BETWEEN MARX AND FOUCAULT: CONTRADICTIONS OF WORK

contradições do trabalho

Abstract

The research deals with the contradictions of work in Marx and Foucault. Therefore, the focus is limited to two areas: work within the capitalist system, that is, the transformation of human labor force into a productive force within that system; the controversy among thinkers about work, which is the divergence between the conclusion of Marx in Economic-philosophical manuscripts – work is a natural behavior of human beings, constituting them as a generic being and, therefore, their essence – and that of Foucault in Truth and juridical forms – in order to work, the human being needs to be submitted to a series of technologies, not being possible to say that this is a natural behavior and, therefore, its essence. First, it will deal with the issue of work in capitalism, seeking to make a brief exposition of how thinkers understand that the productive body is manufactured from the disciplinary mechanisms of capital, so that it is possible to see how Marx and Foucault can become approach on this issue and, also, how the second had influence from the first to promote their analyses. Subsequently, a point where there is a distance between them will be addressed, as their projects take different critical directions. It is important that different is highlighted, since the understanding reached here is that this does not make these projects contrary, just different