1

APPRENTICESHIP AND THE USE-VALUE OF

LABOUR POWER

Glenn Rikowski (University of Birmingham, School of Education)

First Paper prepared for the ESRC Seminar Series on 'Apprenticeship in Work and Education', Nene

Research Centre, Nene College of Higher Education, Northampton, 31st May 1996

Background

This paper is based on a study of the recruitment process for craft and technician engineering

apprentices. The research was carried out in a Midlands town - ‘Midtown’ - in the early

1980s (see Appendix 1 for details). It was essentially a study of the channels of recruitment

(Windolf, 1988; Wood, 1988), the means for ensuring potential recruits apply for positions

being offered; the methods of recruitment, the procedures used for assessing, judging

between and selecting applicants; and, the criteria of recruitment, the underlying standards

and principles involved in judging and differentiating between applicants in recruitment

(Rikowski, 1990a). These three elements together comprise the recruitment process

(Rikowski, 1990a,b; Windolf, 1988). The whole of the discussion in this paper rests on the

third of these elements; recruitment criteria. Specifically, it explores data from the Midtown

study which hinges upon the issue of what engineering employers were ‘looking for’ in

applicants to apprenticeship; which skills, attitudes and qualities they searched for and

assessed in young applicants for their apprenticeships.

It is important to understand the methodological ‘logic’ behind the original research

as this paper is largely concerned with questions of method. This ‘logic’ started from a

concern with the ‘needs of industry’ in relation to the recruitment of youth labour and the

many observations from researchers and commentators during the late 1970s and early 1980s

(Edgley; 1978; Frith, 1978a,b, 1979; Education Group I, 1981 - as examples) that employers

were ‘confused’ or contradictory regarding what they said they were looking for in young

people coming from school to work in their enterprises. In the youth recruitment process, that

great clearing house for youth labour, employers, in assessing young applicants, were

simultaneously expressing and delineating their ‘needs’ in relation to young workers. Whilst

recruiting young people, employers were practically forced to think - through the processes

of selecting, assessing and judging - to some extent, about what they were looking for in

young people as future workers within their enterprises. Hence, the recruitment process was

viewed as the strategic site for researching employers ‘needs’ regarding youth labour and as

the basis for an understanding of the nature of those ‘needs’ and contradictions and tensions

within the array of expressed ‘needs’. Secondly, by focusing on criteria of recruitment the

researcher could arrive at a comprehensive catalogue of revealed (not all recruitment criteria

emerged from a direct question - race and gender being key ‘hidden’ criteria) employers’

needs regarding youth labour. It is with such a ‘catalogue’ - in Appendix 2 - that this paper

begins.

Introduction

Appendix 2 shows data derived from the Midtown Engineering Employers Study (MEES)

and Cuming’s (1983) study on recruitment in Leicestershire. The latter was also carried out

in the early 1980s, but examined the recruitment process for adult as well as young workers,

and for different sectors of capital, not just the engineering industry, and also for various skill

levels, not just for craft and technician levels as in the MEES. In his study, Cuming asked

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employers the following general question: ‘What do you look for in an applicant at

interview?’ The employers referred to 91 attributes and Cuming was faced with the problem

of categorising the attributes sought by employers, as shown on the right-hand side of

Appendix 2. His approach was instructive. He justifiably noted that: ‘The analysis and

classification of such responses is lengthy and tends to be subjective.’ (p.42). However,

argued Cuming:

„For analytical purposes it is obviously necessary to reduce the

list... to more manageable proportions.‟ (p.71).

He classified the attributes sought by employers into eight categories - personality traits,

work attitudes, social attitudes, learned skills, general abilities, qualifications, physical

abilities and circumstantial elements - shown in Appendix 2.1 The MEES employers were

asked a similar question to Cuming’s: what they especially ‘looked for’ in an applicant for

engineering apprenticeships. Altogether, 85 attributes were mentioned by the 107 employers.

These are displayed in the left-hand side of Appendix 2 in the categories derived from

Cuming, but with some additional sub-categories.

The lists in Appendix 2 can be viewed as different enumerations of the ‘needs’ of

employers. But what kind of ‘needs’ are they? What is the nature of the ‘needs’ as expressed

through the data in Appendix 2? Employers have all kinds of ‘needs’: to keep wages to a

minimum, low interest rates, a favourable exchange rate, are just some of them. However,

when they talk about their ‘needs’ or demands in relation to education and school leavers as

potential workers they invariably refer to their labour-power ‘needs’. The ‘needs of industry’

in relation to young workers and employers’ demands on schools for better recruits are an

expression of labour-power needs. This point has been argued for at length in relation to the

recruitment process in a series of papers (Rikowski, 1990a,b, 1996a, with Ainley and Ranson,

1996) and in relation to the ‘competence movement’ (Rikowski, 1996a) and the transition

from school to work (Rikowski, 1995), and, finally, in relation to what James Avis (1993) has

called the ‘New Consensus’ in post-compulsory education and training (Rikowski, 1996a).

However, it is worth emphasising once more.

