Abstract: Neoliberal globalization has emerged on a foundation of replacing the old with the new in international political economy: the dissolution of traditional modes of production based on national borders, the emergence of the multipolar global political landscape, and the establishment of the neoliberal international economic order. These changes have systematically challenged the relatively stable industry/labor relations systems established by the postwar Western capitalist countries following the logical chain of “consumerism”“Fordist mass production”“trade unionism”“welfare states”. In the Western labor relations domain, the mainstream paradigm of pluralism has been therefore experiencing a difficult transformation. A new historical opportunity has arisen for the critical labor relations paradigm, at the kernel of which are Marxs historical materialism and the theory of surplus value. And compared with pluralism, it has shown stronger explanatory power for labor relations issues in the new era. Specifically, with the end of the postwar “Golden Age of Capitalism”, Marxist historical materialists have once again seen hopes of challenging the capitalist hegemony on a global scale. The theory of surplus value from the micro perspective has regained its explanatory power for the digitalized modes of production through its deep insights into algorithmic control and digital labor. By reviewing the latest development of these two schools of thought, this paper finds a revival of critical theory in the debates over a series of important issues in the field of labor relations in a globalizing world. This paper concludes with a discussion of the significance of these theories in constructing an independent knowledge system of labor relations and accounting for crucial labor relations issues in contemporary China.

Key words: globalization, Marxism, historical materialism, labor process theory, digital labor, critical theory, labor relations

摘要： 新自由主义全球化的肇始之基是国际范围内政治经济领域的除旧布新——旧的以国家疆域为基础的生产方式的式微，多极化国际政治新格局的出现，以及自由化的国际经济新秩序的建立。这些变化系统性地挑战了战后西方资本主义国家以“消费主义-福特制大生产-工会主义-福利国家”这一逻辑链条为基础所建立的相对稳定的产业/劳动关系系统。在西方劳动关系领域，主流的多元主义理论范式因此面临艰难转型。而以马克思历史唯物主义和剩余价值理论为核心的批判主义范式则迎来了全新的历史机遇，相较于多元主义对新时期的劳动关系问题表现出了更强的解释力。具体来说，随着战后西方资本主义“黄金时代”的结束，马克思历史唯物主义者再次看到了全球范围内挑战资本主义文化领导权的曙光；而微观视角的剩余价值理论则通过对算法控制和数字劳动的深刻洞察而重获其对数字化生产组织方式的解释力。通过对上述两个理论流派最新思想的评述，本文得出结论：在对全球化时代劳动关系领域一系列重要问题的论争上，理论界正在见证批判主义的复兴。文末还对上述理论对新时期构建中国劳动关系自主知识体系和解释中国劳动关系问题的意义进行了讨论。

关键词: 全球化, 马克思主义, 历史唯物主义, 劳动过程理论, 数字劳动, 批判主义, 劳动关系