Globalisation, Knowledge and Labour

Explores the place of knowledge in contemporary capitalism by raising the question of how labour movements learn, what strategies they deploy to defend their interests and to what extent processes of neoliberal globalization and the new geography of global capitalism are producing alternative geographies of labour knowledge production and practice. This book begins from the central premise that progressive social change requires collective struggle underpinned by a clear strategy, and that processes of neoliberal globalisation have altered the cartography upon which social struggle takes place. Drawing on insights from the knowledge production processes of labour movements around the world, this research seeks to highlight the central importance of knowledge production and processes of learning within social movements. Providing both a comprehensive theoretical and empirical introduction to the relationship between globalisation, knowledge and social movement strategy, the authors contend that the production and dissemination of alternative knowledge is central to a resurgence of working-class power. By presenting a wide range of case-studies, the book highlights the centrality of knowledge production and circulation processes to the potential expansion and revitalization of the role of civil society in the promotion of social democracy. The chapter contributors include activist-scholars, whose work represents a broad perspective on ‘labour’ including the unemployed, the self-employed at the margins of the labour market, the unorganized, and those who work in the informal economy. Delivering work which is at once theoretically rich and yet empirically informed, this work will be of interest to students and scholars from a range of disciplines including International Relations, Development Studies, Critical Labour and Social Movement Studies, and Education. It will also be of relevance to activists and practitioners engaged in strategy development and education in various social movements.