Overview

Why do we always assume it was the New Right that was at the centre of constructing neoliberalism? How might corporatism have advanced neoliberalism? And, more controversially, were the trade unions only victims of neoliberal change, or did they play a more contradictory role? In How Labour Built Neoliberalism, Elizabeth Humphrys examines the role of the Labor Party and trade unions in constructing neoliberalism in Australia, and the implications of this for understanding neoliberalism’s global advance. These questions are central to understanding the present condition of the labour movement and its prospects for the future.

Full Product Details

Author:   Elizabeth Humphrys
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   126
Weight:   0.572kg
ISBN:  

9789004349001

ISBN 10:   9004349006
Pages:   268
Publication Date:   11 October 2018
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements List of Illustrations List of Abbreviations 1 Introduction  1The ALP & ACTU Accord  2The Social Contract’s Gala Dinner  3Neoliberalism’s Corporatist Origins  4A Hegemonic Political Project  5Corporatist ‘involucro’  6A Note on Method  7Structure of the Book 2 Theorising the State–Civil Society Relationship  1Introduction  1.1Some Preliminary Comments  2Marx’s Critique of Hegel  3From Critique of Politics to Critique of Political Economy  4From Marx to Gramsci  4.1Lo stato integrale  5Gramsci contra Marx? The Limits of Integration  6Conclusion 3 Corporatism in Australia  1Introduction  2Understanding Corporatism  3Panitch’s Approach  4Corporatism and the Accord  5The Context of Arbitration  6Conclusion 4 Destabilising the Dominant Narrative  1Introduction  1.1Conceptual Diversity  2The Dominant Narrative  2.1Harvey: A Brief History of Neoliberalism  2.2Klein: The Shock Doctrine  2.3Peck, Theodore, Tickell and Brenner: ‘Neoliberalisation’  2.4Destabilising the Dominant Narrative  3A Class Approach to Neoliberalism  3.1Harvey: ‘The restoration of class power’  3.2Davidson: ‘An entirely new political regime’  3.3A Hegemonic Political Project  4Conclusion 5 Periodising Neoliberalism  1Introduction  2Periodising Neoliberalism in Australia  3Proto-neoliberal stage: 1973–1983  3.1The Economic Crisis  3.2The Whitlam Government  3.3The Fraser Government  4Vanguard Neoliberal Stage: 1983–1993  4.1The Impasse of the 1970s  4.2Developing the Accord  5Piecemeal Neoliberalisation Stage: 1993–2008  5.1Howard’s Piecemeal Neoliberalism  6Crisis stage: 2008 Onwards  7Conclusion 6 The Disorganisation of Labour  1Introduction  2The Accord Agreement  3Wages and the Accord  3.1The First Accord (1983)  3.2Accord Mark II (1985–1987)  3.3Accord Mark III (1986–1987)  3.4Accord Mark IV (1988–1989), V (1989–1990) & VI (1990–1993)  3.5Accord Mark VII (1993) & VIII (Draft Only)  4Wage Suppression  4.1Labour Disorganisation  5Conclusion 7 An Integral State  1Introduction  2Accord Divergences  2.1The National Economic Summit and Communiqué  2.2Prices  2.3‘Big bang’ and Other Neoliberal Reforms  2.4Trade Liberalisation  3Privatisation  4Social Wage and Contested Understandings  4.1Medicare  4.2Superannuation  4.3Worth the Cost?  5The Concord of Neoliberalism and the Accord  5.1A Brace against Neoliberalism?  5.2Theorising the Corporatism–Neoliberalism Connection  5.3An ‘informal Accord’?  5.4The Accord asinvolucro  6Conclusion 8 How Labour Made Neoliberalism  1Introduction  2From Worker Agency to State Agency  2.1The Shift to Support the Accord  2.2Planning as a Solution to Crisis?  2.3Consultation on, and Support for, the Accord  2.4Sticking with the Accord  2.5Industry policy and Australia Reconstructed  3Managing Dissent and Disorganising Labour  3.1Civil Legal Action against Labour Disputes  3.2Deregistration of the Builders Labourers’ Federation  3.3Pilots’ Dispute  4Enterprise Bargaining and the Antinomies of the Accord  4.1Hegemony Unravelling  5Conclusion 9 A Return to the International  1Introduction  2A Brief Detour in the Antipodes  3The British Social Contract (1974–1979)  4The Carter Administration (1977–1981) and Prior  5New York City Council Fiscal Crisis (1975–1981)  6Contemporary Finland  7Conclusion 10 Conclusion: Neoliberalism at Dusk  1Internal Relations  2Antinomies and Residues  3Neoliberalism at Dusk Appendices    Appendix B: Timeline of Predecessors to the AMWU References Index

