Workplace political theory. Reconceptualising exploitation, democracy and justice through workers’ reflexive writings – THEOVAIL
Political Theory at Work: Reconceptualizing Exploitation, Democracy, and Justice through the Reflective Writings of Workers
We have reexamined foundational questions in political theory by drawing on the reflective writings of workers, from the early days of capitalism to the digital age. Throughout history, in moments of reflexivity triggered by the transformations of capitalism and the expansion of the working class, workers have produced texts in which they reflect on their work experiences, their efforts to organize, and their claims to rights.
Objectives
The THEOVAIL project aimed to rethink three central concepts of political theory—exploitation, democracy, and justice—through the lens of workers’ reflective writings. Its main objective was to build a political theory of labor by drawing on texts written by workers themselves about their experiences of work, collective organization, and power relations within the economy. The project rested on several key assumptions: The absence of labor in political theory: While contemporary political theory has extensively explored issues such as citizenship, participation, and democracy, it has often neglected the dimension of labor and the relations of production. The relevance of workers’ writings for political thought: Confronted directly with the contradictions of capitalism and democratic structures, workers have produced original reflections on social justice, collective organization, and forms of emancipation. These writings offer an alternative to theories developed exclusively by intellectuals and provide a perspective more grounded in social experience. The existence of continuities and ruptures in conceptualizations of labor: Throughout history, periods of crisis and transformation in capitalism have generated intense worker-authored production. These moments are particularly fertile for the emergence of alternative political theories, which the project sought to bring to light. The project was structured around four main axes: Axis 1: Corpus construction – Gathering and analyzing texts produced by workers across different historical periods. Axis 2: Exploitation – Studying workers’ theorization of exploitation in connection with transformations in capitalism and forms of domination in the workplace. Axis 3: Democracy – Analyzing collective organizational forms and workers’ reflections on democracy in the workplace. Axis 4: Justice – Exploring workers’ conceptions of social justice and labor rights. Over the years, the project evolved in several ways—some anticipated, others shaped by changing contexts. One unanticipated development was the need to give visibility to the collected writings (especially to certain original texts acquired by the project). In response, a website was developed to make some of these texts and analyses accessible beyond traditional academic publications.
The THEOVAIL project is based on an interdisciplinary approach combining political theory, social history, sociology of labor, and philosophy. Its originality lies in the use of workers’ reflective writings to reconstruct a political theory of labor outside the conventional frameworks of academic debate.
Compilation and Analysis of a Corpus of Workers’ Writings
One of the pillars of the project was the creation of a historical and contemporary corpus of workers’ writings, selected from various moments of capitalist transformation. These sources include:
Historical documents: pamphlets, workers’ newspapers, union leaflets, correspondence, and meeting reports.
Contemporary writings: testimonies from precarious workers, blogs, and online forums of digital platform workers.
International sources: an extension beyond the French context, including materials from transnational labor movements.
These documents were analyzed using methods drawn from intellectual history and the sociology of discourse, with particular attention to how workers themselves conceptualize notions such as exploitation, democracy, and justice.
Conceptual and Historical Analysis
The project adopted a genealogical and comparative approach to examine continuities and changes in workers’ discourses on labor. Drawing on critical theory and conceptual history, it aimed to identify:
The discursive repertoires used by workers in different historical periods.
The evolution of political categories forged in workers’ writings.
The tensions between these discourses and dominant political theories produced by intellectuals.
The objective was to show how workers have themselves produced political concepts in response to transformations in capitalism—sometimes in rupture with established theories.
Evolving Methods Throughout the Project
Several adjustments were made as the project progressed:
Refinement of the theoretical framework: initially focused on the history of workers’ ideas, the project incorporated tools from the sociology of social movements to better grasp the contexts in which these discourses were produced.
Inclusion of digital writings: the rise of worker blogs and forums led to an expanded corpus, integrating contemporary forms of expression among precarious workers.
Development of a digital platform: due to difficulties in accessing archives and a commitment to dissemination, a website was created to make selected sources and analyses publicly available.
The project, initially delayed by the pandemic and a change of institutional host, began with a collective presentation of participants’ research, followed by a series of seminars exploring how workers’ writings have been used across various disciplines—history, philosophy, gender studies, sociology, and literature. These exchanges resulted in transcripts that could serve as a basis for future research.
In the following years, the project was structured around thematic seminars, focusing in particular on strikes during the French Third Republic, workers’ fraternal associations, the notion of dignity in labor writings, Rancière’s sources, France Télécom, narratives by établis, the writings of Jules Leroux, the concept of exploitation, leaflets, the materials collected by Levenstein, and the very act of writing about work.
In parallel, several academic events were organized: conferences on political philosophy and labor writings (Sciences Po/Nanterre, 2022), workers’ solidarities (ENS, 2023), non-professional thinkers (Sciences Po, April 2023), self-management (Besançon, September 2023), Gabriel Gauny (Saint-Denis, April 2024), the GKN struggle (February 2024), populism (Sciences Po, June 2024), plebeianism (September 2024), the representation of the people (Prague, November 2024), and the legal status of cooperatives (Sciences Po, December 2024).
The project was also presented at various conferences (AFSP 2022, Paris Cité 2022, ECPR Toulouse 2023, Berlin 2023), and supported related initiatives: digitization of the Boimondau archives, the creation of the Atelier de Théorie Politique – Paris, the organization of seminars, the hosting of Jane Mansbridge, various publications (books and translations), archival research trips, and the establishment of a collection of workers’ documents at Sciences Po.
Three postdoctoral researchers (Antoine Aubert, Eve Gianoncelli, Camille Ternier) and three research interns were supervised as part of the project. Each produced a research note on specific themes (solidarity in Le Creusot, exploitation in David Ponthus’s writings, Simone Weil’s experience of labor).
Several publications have resulted from the project or are currently in preparation: a special issue on “Philosophy and Labor Writings” (published in Consecutio), a dossier on “Workers’ Solidarities” (submitted), another on cooperatives (forthcoming in RECMA), and one more on workers’ writings (to appear in Revue des sciences humaines). Finally, a research blog entitled Écritures du travail has been launched, intended to serve both as a source repository and a scientific journal.
In this research project, we intend to reassess fundamental questions in political theory by drawing on workers’ reflexive writings
from the beginnings of capitalism to the current digital economy. Throughout history, in situations of induced reflexivity due to the
transformations of capitalism and the broadening of the working-class, workers have written texts in which they reflect on their work
experience, their attempts to associate and to claim rights. Together, these texts form an underground continent of workplace
political theory. Due to the distinctive standpoint of workers, they can shed a new light on the concepts of exploitation, democracy
and justice, and inform us about the social conditions of theoretical activity. To explore this intellectual history of capitalism from
below, the research team will focus on four historical periods. For each period, we will investigate a both a French and an
international case study.
Project coordination
Samuel Hayat (Centre de recherches politiques de Sciences Po (CEVIPOF))
The author of this summary is the project coordinator, who is responsible for the content of this summary. The ANR declines any responsibility as for its contents.
Partnership
LIRDEF Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Didactique, Education et Formation
MAPP Alexis Cukier
FNSP Centre de recherches politiques de Sciences Po (CEVIPOF)
CERAPS Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Administratives, Politiques et Sociales
Help of the ANR 303,954 euros
Beginning and duration of the scientific project:
December 2019
- 42 Months
