Beyond Marx: Theorising the Global Labour Relations of the Twenty-First Century

Capitalism, it seems, is back in fashion in North American universities; along with it has come renewed interest in its enduring prophet and prognosticator, Karl Marx. And although this might seem altogether uncontroversial, it is nonetheless curious that Marx still reigns over so much of what is written about the modern economy. After all, most scholars are quick to concede the flaws and deficits of his original body of work. Few, if any, still unreservedly embrace the inevitable teleology of capitalist development, the primacy of purely materialist analysis, or the falling rate of profit and the ineluctable demise of capitalism itself. What then, is and is not salvageable from Marx? What might a new theory of “global labour relations” entail?