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Le travail qualifié est-il trop complexe pour se laisser réduire ? Marx sans les conventions

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  • André Lapidus

Abstract

[fre] Le travail qualifié est-il trop complexe pour se laisser réduire? Marx sans les conventions. . Cet article discute la thèse selon laquelle la réduction du travail complexe en travail simple chez Marx résulterait d'une convention, entendue comme un substitut au marché. Une première partie met en évidence le contraste, dans les œuvres de Marx, entre une problématique explicite, qui présente la réduction du travail complexe comme un élément de la constitution d'un champ des valeurs-travail, et la confusion qui préside aux différentes exquisses de solutions analytiques. Le recours à la « convention » témoigne alors non d'un choix théorique délibéré mais de l'ignorance du processus mis en œuvre. L'identification de ce processus passe, dans une seconde partie, par l'exploration des multiples tentatives de résolution qui prenaient appui sur les conjectures imaginées dans Le Capital. Les controverses entre Engels et Dùhring d'abord, entre Bôhm-Bawerk et Hilferding ensuite, y occupent une place centrale. Elles permettent de faire ressortir à la fois le caractère inadéquat des solutions passant par la « coutume » ou la hiérarchie des salaires et, en contrepoint, la possibilité analytique de respecter la problématique initiale de Marx en déduisant la réduction du travail complexe des processus de qualification des travailleurs. [eng] Is skilled labour too complex to have it reduced ? Marx without conventions. . This paper discusses the thesis according to which the reduction of skilled labour into simple labour in Marx's work would be the resuit of a convention, understood as a substitute for the market. In a first section, the contrast is stressed between, on the one hand, Marx's explicit issue, which presents the reduction of skilled labour as an element of the constitution of labour values and, on the other hand, the confusion which dominates the different sketches of analytical solutions. The resort to the "convention" hence attests the ignorance of the process involved in the reduction of skilled labour, but not a purposeful theoretical choice. The identification of this process requires, in the second section, the exploration of these multiple attempts to solve the problem which rested on the conjectures imagined in The Capital. In this respect, the controversies between Engels and Duhring at first, and then between Bohm-Bawerk and Hilferding, are of utmost importance. They allow to bring out the inadequacy of the solutions by the "custom" or the hierarchy of wages and, on the contrary, the analytical possibility to respect Marx's initial issue in deducing the reduction of skilled labour from the qualification processes of the labourers.

Suggested Citation

  • André Lapidus, 1993. "Le travail qualifié est-il trop complexe pour se laisser réduire ? Marx sans les conventions," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 44(5), pages 971-990.
  • Handle: RePEc:prs:reveco:reco_0035-2764_1993_num_44_5_409491
    DOI: 10.3406/reco.1993.409491
    Note: DOI:10.3406/reco.1993.409491
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jean-Louis Cayatte, 1984. "Travail simple et travail complexe chez Marx," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 35(2), pages 221-246.
    2. Edouard Poulain, 1992. "Marx et l'économie des conventions," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 43(3), pages 519-531.
    3. Kenneth May, 1949. "The Structure of Classical Value Theories," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 17(1), pages 60-69.
    4. Bowles, Samuel & Gintis, Herbert, 1977. "The Marxian Theory of Value and Heterogeneous Labour: A Critique and Reformulation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 1(2), pages 173-192, June.
    5. J.E. Roemer & John Roemer, 1978. "Differentially Exploited Labor: A Marxian Theory of Discrimination," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 10(2), pages 43-53, July.
    6. Ulrich Krause, 1981. "Heterogeneous Labour and the Fundamental Marxian Theorem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 48(1), pages 173-178.
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    1. Édouard Poulain, 1994. "Production de forces de travail par des forces de travail ? (Réponse à André Lapidus)," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 45(4), pages 1095-1106.

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