Studies of the recruitment process point towards the need for analysts and

researchers to abandon notions of ‘skill’ and even ‘competence’ in order to understand the

form of the internal relations (Ollman, 1993) between schooling and work, education/training

and capital accumulation. Recruitment is the articulation between education, training and

work for young workers where employers’ ‘needs’ enter through the operationalisation of

recruitment criteria. Recruitment studies on young people (such as the Manpower Services

Commission, 1978; Ashton and Maguire, 1980; Hunt and Small, 1981; Cuming, 1983;

Wellington, 1989; and Rikowski, 1990a, 1991, 1992) have consistently indicated that

employers look for work attitudes (rather than ‘skills’ or categories of skill, or competence)

over any other category of attributes in young workers in the recruitment process. Secondly,

after work attitudes, employers tend to look for personality traits and then ‘skills’ - indirectly

as represented in ‘qualifications’ and directly as specific learned skills. These studies indicate

that to view employers’ ‘needs’ in terms of simple and narrow categories such as ‘skill’ is

perverse and erroneous, even at the level of appearance. Thus, a broader concept, such as

labour-power, would seem to be more useful in grasping the complexity and fullness of

employers’ demands and ‘needs’ regarding youth labour. Examination of Appendix 2

vindicates this perspective. The ‘needs’ of the MEES employers included a variety of general

(non-engineering specific) and specific (engineering, trade, job, apprenticeship specific)

work attitudes, personality traits and social attitudes as well a attributes of young applicants

that could be designated as ‘skills’. If the ‘needs of industry’ in relation to the recruitment of

youth people are essentially labour-power, what, then, is the nature of labour-power itself?

What kind of phenomenon is it? For answers to these questions we need to turn to the

writings of Marx.

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Labour-Power

Benade (1984) has described labour-power as the ability a worker has to work (p.43). This is

an even more general definition than that adopted by Marx himself. It fails to refer to the

essential features of labour-power, its constituents. For Marx, labour-power is:

„... the aggregate of those mental and physical capabilities existing

in a human being, which he exercises whenever he produces a use-

value of any description.‟ (1867, p.164).

This is what the capitalist buys when s/he lays out her/his variable capital in the form of

wages. However, labour-power only becomes a social reality (rather than a mere capacity to

labour) by its exercise in the labour process, when it is transformed into actual labour and

becomes ‘... living, value creating labour-power ..’ (Marx, 1865, p.29); for ‘... it sets itself in

action only by working.’ (Marx, 1867, p.167). What is clear from the analysis in the previous

section is that in terms of the mental capabilities referred to by Marx in the general definition

of labour-power we must either include attitudes and personality traits, or, extend Marx’s

original definition to include them. The social production of labour-power (Rikowski,

1996a), in which schooling and training are implicated, is about instilling certain work

attitudes and shaping personalities at least as much as about attempting to develop certain

skills, knowledges and competences within young people. Bowles and Gintis (1976) made

this point years ago, though not in relation to a redefinition and extension of Marx’s seminal

definition of labour-power.

Following the final point above, the concept of ‘labour-power’ would seem to be a

transhistorical and in need of historical specification and redefinition in relation to changes

in the mode of production and phases of accumulation within modes of production. Moore

(1988), for example, has argued that Marx’s concept of labour-power is a transhistorical one

as ‘... obviously it is abstract and universal.’ (p.68). According to Moore, Marx then goes on

to provide it with ‘... a concrete form specific to the capitalist mode of production.’ (Ibid.).

On the other hand, Nicolaus (1977) has argued that Marx developed the concept of labour-

power in order to grasp the specific form of exploitation in capitalism, whilst Sayer (1979)

has argued that Marx was not interested in abstract and universal definitions in Capital but

theorising phenomena specific to the capitalist mode of production. Thus, the point at issue

seems to be whether Marx’s conception of labour-power is transhistorical, abstract and

universal or refers to a social phenomenon specific to the capitalist mode of production.

Rather than exploring this point in all its ramifications, it would seem more reasonable to

make a series of observations which have particular pertinence for this paper.

Firstly, Moore’s (1988) contention that Marx’s general definition of labour-power

was a transhistorical one would seem to be correct. There is nothing within the general

definition referred to above which indicates otherwise. Arthur (1992) has argued that if a

concept such as labour-power is not a trans-historical one then this would create difficulties

for those socialists who might wish to use the concept in relation to socialism where the

labour-power of the producers would be maximised ‘... by using the initiative and enthusiasm

that capitalism cannot.’ (p.1). Thus, from Arthur’s perspective, the more Marxists encircle

concepts such as ‘labour-power’ and ‘use-value’ as referents to a specifically capitalist social

formation then the more they are presented with difficulties in theorising the transition from

capitalism to socialism, as such concepts can no longer function as theoretical bridges in any

explanation of the transition. The real clincher arises in Marx’s own writings in a note on the

differences between slave labour and the formally ‘free’ labour which oils the wheels of

capitalism. He refers explicitly to the labour-power of the slave which, in antiquity, is largely

‘... determined by local custom.’ (Marx, 1866, p.1014). For Marx, labour-power is a

transhistorical concept but its meaning changes for the social theorist as s/he moves in

thought in the consideration of different social formations. This becomes clear when Marx

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talks about the key differences between the labour-power of slaves in production based on

slave labour and that of labourers in capitalist production.

Secondly, Marx’s definition of labour-power in Capital is a general and universal

one but it is important to understand the considerations which make it universal and general.

The generality of the definition would seem to principally derive from the fact that in the first

volume of Capital, where the seminal quotation come from, Marx’s analysis of capital and

his simultaneous critique of political economy is operating at the level of capital-in-general,

delineating the general characteristics of capital and labour ansicht (as such). Hence, it comes

as no surprise that the definition does not refer to labour-power in relation to a particular

branch of industry or fraction of capital. When the concept of labour-power is concretised in

relation to particular capitals or sectors of capital (such as the engineering industry later on),

then more can be said about the precise nature of the mental and physical capabilities

involved. Marx underscores this point when he argues that:

„... labour-power assumes a distinctive form in every particular

sphere of production, as a capacity for spinning, cobbling, metal-

working, etc., so that every sphere of production requires a

capacity for labour that is developed in a specific direction, a

distinctive capacity for labour ...‟ (1866, p.1013 - Marx’s

emphasis).

