A market economy requires a pool of unemployed workers who are ready to be hired to meet increased production demands. Within a capitalist society, these people are structurally competing with one another. Th e presence of these individuals guarantees lower labor costs (because workers are replaceable) and “naturally” disciplines the workers, who have an incentive to keep their jobs and paychecks. Under normal conditions, the reserve army of labor is replenished by the very process of capital accumulation: in their competition to lower commodity prices, capitalists constantly seek out new technological innovation, which in turn expels a segment of the working class from the process of production. Th e reserve army is further replenished by mechanization, in which the process of production is simplifi ed or automated, and skilled workers are made expendable.

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 150