of work and labour and explore the ways it impinges upon other locations and spaces. As part  of engaged pedagogy, drawn from bell hooks, I believe in creating classroom as a space where  each member contributes to the knowledge production. The classes will therefore be based on  the discussion model where students will be required to read the assigned materials prior to class. I believe, other forms of texts like documentary films, TV series, poems, also help in  exploring the topic in question in newer ways and will therefore be included as suggested  materials apart from the required readings. The course is designed in a way that we build newer  knowledge based on the existing knowledge and build an understanding of the “world(s) of  work” incrementally. The course is therefore modularly structured and sequentially spaces.