The universality of Marx’s general definition of labour-power derives from the fact that it

purports to outline the universal characteristics of labour-power across all branches of

production and individual capitals as opposed to the definite and distinctive attributes of

labour-power pertinent to labouring within specific sectors of industry or particular firms.

Finally, Sayer’s (1979) point, that Marx is primarily concerned with pinning down

concepts and social categories which differentiate capitalism from other modes of production

(and that labour-power is one of these), nevertheless has some force, though with

modification. West (1984) has argued that social categories linked to social relations are ‘...

not appropriate across epochs and cultures as positivists might claim.’ (p.269). As social

relations change between modes of production then the social theorist requires fresh

categories which grasp the differences between social relations as between various social

formations. However, as can be seen in relation to Marx’s discussions on the differences

between slave and ‘free’ labour, it does not follow that a concept such as labour-power only

has currency as an explanatory concept for a specific social formation such as capitalism.

Rather, the social form that labour-power assumes within different social formations becomes

the issue for theory and empirical investigation.

What is clear is that labour-power, for Marx, is a commodity ‘... neither more nor

less than sugar ...’ (Marx, 1847, p.152); though Marx over-exaggerated in Wage Labour and

Capital in order to make the general point. Like all commodities labour-power has use-value

and exchange-value; to this extent it is like sugar. However, it is a peculiar commodity

differing from sugar in key respects. Firstly, it does not strictly conform to Marx’s

characterisation of the commodity as:

„... in the first place, an object outside us, a thing that by its

properties satisfies human wants of some sort or other.‟ (1867,

p.43).

From the perspective of the labourer, her/his labour-power resides within her/him as a

capacity and as a range of powers. For the capitalist it is an object outside her/himself. Unlike

sugar, aspects of it (mental capacities) are unobservable.

Secondly, labour-power is:

„... a commodity, whose use value possesses the peculiar property

of being a source of value, whose actual consumption, therefore, is

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itself an embodiment of labour, and consequently, a creation of

value.‟ (Marx, 1867, p.164).

Labour-power is not only the source of value but has the capacity to create more value ‘...

than it has itself.’ (Marx, 1867, p.188); surplus value, and ‘This is the special service that the

capitalist expects from labour-power.’ (Ibid.).

Finally, labour-power differs from sugar in that it is the subjective factor of the

labour process. Unlike sugar, it is a commodity incorporating consciousness, intrinsically and

inherently. The consumption of labour-power in the labour process involves ‘... labour-power

expressing itself purposively: the subjective condition of labour.’ (Marx, 1866, p.980).

From this general exploration of labour-power the following section starts to specify

the social form of labour-power in capitalist society. This specification ultimately rests upon

an analysis of aspects of labour-power and the attributes of labour-power. The descent from

the most general, abstract characterisation of labour-power noted above towards more

concrete categories - firstly, aspects of labour-power and then labour-power attributes (the

itemised constituents of concrete labour-powers) - ultimately allows for the interpretation of

empirical phenomena (such as expressed and revealed recruitment criteria) within

contemporary education, training and labour regimes.

What is clear, on the basis of the analysis being presented here, is that, from a

Marxist perspective, we are dealing with the commodity on which the whole capitalist system

rests. This explains why debates about the ‘needs of industry’ have such resonance for

representatives of capital. The following section moves the analysis on through an

exploration of four contradictory aspects of labour-power: the subjective (individual), the

collective and the exchange-value (quantitative) and use-value (qualitative) aspects.

Aspect Analysis

In the first volume of Theories of Surplus Value, Marx (1863) points to the ‘two great

categories of commodities’. For Marx:

„The whole world of “commodities” can be divided into two great

parts. First, labour-power; second, commodities as distinct from

labour-power.‟ (1863, p.167).

In Capital, Marx concentrates almost exclusively on the second, general class, of

commodities. On the whole, ‘that other great class of commodities’, labour-power, only

enters into the discussion when Marx discusses the value of labour-power, which is a key

determinant of the value of the general class of commodities. Lebowitz (1992) has recently

pointed to the one-sidedness of Marx’s analysis in Capital. He has argued that the whole of

Marx’s major work is approached from the perspective of capital. Hence, it incorporates a

relative neglect of the wage labour aspect of the capital-labour relation and the various

transformations of wage labour in different phases of capital accumulation. Most importantly,

Capital fails to provide a systematic analysis of needs from a wage labour perspective

(including education and training needs), argues Lebowitz. He puts this down largely to

Marx’s failure to write his projected volume on Wage Labour, but also Marx’s strategic

decision to prioritise the examination of capitalism from ‘the standpoint of capital’ (Marx,

1863, p.163) before exploring capitalist social relations and social forms from the perspective

of wage labour.

Lebowitz’s analysis fails to see the whole picture. In Capital, Marx did not even

provide a comprehensive analysis of the ‘two great commodities’ from the ‘standpoint of

capital’. In concentrating his efforts upon the general class of commodities, Marx left labour-

power undertheorised. Fortunately, Marx left some methodological clues as to how labour-

power, from the ‘standpoint of capital’ might be addressed.2 In recent years, Cressey and

MacInnes (1980) and Hohn (1988) have provided further analytical tools for approaching

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labour-power. Finally, Marx himself, but also Nietzsche, Wittegenstein and Heidegger

through the work of Stephen Mulhall (1993), have provided pointers for beginning an

exploration of labour-power through aspect analysis. But what is aspect analysis?

Aspect analysis can be viewed as an exploration of the process of ‘seeing’, both in

terms of audio-visual fields but also, and more importantly, in terms of interpretative

‘perspectives’. The latter is concerned with viewing phenomena from particular points of

view. It is simultaneously a process of abstraction as well as perception. Three forms of

aspect-seeing, derived from readings of Mulhall, Marx, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein, will now

be summarised. Ultimately, only the second one is crucial to subsequent analysis, but

presentation of the other two fixes the analytical task with more precision.

