Free Labor—Forced Labor: An Uncertain Boundary? The Circulation of Economic Ideas between Russia and Europe from the 18th to the Mid-19th Century

Stanziani, Alessandro

doi:10.1353/kri.2008.0001

Cited by 22 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The paper also points to the ways in which the policies of labour receiving states percolate into the lives of millions of aspiring migrant workers in the global south, defining the very contours of their dreams and disappointments, long before they arrive at an international border. As the evidence presented above shows, the boundary between free and coerced labor is indeed not defined “in abstract and timeless ways” [Stanziani 2008: 51], but, rather, realized anew through historically specific, socially embedded practices.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nor were so-called “free” labor contracts and institutions in the West quite so free, for they often “placed many more constraints on workers than is usually acknowledged” [Stanziani 2009: 359]. Indeed, it seems that “the boundary between free and forced labour remained uncertain” in both thought and practice in much of the world [Stanziani 2008: 27], and a “whole spectrum of forms of dependence […] [and] bondage” obtained well into the 20 th century” [Stanziani 2013: 1]. Dichotomies such as free/unfree, forced/voluntary or coercion/choice, thus, merely serve to obfuscate the fluidity of labour forms that more often than not fall somewhere in between.…”

Section: The Free-unfree Continuummentioning

confidence: 99%

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Constrained Labour as Instituted Process

Sarkar

2017

Arch. eur. sociol.

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The paper proposes a critical understanding of contemporary "low-skilled," transnational contract work/circular migration as a guest-worker regime. Rather than approach circular migration as an instrument of development, or a human rights problem, this paper situates it within the larger, historical debates over the status of labour that emphasise questions of surplus extraction. Drawing on ethnographic research among Bangladeshi male migrants in Singapore and return workers in Bangladesh, the paper explores two crucial moments in the life of migrants-of choosing overseas contract work, and of leaving. In each moment, it highlights certain mechanisms that push migrants along the porous line between free and unfree work, incrementally toward the latter.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Free-unfree Continuummentioning

confidence: 99%

Constrained Labour as Instituted Process

Sarkar

2017

Arch. eur. sociol.

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“…From this viewpoint, far from being the land of barbarism, Russia and eastern Europe could help to regenerate Europe. Indeed, free labor became one of the key elements in the making of Western identity and in its sense of superiority vis-à-vis the ''Oriental'' and ''backward'' lands, where coerced labor predominated (Stanziani 2008). Because its society was supposedly still organized around the peasant commune or mir.…”

Section: Classic Economic Liberalism and The ''Apprentices''mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, having left the times of the “ serfs de la glèbe ” behind, France was portrayed as being more advanced than Russia (especially after Catherine the Great’s expected emancipation of the serfs failed to materialize); however, the continuity of the guilds made France more backward than England. Indeed, free labor became one of the key elements in the making of Western identity and in its sense of superiority vis-à-vis the “Oriental” and “backward” lands, where coerced labor predominated (Stanziani 2008).…”

Section: Classic Economic Liberalism and The “Apprentices”mentioning

confidence: 99%

Before Development Economics: Western Political Economy, the “Russian Case,” and the First Perceptions of Economic Backwardness (From the 1760s Until the Mid-Nineteenth Century)

Adamovsky¹

2010

J Hist Econ Thought

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Before the emergence of the field of development economics in the mid-1940s, the mainstream of Western economists had very little to say about the world outside western Europe. However, perhaps due to Russia’s ambivalent location as a nation considered not fully European (nor completely Asiatic) and to her status as a major player in the international arena despite the fact of her modest economic achievements, from the eighteenth century onwards the “Russian case” called the attention of some of the most prominent Western minds, including the first economists. By discussing Russia’s economy, they came to notions and concepts regarding development and backwardness that, to a great extent. informed the twentieth-century debate. The aim of this article is to explore the way in which Russia as a case study affected the evolution of ideas on economic growth or development. The evidence of things Russian, it will be argued, raised doubts about common economic views, thus enabling new thinking that pointed either to criticism of liberal orthodoxy, or to expansion and refinement of its arguments.

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“…And even after, Napoleon was quick to restore slavery, while Jean-Baptiste Say, Le Play, and even Bentham continued to express a desire to introduce Russian serf discipline in Europe. 18 From that point of view, Russian and Brazilian perspectives on unfree labour were far from expressing the attitude of ''backward'' owners and elites. They reflected instead the ambiguities of European thought on this issue.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction: Labour Institutions in a Global Perspective, from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century

Stanziani

2009

Int Rev of Soc His

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SummaryComparative analyses of labour often assume a dividing line between free and forced labour which is universally applicable. The contributions to this special theme argue that the tensions between “freedom” and “unfreedom” may be identified more precisely as those between multiple notions and practices of contract, status, and social conditions. Free and unfree labour on the one hand, status and contract on the other, are historically determined categories. This introduction argues that those histories do not run in parallel but are strictly intersected. From that point of view, social and economic inequalities are mutually linked to legal entitlements; a modification in legal entitlements strongly influences the economic and social equilibrium, and vice versa. Underlying this conclusion is a perspective that is resolutely non-Eurocentric and global. We do not endeavour to find the “missing” freedom of contract in the “periphery”, nor do we consider the “cultural” and economic domination of “the West” as a starting point. We stress instead the mutual connection between “peripheries” and “core” categories and practices. Such a bilateral circulation of ideas and practices contrasts with the argument according to which “the West” invented “freedom” and coercion as well.

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Free Labor—Forced Labor: An Uncertain Boundary? The Circulation of Economic Ideas between Russia and Europe from the 18th to the Mid-19th Century

Cited by 22 publications

References 47 publications

Constrained Labour as Instituted Process

Constrained Labour as Instituted Process

Before Development Economics: Western Political Economy, the “Russian Case,” and the First Perceptions of Economic Backwardness (From the 1760s Until the Mid-Nineteenth Century)

Introduction: Labour Institutions in a Global Perspective, from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century

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