Marx’s Theory of Productive and Unproductive Labour

Marx considered the distinction between productive and unproductive labour to be of the ‘greatest importance’ (Marx, 1969, p. 396) even though his writing on the topic is rather confused. Nevertheless, the distinction continues to be used in Marxist writing and is given some prominence in Lojkine’s recent attempt to develop a Marxist urban sociology (see section 7.2). For this reason it is essential to establish the precise meaning of the distinction.