The Knowledge Economy and Labour Power in Late Capitalism

This paper offers a Marxist critique of the prevailing view that the knowledge economy marks a decisive shift in capitalism away from the exploitation of labour and argues instead that the knowledge economy is part of the broader transition of value relations under late capitalism, which manifests most clearly in the increasing difficulties late capitalism experiences in containing the power of social labour. Drawing out this argument the paper considers the recent mass expansion of UK post-compulsory education. Contrary to the view that post compulsory education is a functional response to the needs of a knowledge economy, it is argued that the expansion is a function of the need to control through containment the power of social labour. Under conditions of late capitalism and the broader transitions underway in capitalist value relations, the economic function of education remains crucial, but is increasingly subordinate to its role in regulating free time as surplus labour to be controlled and manipulated within capitalism.