Europe and the People
Without History–“The
New Labourers”
Eric Wolf
Global expansion of capitalist mode of
production
If we understand capitalism as a mode of production in which:
• Social relationships are organized to enable capital
accumulation by a small elite
AND
• Capital accumulation is made possible by the privatization
of property and monetary exchange
SUCH THAT
• Commodification becomes the basis of all social
relationships
THEN
• The capitalist mode of production emerged in that part of
Western Europe that is today the nation-state of Great
Britain during the eighteenth century with the rise of a
global trade in textile manufacture that emerged out of
European colonization, imperialism, and the expansion of the
Trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Global expansion of capitalist mode of
production
• Starting in the 19th century different regions of the
world were re-organized to specialize in the production
of cash crops and raw materials for industry (Global
South), centers for industrial manufacture (Global
North), and the production of migrant labour/workers
(Global North and Global South).
• These big political economic changes transformed
“local” groups in the Global North AND the Global
South, in terms of their material and immaterial
culture.
• These cultural shifts are connected to shifts in how
people earn a living (production) and how they sustain
themselves over time (social reproduction).
• All identities present themselves as “timeless.” This
approach to the study of capitalism—as much more than a
mere “economic system—allows us to see how identity is
not merely “political” or “cultural”/“religion” but
also connected to how a group of people sustain
Labour market segmentation
• Division of workers in terms of the value ascribed
to the kind of work they do (“skilled” vs.
“unskilled”), the conditions in the work is
performed (precarious vs. “decent work”), and the
remuneration they receive (bare minimum of food
and shelter, wages, benefited position).
• These divisions enable capital accumulation by
making it possible to compensate people
differently depending on the value/identity they
are ascribed by the group that dominates the means
of production (land, access to work,
education/training, water, healthcare).
• Over the nineteenth century, as more and more
people had to(?)/chose to (?) migrate, governments
began to use migration management as a way of
achieving two competing goals; i.e. securing
“cheap” and “docile” labour for local elites AND