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Child labour, cobalt, and the London Metal Exchange : fetish, fixing, and the limits of financialization

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Bernards, Nick (2021) Child labour, cobalt, and the London Metal Exchange : fetish, fixing, and the limits of financialization. Economy and Society . doi:10.1080/03085147.2021.1899659 ISSN 0308-5147.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2021.1899659

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Abstract

This article considers the surprising, tentative, emergence of the London Metal Exchange as a quasi-labour regulator following persistent scandals over cobalt mined by child labour in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It argues that this case offers us a useful window on the limits to financialization. The ‘financialization’ of cobalt here refers to the process by which cobalt has come to be traded as a speculative asset. Such processes have often been understood in terms of a ‘divorcing’ of value from the underlying material form. The persistence of controversies around child labour and cobalt highlights particularly clearly how fraught a process any such divorce is. Theoretically, the article develops these arguments through engagements with Marxian and Science and Technology Studies (STS) literatures on commodification.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
H Social Sciences > HG Finance
T Technology > TN Mining engineering. Metallurgy
Divisions: Faculty of Arts > School for Cross-faculty Studies
Faculty of Arts > School for Cross-faculty Studies > Global Sustainable Development
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): London Metal Exchange, Financialization , Child labor , Child labor -- Congo (Democratic Republic), Cobalt, Commodification
Journal or Publication Title: Economy and Society
Publisher: Routledge
ISSN: 0308-5147
Official Date: 18 June 2021
Dates:
DateEvent
18 June 2021Available
12 February 2021Accepted
DOI: 10.1080/03085147.2021.1899659
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Economy and Society on 18/06/2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03085147.2021.1899659
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit: 16 February 2021
Date of first compliant Open Access: 18 December 2022
Is Part Of: 1
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