Labour, Nature, Value

André Gorz between Marxism and Degrowth

Emanuele Leonardi, Yari Lanci

• Publisher: Verso
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Economics
• eBook ISBN:
  9781804298862
• Subtopic: Environmental Economics
• Index: Economics

The promise of a capitalist green economy is to transform ecological constraints on development into business opportunities. This may sound appealing but proves problematic on closer inspection. Emanuele Leonardi explains how this reasonable ideology fails by drawing on the work of Andre Gorz, the militant communist, editor of Les Temps Modernes, and journalist at Le Nouvel Observateur. The result connects degrowth thinking to Marxism. Labour, Nature, Value is a programmatic horizon for the socio-ecological conflicts proliferating internationally. The aim is to reduce pressure on the biosphere while facilitating an ever-wider diffusion of care activities and knowledge production.

Degrowth and Marxism are natural allies in the fight for a fair and sustainable world.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface to the English-Language Edition
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. Political Ecology as Method: Analytical Premises and New Political Stakes of Social Transformation
• 2. Nature in Classical Political Economy and in Its Critique: Primitive Accumulation, Valorization and Abstract Social Nature
• 3. An Entropic Device: The Rise of the Labour-Nature-Value Nexus from Fossil Capitalism to the Fordist Pact
• 4. The Twofold Crisis of the ‘Classic’ Labour-Nature-Value Nexus: Social Struggles and Physical Limits to Growth at the Root of the First Oil Shock (1968–73)
• 5. Nature as a Direct Element of Valorization: Cognitive Labour and Financialization in the Green Economy
• 6. For a Critique of Carbon Markets: Historical and Economic Notes on the Peculiar Commodification of the Climate
• 7. Between Marxism and Degrowth: Shrinking Social Metabolism and Liberating Negentropic Work
• Conclusion
• Index
• Notes