Global Journal of Business Management

Global Journal of Business Management ISSN 6731-4538 Vol. 7 (8), pp. 001-005, August, 2013. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Labour exploitation and division of labour: A meta-analysis of divergent ideological perspectives

Wilfred I. Ukpere

Faculty of Business, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, RSA, Room 22, Commerce Building, P. O.

Box 1906, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: 27-735295587 / 27-21-959-6013. Fax: 27-21-7615126.

Accepted 03 July, 2013

Abstract

Division of labour has been acknowledged and praised by conservatives as the source of wealth to nations, without considering its exploitative effects on labour. Conversely, social progressives believed that division of labour is inhuman and demeaning in nature, particularly towards labour. The authors of this paper harmonises more with the social counteractions that, division of labour is a form of capitalistic labour exploitation, in the general capitalistic labour relations and, postulate certain ameliorating mechanisms to counter the lopsided effects of division of labour in the workplace. The aims of the paper are to provide an intellectual discourse on the phenomena of labour exploitation and division of labour, in addition to examine divergent social-economic ideological perspectives, and to pay particular attention to their impact on people in the workplace. The paper is a meta-analytical study, which relied on secondary data. It is a qualitative study that based on conceptual and philosophical analysis, theory building and “emic” perspective (author’s viewpoints).

Key words: Accumulation, capital sharing, division of labour, exploitation, industrial humanism, production.