The time that has become free. Machinism and technological change

Authors

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6018/sh.536041
Keywords: Marx, machinery, Mandel, technological revolution, automation

Abstract

This paper explores the contradiction pointed out by Marx between the progress of productive technology, which entails a potential decrease in working time, and its use under conditions of capitalist production, in relation to Ernest Mandel’s work Late Capitalism. To this end, the analyses carried out by Marx in Capital on machinery and large-scale industry, which Mandel takes as the basis of his work, are addressed first. Next, Mandel’s interpretation of the history of capitalism, the place he assigns in it to technological change and his characterization of the so-called late capitalism, in which he detects a constant pressure for technological innovation that stresses the internal contradictions of this productive regime, are presented. Finally, we reflect on the limitations of Mandel’s perspective in the face of the economic crisis that began at the end of the 1960s and its neoliberal overcoming.

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Published
28-07-2023
How to Cite
Martínez Matías, P. (2023). The time that has become free. Machinism and technological change. Historical Sociology, 12(1), 163–196. https://doi.org/10.6018/sh.536041