Marx recognized two distinct but also interrelated processes of increasing surplus-value extraction: absolute and relative surplus-value. Both these processes hinge upon the duration, the intensity and the productivity of labour, albeit in different ways. The increase of the duration of labour...

As Marx, but also Chapman and Robbins argued, working time and labour intensity are strongly and negatively correlated. Nevertheless, the models for this interaction presented so far don’t integrate their ideas. We construct a model for the time – intensity relationship that is mainly based...

Today there is increasing evidence supporting the claim that an increasing number of workers around the world are overworked. Although, many researchers have raised the issue of the longer working time, it is usually considered a non-European phenomenon. This paper disputes this perception with...