Lost-Time Injury Rates: A Marxist Critique of Workers' Compensation Systems

Rodrigo Finkelstein Ph.D. (2022), Simon Fraser University, is an independant scholar. He is author of several articles on labour health, including Riesgos laborales: una visión cultural [Labour Risks: A Cultural View] (Editorial Universitaria, 2018).

Acknowledgements


List of Figures and Tables


1 Overview

 1 Introduction


 2 My Encounter with Injury Rates


 3 Injury Rates as a Collection of Inductive Indicators


 4 How to Approach Injury Rates


 5 Theoretical Contribution


 6 Outline of the Successive Chapters




2 Preconditions

 1 Introduction


 2 First Precondition: Wage Labour


 3 Second Precondition: The Conflict between the Forces of Production and the Relations of Production


 4 Third Precondition: A Burgeoning Capitalist Class


 5 Fourth Precondition: Statistics and Probability


 6 Fifth Precondition: Money


 7 Sixth Precondition: A Capitalist State




3 Insurance Boards The Landlords of the Circuit of Metamorphosis of Lost Labour Power

 1 Introduction


 2 Insurance Boards as Part of the Information Sector

 2.1 Risk as Expected Lost Labour Power


 2.2 Risk as Information

 2.2.1 Risk as Class Information


 2.2.2 Risk as Lost-Time Injury Rates


 2.2.3 Risk as an Informational Medium of Measurement and Monetization


 2.2.4 Risk as an Informational Medium of Exchange




 3 The Informational Landlords of the Circuit of Metamorphosis of Lost Labour Power

 3.1 Stages of the Circuit of Metamorphosis of Lost Labour Power

 3.1.1 The First Stage: C – M


 3.1.2 The Second Stage: M – I


 3.1.3 The Third Stage: I – MW





4 The Lost-Labour-Power Commodity

 1 Introduction


 2 The Commodity


 3 The Information Commodity


 4 The Lost-Labour-Power Commodity

 4.1 The Satisfaction of Needs as a Means of Production


 4.2 Use Value


 4.3 Exchange Value


 4.4 Value


 4.5 Value and Lost Value: The Transformation of Non-Equivalents




 5 The Commodification of Lost Labour Power

 5.1 The Working-Day-Lost Moment


 5.2 The Reporting Moment


 5.3 The Recording Moment


 5.4 The Processing Moment


 5.5 The Programing Moment




5 The Fetishism of the Lost-Labour-Power Commodity

 1 Introduction


 2 Fetishism and Lost Labour Power


 3 The Fetishism of the Lost-Labour-Power Commodity


 4 The Value Fluctuation of the Commodity

 4.1 Procedurally Hidden Social Relations

 4.1.1 Value Fluctuation due to a Movement of Working Days Lost


 4.1.2 Value Fluctuation Due To A Movement Of Reported Injury Claims


 4.1.3 Value Fluctuation due to a Movement of Deeming Injury Claims


 4.1.4 Value Fluctuation due to a Movement of Rate-Setting Mechanics




 4.2 Structurally Hidden Social Relations

 4.2.1 Value Fluctuation due to a Movement of the Wage-Labour Market


 4.2.2 Value Fluctuation due to a Movement of the Economic Activity


 4.2.3 Value Fluctuation due to a Movement of Cost-Shifting




 5 The Relative Value and Price Fluctuation of the Commodity

 5.1 Class-Hidden Social Relations

 5.1.1 Relative Value and Price Fluctuation due to a Movement of Misreporting and Underreporting Injury Claims


 5.1.2 Relative Value and Price Fluctuation due to a Movement of Appealing Legitimate Claims


 5.1.3 Relative Value and Price Fluctuation due to a Movement of Managed Care


 5.1.4 Relative Value and Price Fluctuation due to a Movement of Early-Return-to-Work Practices


 5.1.4 Relative Value and Price Fluctuation due to a Movement of Vocational Rehabilitation Interventions





6 Lessons from the Social Totality

 1 Introduction


 2 Understanding Lost-Time Injury Rates as a Historical Socioeconomic Formation

 2.1 Lost-Time Injury Rates as a Class Relation of Exchange and Distribution


 2.2 Lost-Time Injury Rates Belong to Capital


 2.3 The Value Forms of Lost Labour Power


 2.4 The Lost-Labour-Power Commodity Is Not the Bearer of Lost Value


 2.5 Lost-Time Injury Rates Do Not Provide Accurate Information


 2.6 Lost-Time Injury Rates as a Structural Epistemological Ideology




 3 Coda: The Solidification between Oppressor and Oppressed




References


Index