Firstly, aspect-seeing can be viewed in static, non-relational way where the observer

concentrates on a particular spatial or socio-spatial field. This can be described as an aspects

as distinction view. For example, an observer could describe part of an object in detail to the

exclusion of other parts. Then another part could be described, and another, and so on - until

all the parts had been mapped by description. Analysis would proceed on the basis of firstly,

an internal description of each part, and, secondly, looking for relations between the parts.

However, it should be stressed here that the relational moment of the analysis derives from a

philosophy of external relations, where entities previously designated as discrete, determinate

and separate forms are brought into an external relation within theory and through research

programmes. Despite critiques of functionalism and sneers at positivism, much academic

sociology still operates on the basis of this approach to aspect-seeing. The sub-disciplines

and ‘fields’ of study within sociology - the sociology of work, of family, of education, of

training and this and that - incorporate such an attitude to aspect-seeing. Moore (1988) for

example, designates ‘education’ as a ‘field’ of research and study. In viewing it as ‘separate’

and distinct from ‘production’ he attempts to theorise the internal dynamics of the

educational ‘field’. ‘Production’ has its own dynamics, argues Moore, and it is such

considerations which undermine attempts (made by those such as Bowles and Gintis, 1976)

to locate the dynamics and determinants of one ‘field’ (education) in those of another

(production). In focusing on different aspects of the social totality in this account we are

operating with distinctions; the social world is split up on the basis of allocating social

phenomena (through either/or considerations) to social ‘fields’ and sub-fields within which

sub-disciplinary specialisms thrive and move. Aspect-seeing as ‘mapping’ within social

theory creates its own problems. For example, theorists agonise over how ‘education’ and

‘production’, forcibly abstracted as separate ‘entities’, can ‘relate’. At this point, theories of

‘relative autonomy’, or splitting reality down into ever more ‘factors’ to yield a ‘complex’

analysis, or ‘thick descriptions’, enter - as attempts to paper over the cracks previously

created.

Aspect-seeing can be approached in another way in which social reality is not

splintered and fractured within theory. Here, there are no ‘distinctions’; ‘education’ is not a

determinate ‘field’ set apart from ‘production’. Rather, the analyst takes a ‘standpoint’ (in a

similar way to standpoint feminism) on the social totality and its constituent processes, as

opposed to a focus on institutions and ‘systems’. This aspects as perspectives approach to

aspect-seeing can in turn be viewed as including three moments. Firstly, social phenomena

themselves have different ‘aspects’, these aspects are not different ‘parts’ which can be

delineated within theory as ontological absolutes, but different ways of viewing the same

process in action. Secondly, in terms of ontology, social ‘entities’ or phenomena are to be

viewed relationally through incorporating a philosophy of internal relations (Ollman, 1993).

No social ‘phenomena’ are discrete, separate or ‘pure entities’. Processes identified within

‘education’ have an internal relation to the capitalist labour process. What appears to be

separate is not, which brings us to the third point. Underlying this approach to aspect-seeing

is the notion of social totality. Social reality, as immediately given to everyday experience, is

split up into institutions and systems. However, a ‘unity-in-separation’ is taken as a further

ontological underpinning which allows the analyst to explore social processes through

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bringing what is forced apart in actually existing capitalism into a unity. This only makes

sense if there is an underlying postulate that the ‘social’ comprises such a unity. Some

postmodernists take the opposite tack; they revel in the apparent fragmentation of social life.

A third approach to aspect-seeing can be described as viewing aspects as subversive

transformations. On this view, the analyst views something as something else - no matter

what (its subversive and interpretative element). Thus, education can be viewed as

production (Rikowski, 1995) or as a form of production. Indeed, a number of Marxist

theorists of education have taken a similar route.3

Of the three approaches to aspect-seeing described above, it is the second one,

aspects as perspectives, which will inform the rest of the paper. What needs to be kept clear

is that the various aspects of labour-power outlined below are not ‘distinctions’ but different

ways of viewing the same phenomenon. They abstract different elements from a unity.

Aspects of Labour-Power

Returning to Marx’s seminal definition of labour-power, it appears that it is a unity of forces,

powers and qualities within human beings which are exercised and manifested through acts

of labour which result in some useful objects or use-values. At other times, especially, in the

Grundrisse, Marx talks labour-power as a commodity which is sold to employer in exchange

for wages. At yet other (and much rarer) times he talks about labour-power being socially

‘produced’ or ‘reproduced - and this is where education and training enter the analysis.

This three-fold analysis of labour-power can be viewed as ‘seeing’ this ‘unique

commodity’ (Marx, 1863, p.45) from three perspectives. Firstly, as potentiality, as the

capacity to labour, from the perspective of the labour market (or, more accurately, the market

in labour-power), labour-power is bought by the capitalist as a set of forces, qualities and

powers residing in the body of the labourer to be released within the labour process for the

production of value and surplus value in general commodity form. Secondly, as actuality

labour-power attains social reality to the extent that these powers, forces and qualities of the

labourer are marshalled under her/his will and expended in acts of labour which produce

general commodities for the capitalist. It is at this point that the labourer’s labour-power,

her/his personal qualities and powers, becomes capital. Thirdly, and building on the previous

point, labour-power is also a process of constant personal, intersubjective and social

becoming (Sztompka, 1991; Crossley, 1996; Rikowski, Ainley and Ranson 1996). This

doesn’t necessarily mean that labour-power is continually developing and changing in a

unilateral direction. As Marx says, it is a ‘unique commodity’ which is partially controlled by

the will of the labourer, a will which is never totally subsumed under capital. If the labourer’s

will was completely subsumed under capital then s/he would cease to be human, cease to be

something even less than an android with a ‘mind of its own’. From the standpoint of capital,

labour-powers have various degrees of ‘quality’, which can be either enhanced or can suffer

relative deterioration or degeneration. Processes involved in the social production of labour-

power (schooling, training, work-based learning, informal learning in the workplace) are

(again, from the perspective of capital) concerned with shaping, forming and developing

personal and collective powers for labouring within the labour process (which will vary

according to the sector of capital, and by individual capitals).

