Unemployment, power relations, and the quality of work

Abstract

The writings of Malcolm Sawyer have posed a significant challenge to mainstream economic thinking. Among other things, they have highlighted the failure of established macroeconomics to offer an adequate account for the existence and persistence of unemployment. They have also called for a different theoretical and policy agenda aimed at the restoration of full employment. Sawyer has drawn upon the work of Michał Kalecki to expose the barriers (intellectual as well as political and economic) to lower unemployment and has set out some of the fundamental reforms required to regain and sustain full employment in society. His work provides an enduring source of insight into real world economic problems (for example, unemployment) and the ways to overcome them.