Labour, Labour Law and Capitalist Rent Seeking: Rentier Capitalism and Labour in Historical Perspective

The rise of rentier capitalism in advanced capitalist countries has detrimentally affected large numbers of worker and impaired the efficacy of protective labour and employment laws. However, capitalist rent-seeking is not unique to rentier capitalism, but rather has taken a variety of forms over time. This chapter begins by exploring the evolving meaning of rent and changing practices of capitalist rent-seeking. It then considers the ways in which workers responded to those practices in both rent-rich and rent-poor sectors of the economy, including through the enactment of labour and employment laws appropriate to, but only partially successful in addressing labour exploitation in each sector. The chapter then considers the impact of rentier capitalism on work in productivist firms and the efficacy of existing protective labour and employment laws. It concludes by considering possible reforms to protective laws for rentier capitalism while recognizing their limits in worlds built on structures generative of labour exploitation.

Balihar Sanghera, ed., Global Rental Capitalism: Theory and Development (Routledge, forthcoming 2025)