What is it about?
This paper conducts a Marxist reading of Jim March's concepts of exploitation and exploration. This makes it possible to understand the conflictual relations that underpin exploitation and exploration in the management of firms and in the management of life and labour under contemporary capitalism. Our argument is illustrated through a case study of a large Swedish manufacturing firm which sought to improve lean production by systematically helping employees to explore their own lifestyles and possibilities for a healthier and happier life.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
The paper challenges and complements the functionalist and apolitical readings which thus far have dominated the Marchist literature on the management of firms.
Perspectives
In private conversation with Jim March it became clear that he was very much aware of the Marxist connotations of his conceptual pair when he first developed it. All the more problematic then, that this has been suppressed by most of his alleged followers.
Professor Torkild Thanem
Stockholm University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: March Meets Marx: The Politics of Exploitation and Exploration in the Management of Life and Labour, January 2012, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/s0733-558x(2013)0000037009.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
