Lazarus layer

English Noun en Marxism An impoverished segment of society that may be forced by necessity to work for a low wage. en 1972 Ralph Miliband; John Saville The Socialist Register 188 Newly proletarianized workers were available to be exploited, while 'Lazarus layers' of the unemployed kept down wages, making production more profitable. en 1995 Kenneth M. Morrison Marx, Durkheim, Weber: Formations of Modern Social Thought 323 Marx referred to the reserve army as the 'Lazarus layer' of labor , to be brought back to life when the supply of labor becomes low. en 2020 Andy Merrifield Marx, Dead and Alive: Reading "Capital" in Precarious Times 120 These ruffians, Marx says, “dwelling in the sphere of pauperism,” are nothing but “the deadweight of the industrial reserve army,” trapped in the Lazarus layers of society and generally not, nor ever likely to be, a progressive political force. en eponyms