Adam Smith on Relations of Subordination, Personal Incentives and the Division of Labour

In elaborating his stadial approach to economic and social progress, Smith placed special emphasis on the evolution of the conceptual pair authority/subordination. The aim of this paper is to analyse the reciprocal relations which link together the evolution of the relations of subordination, personal incentives, and the division of labour with special reference to the agricultural and the commercial stages. In the former case, Smith pointed out the exclusive role performed by personal incentives in increasing labour productivity, a role which is consistent with his manifest preference for the figure of the ‘independent small‐scale proprietor’. In the latter case we note a change of emphasis due both to the pervasive role of the division of labour in increasing labour productivity, and—as a by‐product of this change—to the emergence of a new form of relation of subordination. In this new context the division of labour engenders a new form of property polarisation, one connected no longer to land but to capital accumulation. Moreover, because of its harmful effects on the mental capacity of manufacturing workers, the division of labour appears to act as an obstacle against social mobility, and this in turn further reinforces the process of property polarisation.