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In week 1, we discussed Kenneth Pomeranz’s critique of teleology in history. His
In week 1, we discussed Kenneth Pomeranz’s critique of teleology in history. Historical teleology refers to the idea that historical events progress towards a natural culmination. It holds that human history has a purpose or direction and moves towards a predetermined outcome. Labour provides an excellent example of this. In the past, historians saw an evolution of labour relations from “backwards”, primitive coercive labour (eg. slavery, serfdom, indentured servitude) to modern, capitalist free-wage labour. This is a teleological view of history – one that suggests a linear progression from less free to more free labour arrangements. Thinkers like Adam Smith and Karl Marx believed a considerable shift happened with Western Europe’s development of labour markets in the early modern period. As societies transitioned to modernity, there was a shift towards voluntary and contractual labour arrangements which was also the basis of capitalist economic growth. Smith saw it as liberating, and Marx saw it as destructive “wage slavery”.
However, it′s important to note that this teleological narrative has been critiqued for its oversimplification and Eurocentrism. Some historians argue that transitioning from coercive to free labour was not a universal or linear process and that different societies experienced diverse trajectories of labour relations. Moreover, the emergence of wage labor did not necessarily result in greater freedom for workers, as it often involved exploitation, inequality, and new forms of coercion. Your written tutorial this week asks you to question this teleology of labour write an essay on the following prompt:
Using specific examples from the readings, explain how complexities around the categories of free and unfree labour in the early modern world challenge a teleological view of history.
Reading: Alessandro Stanziani, Bondage: Labor Rights in Eurasia from the Sixteenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries (New York: Berghahn Books, 2014). Excerpts
Questions to get you thinking
[Do not write direct answers to the following sub-questions. Instead, use them to help you to start to think about the topic, organize your thoughts and structure your essay.]
How did social, economic, and legal factors shape the experiences of individuals engaged in different forms of labour during this period?
In what ways did the distinctions between free and unfree labour blur, and impact societies and economies in the early modern era?
How did Enlightenment thinkers shape the idea of a premodern world based on unfree labour compared to a modern world based on free labour?
What does the evidence on Russian serfs show us about how legal constraints on peasants changed over time?
How does the status of servants and the poor shape debates over the legal status of labour in early modern England?
How does the desсrіption of labour in Western countries complicate our ideas of “free” labour?
Your assignment should be approximately 1200 words (not counting footnotes)
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