Abstract

LEON, Francisco José. ¿Son los obreros idiotas e irracionales?. Convergencia [online]. 2010, vol.17, n.53, pp.253-283. ISSN 2448-5799.

In this paper we present a critical analysis of the postmodern and poststructuralist approach to the question of workers' subjectivity. Our examination shows that; a) some of their explicative propositions are internally contradictory or logically inconsistent; b) on other occasions, a contradiction is produced between different propositions that are supposed to explain the same phenomena; c) there are frequent contradictions between the explicative propositions and the theoretical principles from which they are derived; d) the lack of intelligibility of the propositions is common, e) there are abundant "black holes" in the chains of events that are presented as previous to the production of the effect they attempt to explain; and f) many of their propositions are either not empirically plausible, or not empirically testable. We believe these deficiencies are responsible for the failure of these postmodern authors in their attempt to recover workers' agency in labor process studies.

Keywords : subjectivity; labor process; rationality; identity.