De-fetishising logistics - for a more encompassing understanding of class struggles in the global supply chains
De-fetishising logistics - for a more encompassing understanding of class struggles in the global supply chains
Tuesday, 8 July 2025: 15:00-16:45
Location: ASJE021 (Annex of the Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences)
RC44 Labor Movements (host committee) Language: English
In the last couple of years, different disciplines have highlighted the role of labour in logistics for class struggle. The debates ranged from “choke points” as “potential magic bullet” for class resistance to “hyper surveillance” of logistical places where the “spatial fixes” of smooth capital flow are protected by state and private security agencies, leading to severe battles with local communities. Looking at class struggle in global production networks through the lens of logistics has brought potentials, but also limits and new vulnerabilities to the fore. Those are theoretical as well as very empirically traceable. On the theoretical side, we see a possibility of an over-fetishisation of logistics in its role in capitalism as concepts like the “logistification of capitalism” indicate. On an empirical note, we see the potential of an over-simplification of class struggles along logistics infrastructures, eclipsing the other necessary nodes in global production- and reproduction networks and the need for a more encompassing picture for global struggles in productive as well as reproductive spaces and places. To tackle these shortcomings, we go back to the role of use value and the small and big circulation of capital accumulation, look at the current role of merchant and commerce capital, and the role of shippers in global production networks and logistics as an extension of Toyotoisms. Te aim of our paper is to de-fetishize logistics and arrive at a more nuanced understanding of the possibilities of struggles along global supply chains.
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