The Chains of Exploitation: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration

Simon Bittmann () and Ulysse Lojkine
Additional contact information
Simon Bittmann: SAGE - Sociétés, acteurs, gouvernement en Europe - ENGEES - École Nationale du Génie de l'Eau et de l'Environnement de Strasbourg - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
Ulysse Lojkine: SOPHIAPOL - Sociologie, philosophie et anthropologie politiques - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre, EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, AxPo - AxPo Observatory of Market Society Polarization - Sciences Po - Sciences Po

SciencePo Working papers Main from HAL

Abstract: This paper sets a new empirical agenda for exploitation theory, through the notion of chains. Exploitation generally offers three attractive properties compared to more commonly used concepts - inequality and domination - in that it is simultaneously distributive, relational and openly counterfactual - yet it remains an underexplored notion. While both marxist and neoclassical traditions focus on dyadic relations - either worker-employer or through market exchange - most exploitative situations bear several relational components, where agents can simultaneously stand as exploited and exploiters. Building on a sociological-relational tradition, we identify four chains - I (connected), L (hinged), V (dual) and C (complicit) - which we argue represent the elementary structures of exploitation. We then contend that this meso-level approach, complementary to individual-transactional and structural accounts, bears potential for sociological analysis, and then explore how these chains materialize in various economic sites - within the production unit, on the market, in the domestic sphere, and by the state.

Keywords: Exploitation; Theory; Inequality; Domination; Labor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-09-17
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04435653v4
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hal.science/hal-04435653v4/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-04435653

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SciencePo Working papers Main from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Contact - Sciences Po Departement of Economics ().