An estranged gaze at the world of work: La mano invisible (Isaac Rosa 2011; David Macián 2016)

Abstract

This article analyses the unusual representation of work and workers in the novel La mano invisible (Isaac Rosa 2011) and its cinematic version (David Macián 2016). It explores how Rosa and Macián challenge the hegemonic invisibility of labour and labourers in the collective imagination of Spanish society by materializing not only the invisible hand of the workers behind the production of commodities and the supply of services, but also the invisible hand behind labour relations in a neo-liberal society. These representations are also analysed in their context of production and reception: post-industrial Europe and, more specifically, post-2008 crisis Spain.