Marx, Weber, and Classical Slavery

Constructing Labor Markets

“…Comparative analysis may also illuminate the ongoing problems posed by unfree and unregulated labor markets for the allocation of workers and valuation of work today. The transition to formally free labor was first studied extensively in the nineteenth century by observers such as Marx and Weber, who used examples from ancient and late medieval societies to illuminate processes of abolition that they observed as contemporaries (Nippel 2005). Aside from the moral failings of slavery, serfdom, and unregulated labor, Marx and Weber recognized that these forms of labor organization presented fundamental problems to the economic and social development of the pre-modern world.…”

“…Despite abundant debate among economic historians regarding the degree of continuity between slave and capitalist labor markets in the U.S. South (e.g., Fogel 2003;Smith 1998), no study has mustered a direct and systematic comparison of pricing in the various antebellum markets for slaves and the market for wage labor that emerged immediately after the Civil War. In more theoretical terms, addressing these questions allows us to revisit the conceptual divisions established by classical scholars, such as Marx and Weber, between labor arrangements in slave society and under capitalism (see Nippel 2005).…”