The interpretation here builds largely upon the second element of the three-

dimensional analysis of labour-power sketched out above; labour-power as actuality. It is

concerned with viewing labour-power in relation to four aspects of labour: the subjective,

collective, exchange- and use-value aspects of labour, which have their counterparts within

labour-power itself. These ‘aspects’, it should be remembered, are not conventional

distinctions but different perspectives cast upon underlying relations and social forms.

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The Subjective Aspect of Labour-power

The subjective aspect of labour-power is labour-power in its individual and will-determined

moment. Labour-power is the subjective element in the labour process; is it the ‘living fire’

(Marx, 1858) which powers the creative act of production. As Cressey and MacInnes put it,

workers are the ‘subjective force of production’ (p.13). These authors rightly noted that Marx

makes the human will a ‘... defining characteristic of all human use-value creating labour.’

(Ibid.) in his architect and bees passage, where Marx argued that what differentiated the

worst of architects from the best of bees was that the architect conceives the product prior to

production (Marx, 1867, p.174). Human labour is guided purposively through keeping the

initial conception in view. In the labour process, the labourer partially (and the degree is

important for capital and its representatives) subordinates her/his will to producing the

product ‘in consonance’ (Ibid.) with the original conception. In what Marx called Modern

Industry, conception and production are invariably separated and socialised, the former

migrating to separate design facilities - the separation of manual and intellectual labour (as

described by Ainley, 1993).

Subjectivity is internal to the labour process (Manwaring and Wood, 1985) and

worker’s subjectivity cannot be abolished without abolishing labour-power itself (Cressey

and MacInnes, 1980). The will of the labourer is central to an understanding of this aspect of

labour-power. Arthur (1980) has argued that labour-power is ‘... dynamic, self-differentiated

and alive.’ (p.101). Attaining efficiency through technical change in capitalist production

rests upon the partial subordination of the will of the worker to the capitalist labour process.

The attributes, or ‘powers’ as Arthur calls them, that constitute the substratum of the

labourer’s labour-power: „... can only be externalised if they are objectified in production,

and this latter requires, not the exclusion of ...[the labourer‟s]...

will but the use of ...[his/her] ... powers, however grudgingly.‟

(1980, p.12).

In so far as the will of the labour is subordinated to the purposes, desires and ends of capital

and its human representatives then it is incorporated within labour-power itself as it

expresses itself in production through acts of labour. To the extent that this subordination

occurs, the labourer becomes capital. This subordination is never complete; the will of the

labourer is capricious and defines her/his identity and humanity. The extent to which such

subordination becomes a personal mode of being for the labourer requires continual

reproduction through socialisation at work, in education and other social sites throughout the

‘social factory’ (Negri, 1984). Labour-power is the worker’s own property over which s/he

exercises partial and contested control; it is a commodity controlled by ‘... an independent

and hostile will’ (Friedmann, 1977, p.78).

The Collective Aspect of Labour-power

As well as being the subjective force, under the sway of an individual and potentially hostile

(towards capital) will, labour-power can also be viewed through its collective aspect, as ‘... an

accumulation of labour powers’ (Marx, 1858, p.585). This is where the quality of the co-

operation between labour-powers within the labour process is brought to the fore. Such co-

operation forms a significant collective force within the labour process, a force which capital

and its representatives seek to control and channel into value production through general

commodity formation. The collective aspect of labour-power can be viewed as an

agglomeration and amalgamation of the individual labour-powers of workers set in motion

for capital. As Marx noted, this:

„... collective power of labour, its character as a social force, is

therefore the collective power of capital.‟ (1858, p.585).

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Labour is not just an isolated act involving individual workers. In Modern Industry it

invariably involves co-operation through a complex social division of labour (Ainley, 1993).

The Exchange- and Use-value Aspects of Labour-power

These aspects of labour-power will be analysed with reference to an important paper by

Cressey and MacInnes (1980). These theorists note a distinction in Marx’s work between the

use-value aspect of labour and the exchange-value aspect of labour. The use-value aspect

pertains to the labour process, the production of things, and the latter to the valorisation

process (the value-creating process, the production of value and surplus-value).

The immediate process of production can be viewed as the unity of the labour

process and the valorisation process (Marx, 1866, 1867; Elson, 1979; Rattansi, 1982).

According to Cressey and MacInnes, the exchange-value aspect of labour is related to what

Marx called the real subordination of labour. This is where labour is subsumed under capital

through the extraction of relative surplus-value based on the introduction of machinery in the

phase of Modern Industry. The real subsumption of labour is concerned with attempts to ‘...

appropriate all subjective elements to keep valorisation as the sole object of the production

process.’ (Cressey and MacInnes, 1980, p.7). However, according to Cressey and MacInnes,

the theory of the real subordination of labour is a one-sided theory as it only considers:

„... the exchange-value aspect of the ...[capital-labour].. relation.

... Here indeed capital seeks to reduce the worker as far as possible

to the status of commodities ...[and to]... abolish all dependence on

the worker‟s own skill and initiative, lest these frustrate the

requirements of valorisation.‟ (Ibid.).

