Law at Work

The Coercion and Co-option of the Working Class

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This book explores how the legal system, through its structures and mechanisms, legitimizes and reinforces the exploitation of workers. Using historic and contemporary examples, Glasbeek illustrates how conscious manipulations of law are part and parcel of how law protects capitalists at the expense of workers.

Contributors

Harry Glasbeek

Harry Glasbeek is professor emeritus and Senior Scholar of Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. He has taught in both Australia and Canada.

Chapter Contributors Pages Year Price
Glasbeek introduces the central ideas explored throughout the book, highlighting how the law is structured to maintain systems of oppression under capitalism.
9 $0.90
This chapter explores the evolution of labour legislation, highlighting the role these laws played in limiting workers’ rights and reinforcing class hierarchies. It also analyzes collective …
18 $1.80
This chapter examines how labour unions and legal reforms from the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries challenged employer dominance, and how the Great Depression prompted worker-focused …
16 $1.60
This chapter looks at how labour policies changed during and after World War II, where many of the advances made by the working class were challenged in the 1930s. It also covers the many worker …
28 $2.80
This chapter examines how competitive capitalism undermined worker solidarity by pressuring individuals to compete for jobs and accept employer conditions, which widened the divide between …
39 $3.90
This chapter explains how the legal system and the rules and decisions which show the law is comfortable with differential treatment, prioritizes property rights and employer interests often at …
14 $1.40
The story shared in this chapter highlights the measures capitalists will take to escape legal regulations that try to restrict their profit-maximization drive. It also describes how capitalists …
25 $2.50
This chapter discusses the ways in which capitalists seek for ways to maximize profits, including finding ways to pass the costs of making profits on to others and pressuring governments to …
27 $2.70
This chapter discusses how the contract of employment is a contract of submission. It highlights the ways the law also ensures that it is a contract of subordination, giving ownership of the …
32 $3.20
This chapter examines how governments determined which businesses were essential to the public welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that labeling employees essential workers functions …
21 $2.10
This chapter explores the central role of executives and managers in corporate operations, arguing that their wealth and power have grown as they exercise influence beyond their individual …
26 $2.60
This chapter examines how the structures and ideology supported by law to maintain and perpetuate capitalism ensure the dominance of one class over another. It also discusses how, when it comes …
33 $3.30
This chapter examines how the basic structure of capitalism makes work unrewarding, and how legal systems legitimize and reinforce these conditions. It argues that the law not only sustains …
29 $2.90
This page lists selected notes used throghout the book.
1 $0.10