Work More or Work Harder? The Duration and Intensity of Work in Marx's Capital

The relationship between the duration of work (working time) and its intensity is a rather neglected issue in economic theory, both neoclassical and heterodox. Marx's analysis of this subject remains highly original and accurate. Furthermore, a dissenting minority of neoclassical labor economists have — consciously or unconsciously — followed his theses. The main points of the Marxian analysis are: a) the existence of an inverse relationship between working time and labor intensity; and b) a long-run time horizon for the determination of the level of labor intensity and thus the constitution of its social norm. These points are vindicated both analytically and in terms of modern ergo-nomic studies. The Marxian objective and materialist methodology is superior to both the neoclassical subjectivism of individual preferences and certain voluntarist neo-Marxist views that consider class struggle as almost unconstrained.