ABSTRACT
Delving into the ‘hidden abode’ of production, this chapter introduces Labour Process Theory as a leading approach applying aspects of Marx’s critique of political economy in the study of the relationship between the labour process and the valorisation process. It connects the key elements of ‘core’ LPT to concepts and debates within Marxian value theory, specifically with regard to the contingent association between what happens in the workplace and what happens in the market and broader sphere of social and political conflict. It gives empirical illustration of how LPT scholars have sought to address the category of value in programmes of research about the creative industries and financialisation, before considering the potential alternative posed to ‘core’ LPT by the so-called ‘paleo-Marxism’ and its appraisal of the possibility for technological transformations and management techniques to challenge capitalist social relations.
