On the Concept of the Reserve Army of Labor in Ruy Mauro Marini

Abstract

An analysis of the concept of the reserve army of labor in the work of Ruy Mauro Marini explains the processes that contributed to the Marxist theory of dependency and to the study of the capitalist mode of production. Uma analise da conceito de exército industrial de reserva na teoria proposta por Ruy Mauro Marini explica quais eram os processos a que ele atribuía especificidade ao mesmo no âmbito da denominada teoria marxista da dependência e do modo de produção capitalista.

Imperialism in the Financial Capital Era: Forgotten Contributions from Marxist Dependency Theory

“…11 Marini ([1973] 1991) characterizes the reserve army of labor in the periphery as uniquely different and effectively larger than the reserve army of labor of core countries due to certain specificities imposed by the dependent social formation, as the ones listed above. Some authors, such as Felix (2021), use the term "expanded reserve army" to describe such phenomena in a lower level of abstraction. 12 An interesting debate about consumption habits and economic needs based on the social-historical determination of labor value, and how that associated with cultural imperialism in the periphery, is presented in Costa (2003).…”

“… 11 Marini ([1973] 1991) characterizes the reserve army of labor in the periphery as uniquely different and effectively larger than the reserve army of labor of core countries due to certain specificities imposed by the dependent social formation, as the ones listed above. Some authors, such as Felix (2021), use the term “expanded reserve army” to describe such phenomena in a lower level of abstraction. …”