Reviews

[Humphrys] makes a serious, well-researched and persuasive case, which challenges a great deal that's been written about the recent past. If you're at all concerned about the state of the Australian left, you need to engage with her work. - Jeff Sparrow, in: Sydney Review of Books (2019) Humphry's brilliant How Labour Built Neoliberalism utterly transforms our understanding of modern Australian politics and compels us to rethink established ideas about the role of the trade union movement in the making of neoliberalism. I consider this to be a landmark work in Australian political sociology and an invaluable contribution to the literature on global neoliberalism. -- Melinda Cooper, University of Sydney, Author of Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism (2017, Zone Books). How Labour Built Neoliberalism is an important contribution to the critical study of a period of history that has largely escaped honest appraisal. It builds on the work of Tom Bramble, Rick Kuhn and others, joining a small but important offering of literature that frankly explains the genesis of the unions' current crisis. [...] How Labour Built Neoliberalism is critical reading for anyone who wants to understand the context of today's trade union crisis. -- Steph Price The book opens up a discussion about the contemporary 'profound disorganisation of trade unions' not with the end of lamenting that which has been lost but as the starting point for how workers can win back control over their lives. [...] How Labour Built Neoliberalism points to the dead-end that is resolving a crisis of capitalism on capitalist terms. This is the strategic value Humphrys' work brings to the present predicament of the labour movement. -- Godfrey Moase, in Overland, 1 April 2019

The book opens up a discussion about the contemporary `profound disorganisation of trade unions' not with the end of lamenting that which has been lost but as the starting point for how workers can win back control over their lives. [...] How Labour Built Neoliberalism points to the dead-end that is resolving a crisis of capitalism on capitalist terms. This is the strategic value Humphrys' work brings to the present predicament of the labour movement. -- Godfrey Moase, in Overland, 1 April 2019

[Humphrys'] critique offers both useful conceptual tools for understanding neoliberalism and an important caution in rushing towards the state for solutions. That is a challenge, particularly in Australia, where unions have often looked to political means to solve industrial problems. Her call also resonates with a growing number of critical voices within the union movement urging a renewed focus on industrial organising. - Ben Spies-Butcher, Macquarie University, in: The Economic and Labour Relations Review (2020) How Labour Built Neoliberalism is an important contribution to the critical study of a period of history that has largely escaped honest appraisal. It builds on the work of Tom Bramble, Rick Kuhn and others, joining a small but important offering of literature that frankly explains the genesis of the unions' current crisis. [...] How Labour Built Neoliberalism is critical reading for anyone who wants to understand the context of today's trade union crisis. - Steph Price, in: Marxist Left Review, Issue 18, Winter 2019 [F]ind yourself a copy of How Labour Built Neoliberalism... [Humphrys] makes a serious, well-researched and persuasive case, which challenges a great deal that's been written about the recent past. If you're at all concerned about the state of the Australian left, you need to engage with her work. - Jeff Sparrow, in: Sydney Review of Books, 23 September 2019 The book opens up a discussion about the contemporary 'profound disorganisation of trade unions' not with the end of lamenting that which has been lost but as the starting point for how workers can win back control over their lives. [...] How Labour Built Neoliberalism points to the dead-end that is resolving a crisis of capitalism on capitalist terms. This is the strategic value Humphrys' work brings to the present predicament of the labour movement. - Godfrey Moase, in: Overland, 1 April 2019 [...] I wish to pay a huge tribute to Liz Humphrys for her book How Labour Built Neoliberalism. This publication is hugely significant. I feel we have waited 30 years for this analysis. - Lee Rhiannon, in: Progress in Political Economy, 24 March 2019 [...] Elizabeth Humphrys challenges the narrative that neo-liberalism was generally imposed onto labour by right-wing governments such as the Thatcher government in the UK and the Reagan government in the US during the 1980s. Through a detailed analysis of the Australian political economy between 1983 and 1996, she demonstrates how restructuring was also carried out by a Labour Party in close co-operation with trade unions. [...] Written in a beautiful and highly accessible prose, she makes clear that trade unions are not automatically progressive or reactionary. Ultimately, trade unions too are sites of class struggle, which decides on whether a particular trade union is a force for social justice or not. [...] Humphrys' book is a must-read in guiding our explorations of this question and the search for alternative, progressive strategies. - Andreas Bieler, Professor of Political Economy, University of Nottingham, UK, in: Progress in Political Economy, 14 January 2019 This book offers a groundbreaking account of the transition to neoliberalism in Australia, focusing on the role of the Labor Party and the trade unions in the economic, social and policy shifts involved in that transition. The book is scholarly and informative, and it sets the standard for studies of neoliberal transitions elsewhere. This is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the emergence of neoliberalism in Australia, or the contradictory role trade unions can play during an economic crisis. - Alfredo Saad Filho, King's College London Humphry's brilliant How Labour Built Neoliberalism utterly transforms our understanding of modern Australian politics and compels us to rethink established ideas about the role of the trade union movement in the making of neoliberalism. I consider this to be a landmark work in Australian political sociology and an invaluable contribution to the literature on global neoliberalism. - Melinda Cooper, University of Sydney, Author of Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism (Zone Books, 2017)

Author Information

Elizabeth Humphrys is a political economist at the University of Technology Sydney. She has published on trade union and social movement responses to crisis, including in Globalizations and Critical Sociology. She completed her Ph.D. (2016) at the University of Sydney.

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