Intermediate exploitation

It refers to the act of intermediates acting as intermediaries in the processing and assembly of products and the supply of labor, mainly skimming off the rent of subcontractors and workers, for reasons such as supplying trading opportunities and managing and supervising them. Although intermediate exploitation is also a form of exploitation, its content is narrower than exploitation, and it is predominantly found in so-called peripheral labor, such as home work and contract labor in the construction and mining industries. On the other hand, the development of intra-company and social division of labor under an advanced industrial economy has made the outsourcing of construction and subcontract processing systems inevitable, and has also led to an increase in part-time labor. Today, the very pre-modern act of intermediate exploitation is legally regulated by the Employment Security Act, the Labor Standards Act, and the Antimonopoly Act, which prohibits unfair and fraudulent transactions, and corrective measures are being taken.

[Yoshiie Seiji]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

製品加工・組立てや労働力供給の中間に介在し、取引機会の供給と管理・監督などを理由に、主として下請業者や労働者の賃料のぴんはねを行うことをいう。中間搾取も搾取の一形態ではあるが、その内容は搾取より狭く、内職・家内労働や土建業・鉱業などでの請負労働など、いわゆる縁辺労働に支配的に認められる。他方、高度産業経済下での企業内分業や社会的分業の発達が、社外工制や下請加工制を不可避なものとしたり、パート労働を増加させている面もある。今日では、あまりにも前近代的な中間搾取行為は、職業安定法や労働基準法、さらには不当・不正な取引を禁じている独占禁止法などによって、法制的に規制されており、その是正策がとられている。

［吉家清次］

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