However, this process is never absolutely settled in favour of capital as the use-value aspect

of the capital-labour relation stands in contradiction to the exchange-value aspect, as in the

former. To develop the forces of production capital must seek to develop

labour as a subjective force to unleash labour‟s powers of social

productivity rather than abolish these powers.‟ (Cressey and

MacInnes, 1980s, p.15).

These two contradictory relations of labour to capital ultimately yield contradictory labour

control and labour process strategies, argue Cressey and MacInnes.

Although the dual analysis of labour provided by Cressey and MacInnes cuts across

some of the distinctions made here in relation to labour power, nevertheless, their work

points towards exchange- and use-value aspects of labour-power. The former, dominated by

valorisation considerations, hinges on the quantitative dimension of labour-power - the

capacity of labourers to work at speed, with reference to volume; and passively, repetitively

and routinely in relation to the labouring act. The latter, rests upon the qualitative dimension

of labour-power; the capacity of workers to be active and creative, to use initiative, to be

flexible and adaptable, to work for capital with due care, attention and consideration - in fact

to care about quality - to take an active interest and pride in work. This last point has

particular resonance for apprenticeship, with its associated notions of ‘craft’ and craft pride,

continual development of the worker’s own labour-power and enhancing the quality of one’s

own labour-power through self-investment in training..

The analysis stops at this point. Further development would show how, and in what

ways, these four aspect come into contradiction and tension. The upshot of this analysis is

that employers’ ‘needs’ regarding youth (or any form) of labour cannot be met due to these

inherent contradictions within labour and labour-power. Thus, education and training cannot

meet the ‘needs of industry’ in principle and as a matter of logic. No education and training

system can ever, logically, ‘work’ for capital. For ‘work for capital’ to mean something in

absolute terms, abolition of these contradictions, which are inherent in the capital-labour

10

relation, would be a necessity. A dream, a fantasy. The ‘needs’ of industry regarding labour

and labour-power, and the part that education and training can play in enhancing the quality

of the latter, can only logically be conceived in relative (the quality of labour-powers within a

national capital, sector of capital or individual capitals can be compared on some agreed

standards) and infinite (there is no logical end-point to the development of human labour-

power on an historical basis) terms. The following section expands the notion of the use-

value aspect of labour-power prior to coming full circle and exploring Appendix 2 once

more.

The Use-value Aspect of Labour-Power

The use-value aspect of labour-power refers then to the qualitative dimension of labour-

power. Again, as on the previous analysis of labour-power as a unity, there are three

considerations here. Firstly, at the level of the labour-power market, labour-power in its use-

value aspect, from the standpoint of capital, can be viewed in relation to the relative quality

of its attributes. In practical terms, the perceived quality of applicants’ and potential

labourers’ labour-powers can be judged and assessed. It is the potentiality, the ‘capacity’ or

ability of the labourer to work that is at stake here.

Secondly, at the level of the labour process, the use-value aspect of labour-power

refers to the quality of the transformation of the labourer’s powers, forces and qualities into

labour in an active mode. This is where the quality, extension, versatility and adaptability,

the initiative and the judgmental qualities of the person as labourer come into play. This level

relates to the previous one; labour-power when viewed through the market level of analysis

relates to labour-power as practical labouring expression in the labour process through a

practical assessment of potential labour-powers on behalf of representatives of capital. Marx

recognised this point when he noted that:

„With the keen eye of an expert, ...[the capitalist]... has selected the

means of production and the kind of labour power best suited to his

particular trade...‟ (1867, p.179).

This assessment of the practical relation of labour-powers as potentiality and actuality

depends on a number of considerations; the knowledge recruiters have of the labour process,

their ability to translate this knowledge into criteria of recruitment, their methods of judging

and assessing applicants for jobs against these criteria, the adequacy of the measures of

assessment and many other factors. The MEES indicated a wide variety of degrees of

knowledge of the labour process, recruitment criteria (even within similar trades within

engineering) and methods of recruitment. What is clear from the MEES data which touches

on these issues, is that schools are faced with the practical difficulties of meeting the

specificities of the relation between the two levels - labour-power market

(potentiality)/labour process (actuality) - when employers themselves, especially as

individual capitals, face huge difficulties in making the connections.

Thirdly, at the level of the unfolding or becoming of labour-power through its further

social production, the MEES employers in particular, as it was apprenticeships they were

offering, had a range of visions of the ways in which young apprentice recruits might, ought

and could further develop and enhance the quality of their own labour-powers. This concern

with continual development, with the ability to acquire the will, know-how and capacity

involved in ‘learning how to learn’ in relation to engineering, was an important theme

running through some of the interviews.

Another paper, available on the day of the Seminar (Rikowski, 1996b), will explore

some of the MEES data through developing this three-level analysis of the use-value aspect

of labour-power. However, in order for this to proceed, one final observation needs to be

made in relation to Appendix 2.

11

Full Circle ...

Appendix 2, as noted earlier, illustrates the revealed (some were reasonably well hidden,

such as race and gender) recruitment criteria for the MEES employer collectivity. What can

be noted from a simple observation of these recruitment criteria is that not all of them refer to

the qualities, powers, knowledges, skills and abilities of potential applicants. For example,

some of the circumstantial elements, such as ‘acceptable background’ or ‘parental interest’

are not directly attributes of the person at all.

At this point, three perspectives on these revealed recruitment criteria would seem

worth pointing to. Firstly, all the factors 1-85 can be viewed as criteria of recruitment. They

are all factors which the MEES employers took into account when and the standards they

used (their organising principles for differentiating between applicants) which determined

relative success and failure in the recruitment process. They include those which refer to

individual applicants and those which refer to people or situations beyond the individual.

