ABSTRACT

Among those who advance globalization as a worthwhile subject of analysis, three positions suggest themselves. The first affirms that human migration and trade routes have long been global in scope; one can map the socio-geographies of globalization against the longue durée of history. Second, it can be argued, following world systems theory, that globalization originates with the geographic expansion of market capitalism during the 16th century and that current world networks are not substantially new. The third position, which informs this chapter, foregrounds the epochal distinctiveness of global capitalism1 and its associated networks of worker exploitation. More than a geo-spatial explication is required here. In line with the theme of this volume, I will examine the time-related aspects of worker exploitation in a globally networked world. The salient categories of analysis are time reckoning, temporality, and coevalness. These categories will underpin a critique of labor and labor time arbitrage, supply chain subcontracting and precarity, plus the financialization of corporate activity in regard to employer-worker relationships. Together, these global capitalist processes constitute a time-based schema of worker exploitation. After sketching the strengths and weak points of this schema, I will consider recent manifestations of global worker activism from a time-related perspective.