Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jothpo/v25y2013i4p526-545.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploitation, inequality and power

Author

Listed:
  • Roberto Veneziani
Abstract
The concept of exploitation is central in social and political theory, but there is no precise, widely accepted definition. This paper analyses John Roemer’s seminal theory, which construes exploitation as a distributive injustice arising from asset inequalities, with no reference to notions of power or dominance. Firstly, an intertemporal generalisation of Roemer’s static economies is set up and several doubts are raised on the claim that exploitation theory can be reduced to a kind of resource egalitarianism. Then, Roemer’s philosophical arguments that exploitation should be defined as a merely distributive concept are also questioned and it is argued that a notion of power, or dominance, is an essential part of the definition of exploitation.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberto Veneziani, 2013. "Exploitation, inequality and power," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 25(4), pages 526-545, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:25:y:2013:i:4:p:526-545
    DOI: 10.1177/0951629813477275
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0951629813477275
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0951629813477275?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Skillman, Gilbert L., 1995. "Ne Hic Saltaveris: The Marxian Theory of Exploitation After Roemer," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 309-331, October.
    2. Roemer,John E., 1997. "Egalitarian Perspectives," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521574457.
    3. Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2011. "Strong Subjectivism In The Marxian Theory Of Exploitation: A Critique," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 53-68, February.
    4. Marc Fleurbaey, 2014. "The facets of exploitation," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 26(4), pages 653-676, October.
    5. John E. Roemer, 1982. "New Directions in the Marxian Theory of Exploitation and Class," Politics & Society, , vol. 11(3), pages 253-287, September.
    6. Veneziani, Roberto, 2007. "Exploitation and time," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 189-207, January.
    7. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis, 1990. "Contested Exchange: New Microfoundations for the Political Economy of Capitalism," Politics & Society, , vol. 18(2), pages 165-222, June.
    8. Naoki Yoshihara, 1998. "Wealth, Exploitation and Labor Discipline in the Contemporary Capitalist Economy," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 23-61, February.
    9. Veneziani, Roberto, 2006. "A future for (analytical) Marxism?," MPRA Paper 30864, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Duncan K. Foley, 1989. "Roemer On Marx On Exploitation," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(2), pages 187-199, July.
    11. Roemer, John, 1992. "What Walrasian Marxism Can and Cannot Do," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(1), pages 149-156, April.
    12. John E. Roemer & Roberto Veneziani, 2001. "What We Owe Our Children, They Their Children,..," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1326, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    13. Jonathan P. Goldstein, 2006. "Marxian Microfoundations: Contribution or Detour?," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 569-594, December.
    14. Diquattro, Arthur, 1998. "Liberal Theory and the Idea of Communist Justice," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 92(1), pages 83-96, March.
    15. Alan Carling, 1997. "Analytical and Essential Marxism," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 45(4), pages 768-783, September.
    16. John E. Roemer & Roberto Veneziani, 2004. "What We Owe Our Children, They Their Children, …," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 6(5), pages 637-654, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2015. "Unequal Exchange, Assets, and Power: Recent Developments in Exploitation Theory," Studies in Choice and Welfare, in: Constanze Binder & Giulio Codognato & Miriam Teschl & Yongsheng Xu (ed.), Individual and Collective Choice and Social Welfare, edition 127, pages 253-287, Springer.
    2. Roberto Veneziani & Luca Zamparelli & Naoki Yoshihara, 2017. "A Progress Report On Marxian Economic Theory: On The Controversies In Exploitation Theory Since Okishio (1963)," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 1421-1448, December.
    3. Naoki Yoshihara & Roberto Veneziani, 2009. "Exploitation as the Unequal Exchange of Labour: An Axiomatic Approach," Working Papers 655, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    4. Yoshihara, Naoki, 2010. "Class and exploitation in general convex cone economies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 281-296, August.
    5. Naoki Yoshihara & Roberto Veneziani, 2009. "Exploitation as the Unequal Exchange of Labour: An Axiomatic Approach," Working Papers 655, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    6. Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2015. "Exploitation in economies with heterogeneous preferences, skills and assets: An axiomatic approach," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 27(1), pages 8-33, January.
    7. Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2017. "Globalisation and inequality in a dynamic economy: an axiomatic analysis of unequal exchange," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 49(3), pages 445-468, December.
    8. Jonathan F. Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2019. "Exploitation, skills, and inequality," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(2), pages 208-249, April.
    9. Yoshihara, Naoki & Veneziani, Roberto, 2018. "The Theory Of Exploitation As The Unequal Exchange Of Labour," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(3), pages 381-409, November.
    10. Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2010. "Exploitation and Profits: A General Axiomatic Approach in Convex Economies with Heterogeneous Agents," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2010-12, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    11. Gilbert L. Skillman, 2017. "Marx’s Capital through the lens of Roemer’s General Theory (and vice-versa)," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 49(3), pages 423-443, December.
    12. Naoki Yoshihara & Roberto Veneziani, 2013. "The Measurement of Labour Content: A General Approach," Working Papers 704, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    13. Gilbert Skillman, 2015. "Thirty years after Roemer’s General Theory," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 27(1), pages 3-7, January.
    14. Veneziani, Roberto, 2007. "Exploitation and time," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 189-207, January.
    15. Jonathan F Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2024. "The dynamics of international exploitation," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(5), pages 1420-1446, August.
    16. Jonathan F. Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2016. "The Dynamics of Exploitation and Class in Accumulation Economies," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 242-290, May.
    17. Veneziani, Roberto & Yoshihara, Naoki, 2014. "One million miles to go: taking the axiomatic road to defining exploitation," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2014-10, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    18. Soh Kaneko & Naoki Yoshihara, 2018. "On the General Impossibility of Persistent Unequal Exchange Free Trade Equilibria in the Pre-industrial World Economy," Working Papers SDES-2018-19, Kochi University of Technology, School of Economics and Management, revised Dec 2018.
    19. Giorgos Galanis & Roberto Veneziani, 2017. "Equality of When?," Working Papers 812, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    20. Jonathan F Cogliano, 2023. "Marx’s equalised rate of exploitation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 47(1), pages 133-169.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Exploitation; inequality; power;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:25:y:2013:i:4:p:526-545. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.