Secondly, not all of the personal qualities sought in applicants appear to be directly

related to labour-power attributes. For example, hobbies and interests. With some MEES

employers, these need not relate to any conceivable skills or qualities incorporated in the job,

the training or the apprenticeship. However, these attributes may well be (and often were)

indirect indicators of attributes that could be unambiguously related to the job, the trade,

training or the apprenticeship.

Finally, labour-power attributes are the itemised constituents, qualities, skills and

attitudes that, from an employer perspective, appear to be directly related to the performance

of labour within the labour process. They are at the heart of the MEES data in Appendix 2.

These three perspectives on the data in Appendix 2 are developed further in Rikowski

(1996b) through concrete examples, illustrations and further analysis

Conclusion

This paper has provided a Marxist analysis of labour-power and some aspects of the

recruitment process. It has also provided a partial de-mystification of the so-called ‘needs of

industry’ in relation to youth labour through viewing them as being essentially labour-power

needs. This realisation gave way to a deeper analysis of labour-power itself. From an abstract

analysis of labour-power, the paper proceeded to ever more concrete specification of

categories: from aspects of labour-power and thence to labour-power attributes, attributes

sought in recruitment and the criteria of recruitment. The Seminar presentation will attempt

to ground this complex analysis, which appears to turn on minutiae, through data from the

MEES. It will concentrate especially on viewing the data through the use-value aspect of

labour-power.

12

APPENDIX 1: THE MIDTOWN ENGINEERING EMPLOYERS STUDY

The fieldwork on which this paper is based was carried out in Midtown during 1980-81, in

conditions of deep recession. It centred on the recruitment process: the channels, criteria and

methods of recruitment. Recruitment was explored in relation to craft and technician

engineering apprentices in 107 firms in Midtown. Interviews were held with ‘the person(s)

responsible for recruiting apprentices’ in each firm. The majority of interviews were tape-

recorded; 16 out of the 107 firms declined to use the tape-recorder and notes were written

down during and immediately after interview and further queries were followed up by

telephone inquiries. Interviews lasted about two hours on average.

In addition, material on the history of work-experience schemes in Midtown was

gathered during 1981-83 from the Midtown Local Studies Centre. Interviews with training

staff of the local Engineering Employers’ Association (EEA) and a local engineering Group

Training Scheme (GTS) were undertaken in late 1980/early 1981. Throughout 1982-85, I

obtained material on the Midtown youth labour market from the careers service and Midtown

local education authority. The ‘Apprenticeship Debate’ and other issues in relation to

employer perspectives on youth labour were explored through an examination of the journal

of the Institute of Personnel Management and the Industrial Society (deposited in the

University of Warwick Modern Records Centre and at the library of the London School of

Economics) from the First World War to 1980. Finally, historical data on the recruitment and

training systems for engineering apprentices was gathered during 1981-1983 from the records

of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Union archives held in the University

of Warwick Modern Records Centre.

APPENDIX 2: THE CLASSIFICATION OF ATTRIBUTES

This Appendix shows how the various attributes employers looked for in applicants for

engineering apprenticeships in the MEES and in jobs in Cuming (1983) study were classified.

RIKOWSKI CUMING’S (1983)

MEES CLASSIFICATION CLASSIFICATION

Work Attitudes Work Attitudes General: All:

1. Good attitude to work/Wants to work 1. Efficient

2. ‘A Doer’ - interested in doing things 2. Has perseverance

3. Punctual/Good timekeeper 3. Dedicated

4. Perseverance/Consistent effort 4. Industrious

5. Disciplined/Self-disciplined 5. Willing to Learn

6. Know what they want to do in the future 6. Conscientious

7. Staying power/Can stick at a job 7. Disciplined

8. Conscientious 8. Motivated

9. Willing to Learn 9. Good attendance

10 Motivation/Self-motivated 10 Punctual

11 Interested (in things) 11 Quiet worker

12 Acceptable attitude to discipline

Specific: 13 Promotion potential

12 Interested in job/trade 14 Has application

13 Interested in interview 15 Willing to put in overtime

14 Interested in apprenticeship 16 Trainable

15 Interested in engineering 17 Has direction in life

16 Interested in factory tour 18 Able to accept boring work

17 Interested in making things 19 Able to work with minimum supervision

18 Wants to go to technical college 20 Willing to work*

13

19 Wants to work with hands 21 Committed*

20 Likes technical drawing/metalwork 22 Quick worker*

21 Doesn’t mind doing homework (for college) 23 Receptive*

22 Wants skilled work 24 Prepared to work Saturdays*

23 Doesn’t mind getting hands dirty

Personality Traits Personality Traits 24 Alertness/’Looks Alive!’ 25 Enthusiastic

25 Pleasant personality 26 Show initiative

26 Tidy 27 Has leadership qualities

27 Ambitious 28 Extrovert

28 Self-confident 29 Mature

29 Stable (not a tearaway) 30 Independent

30 Has Character/Personality 31 Stable

31 Adaptable and flexible 32 Adaptable

32 Copes (with manual work) 33 An opportunist

33 Extrovert/Outgoing personality 34 Individuality

34 Studious 35 Has own views

35 Neat 36 General personal qualities

36 Awareness 37 Not ambitious

37 Quiet type/Introvert 38 Open-minded

38 Has leadership qualities 39 Patient

39 Keen/enthusiastic 40 Ambitious

41 Money motivated*

42 Has outside interests*

43 Observant*

44 Decisive*

45 Determined*

46 Resilient*

47 Able to sell him/herself*

48 Has sense of humour*

49 Confident*

Social Attitudes Social Attitudes 40 Responsible 50 Responsible

41 Ability to mix and fit in 51 Co-operative

42 Honesty 52 Honest

43 Obedient 53 Friendly

44 Interest in life 54 Trustworthy

55 Has integrity

56 Polite

57 Reliable

58 Obedient

59 Respectable*

60 Has had no trouble with police*

Learned Skills Learned Skills 45 Articulate/Talks well 61 Accurate

46 Ability to read drawings 62 Produces high class work

47 Good letter writer 63 Able to read

48 Good on 3Rs (numeracy/literacy) 64 Able to write

49 Good in technical drawing 65 Able to spell

50 Good at Maths 66 Able to communicate (including articulacy)

51 Can apply Maths 67 Reasonable command of basic Maths

52 Reasonable English 68 A certain educational standard

53 Interview performance 69 Reasonable command of English

70 Able to keep records

71 Mechanical interest/ability

72 Good telephone manner*

14

73 Neat writer*

74 Good standard of application forms*

General Abilities General Abilities 54 Intelligence 75 Has common sense

55 Academic ability 76 Intelligent

56 Practical ability 77 Imaginative

57 Technical ability 78 Has basic ability

58 Ability to Learn 79 Good problem solver

59 Common sense 80 Practical

60 Asset to the company 81 Good all-rounder

61 Inquisitive/Asks questions 82 Able to follow instructions

62 Aptitude for the job (in general) 83 Has analytical mind*

63 Creative 84 Inquisitive/Has inquiring mind*

85 Has academic ability*

86 Has organising ability*

87 Able to think logically*

Qualifications Qualifications 64 Qualifications 88 Has a range of qualifications

65 Consistent effort in school 89 Has suitable qualifications

66 Does well in (company) tests 90 Has minimum qualifications

67 Good school report 91 Able to cope with industrial/professional

examinations

92 Has good references/reports/school record

93 Able to pass company selection tests

94 Stayed on at school to gain extra

qualifications

Physical Qualities Physical Qualities 68 Physically capable 95 Able to work long hours

69 Good health 96 Physically suitable

70 Manual dexterity/Good with hands 97 Has manual dexterity

98 Well co-ordinated

99 Able to work shifts*

100 Good at sport*

Circumstantial Elements Circumstantial Elements Appearance:

71 Clean 101 Willing to stay with the firm

72 Appearance 102 Is a ‘company person’

73 Bearing 103 Has specific interest related to job

Social and Leisure Activities: 104 Has specific skill related to job

74 Hobbies/Interests/Sports 105 Has smart appearance

75 In clubs/societies at school 106 Is from suitable environmental background

Circumstantial Elements (Other): 107 Is from stable home background

76 Wants to work at X (thinks it is a good firm) 108 Enjoys travel

77 Acceptable background (e.g. father in 109 Has had previous part-time work

engineering) 110 Has had previous practical experience

78 Good relationship with school 111 Is lacking academic achievement

79 Well behaved at school 112 Is male school leaver

80 Good relationship with parents 113 Is mature woman with grown-up children

81 Did metalwork/engineering at school 114 Has interest in agriculture

82 No criminal record 115 Has own transport*

83 Been round other firms 116 Has own accomodation*

84 Parents want him to do apprenticeship in 117 Is ready to work early mornings*

engineering 118 Does not have too long hair*

85 Parental interest 119 Does not live too far away*

15

120 Has knowledge of geography*

121 Mobile*

122 Is appropriate age*

123 Clean*

124 Has love of animals*

125 Knows about the company*

126 Has genuine reasons for applying for job*

Unclassifiable

127 Alert (Social/Work Attitude)

128 Energetic (Personality/Physical Ability)

129 Able to work in a team (Social/Work

Attitude)

Notes

Cumings’s (1983) study included two open-ended questions on what employers looked for in

applicants. The first was on what an employer’s ideal employee would be, and the second was on what

employers were ‘looking for’ in applicants at interview. The latter threw up references to 91 attributes.

In the question on the ideal employee, 38 attributes were referred to which did not figure in the

responses to the question on what was ‘looked for’ at interview. These are indicated by a *. Cuming’s

final classification included all 129 attributes.

***

Notes

1. Definitions and expansions of these categories are given in Rikowski (1990a).

2. To go beyond the ‘standpoint of capital’ and examine society from the ‘standpoint of wage labour’ is

not a challenge that this paper takes up. Lebowitz (1992) has provided a few indicators as to how such

an analysis might proceed. Marx also gave a few hints and clues. As yet, however, much of the

groundwork for this perspective on society - including education and training - remains to be done.

3. My 1995 paper explored some of the many forms of production located within education as

described (typically in little detail) by Marxist and radical theorists of education. However, I would

maintain that it is one thing to locate forms of production within education and something quite

different to view education as a form of production. Marx provides many examples of viewing a

process as another process. In the Grundrisse, for example, there are many instances where he views

production as consumption and vice versa. What he continually makes clear is that the purposes and

forms of the abstractions used, the level of analysis and abstraction, the relations to the social totality

and the starting point for reflection and theorisation should be kept in view. Labour-power, for example,

could be viewed as a form of capital. Indeed, the concept of ‘human capital’ from conventional

economics implicitly and tacitly recognises this point. One of the implications of the arguments

presented in this paper, though not expanded upon, is that: to the extent that we become and are labour-

power, then, we simultaneously are and become capital. Thus, schools, in so far as they are implicated

in the social production of labour-power, are simultaneously involved in the business of transforming

living human beings into capital. This requires full development within another paper.

Acknowledgements

Some of the ideas on aspect-seeing and aspect analysis were developed during a series

of conversations with Chris Haywood, formerly a researcher within the University of

Birmingham School of Education, now at the University of Sheffield, from December

1995 to January 1996. I take full responsibility for the particular presentation of these

ideas within this paper.

16

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