First International Conference on the Labor Theory of Value and the Social Sciences

Labour

FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE LABOR THEORY OF VALUE AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Call for Papers

1st INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE ‘LABOR THEORY OF VALUE AND SOCIAL SCIENCES’

Thursday 18 – Friday 19 October 2012

Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil

We invite submissions that raise (or answer) questions on Marxian Labor Theory of Value and its role in Social Sciences.

Papers are invited on the following topics:

- Labor Theory of Value and Crisis;

- Labor Theory of Value: actuality, problems, limits and outcomes.

Submission deadline of proposals: July 31, 2012.

Applicants will be informed about acceptance by August 30, 2012.

 

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS

Please email paper in English, Portuguese or Spanish, MS Word format, of no more than 3.000 words, to unb.gept@gmail.com. Speakers will be asked to make short 10-15 minute presentations addressing the main topics of their papers.

Papers should include the following elements: i) Paper’s title; ii) Author(s)’ name and affiliation; iii) Three key-words; iv) 150-word abstract; v) Contact information: mail address, country of residence, telephones and email.

Registration for accepted communications: US$ 50 to be paid at the registration desk.

For general questions and further information, please contact

Daniel Bin (Danielbin@unb.br)

http://unbgept.blogspot.com.br/

Please submit proposals via email to unb.gept@gmail.com

1st International Conference on the ‘Labor Theory of Value and Social Sciences’ is a two-day conference collectively organized by the Group for Study and Research on Labour (Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisa sobre o Trabalho – GEPT/UnB)

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Erik Olin Wright on Worker-Owned Co-operatives

Erik Olin Wright

ERIK OLIN WRIGHT ON WORKER-OWNED CO-OPERATIVES

Worker-owned Cooperatives: A niche in capitalism or a pathway beyond?

A lecture by Professor Erik Olin Wright, University of Wisconsin

5pm-6.30pm, Wednesday 23rd May, 2012

Lecture Theatre, Department of Politics and International Relations, 
Manor Road Building, Manor Road, Oxford

Worker-owned Cooperatives have an ambiguous relationship to capitalism as an economic system. On the one hand, worker coops constitute a distinctive organizational form that occupies a small niche compatible with a well-functioning capitalist economy. On the other hand, worker-owned and managed firms violate in fundamental ways the class character of capitalism by being organized on democratic egalitarian principles. This contradictory relationship between cooperatives and capitalism poses an important question for critics of capitalism: To what extent could worker cooperatives ever constitute a significant component of an alternative to capitalism?

This lecture, hosted jointly by Oxford University’s Centre for Mutual and Employee-owned Business, Public Policy Unit and Centre for the Study of Social Justice, will explore worker-owned cooperatives, as a case of what Wright terms ‘real utopias‘. It will feature a response by Prof Stuart White (Politics) and be chaired by Dr. Will Davies (Centre for Mutual and Employee-owned Business). 

No registration is required. Please email william.davies@kellogg.ox.ac.uk for any further details about this event.

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Financialisation in Crisis

Costas Lapavitsas

FINANCIALISATION IN CRISIS

http://www.brill.nl/financialisation-crisis

Financialisation in Crisis
Edited by Costas Lapavitsas

The turmoil of 2007-2009 is a crisis of financialised capitalism, and for this reason it is systemic and unusual. The crisis commenced in the sphere of finance, spread to production, and then became a world recession. Its unusual character is apparent since never before has a global economic crisis been triggered by banks lending to workers to buy houses. Moreover, state intervention to forestall the crisis becoming a major depression has been unprecedented. This book brings together several well-known political economists to analyse the domestic and international aspects of financialisation, thus putting the crisis in its appropriate context. It draws on Marxist and other heterodox economics to cast light on the broader implications of financialisation and crisis for society.

Biographical note
Costas Lapavitsas is Professor of Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He has published extensively on the political economy of money and finance. His publications include Social Foundations of Markets, Money and Credit (Routledge, 2003).

Readership
Academic libraries, institutes, university courses, policy centres and political/social activists. Those interested in radical explanations of the rise of finance, the transformation of the economy and the recurrence of crisis.

Table of contents
List of Tables and Figures
Introduction: A Crisis of Financialisation, Costas Lapavitsas

PART I: DOMESTIC FINANCIALISATION AND THE ROOTS OF THE CRISIS

1. Financialised Capitalism: Crisis and Financial Expropriation, Costas Lapavitsas

2. The Political Economy of the Subprime Meltdown, Gary Dymski

3. On the Content of Banking in Contemporary Capitalism, Paulo L. Dos Santos

4. Central Banking in Contemporary Capitalism: The Limits of Monetary Policy, Demophanos Papadatos

PART II: INTERNATIONAL FINANCIALISATION AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT OF THE CRISIS

5. On the Historical Significance and Social Costs of the Subprime Financial Crisis: A Comparison with Japan, Makoto Itoh

6. Oil and Finance in the Global Markets, Carlos Morera Camacho and José Antonio Rojas Nieto

7. Developing Countries in the Era of Financialisation: From Deficit Accumulation to Reserve Accumulation, Juan Pablo Painceira

8. Global Integration of Middle-Income Developing Countries in the Era of Financialisation: The Case of Turkey, Nuray Ergüneş

References
Notes on Contributors
Index

 

**END**

 

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

The ‘Critical’ in ‘Critical Political Economy’

Critique

THE ‘CRITICAL’ IN ‘CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY’

Thursday 20 – Friday 21 September 2012, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

To be ‘critical’ in one’s work is a common rhetorical aspect of political economy research, especially in the post-2007 world. However, what ‘critical’ refers to, and the implications of being ‘critical’, are frequently neglected or left unclear. For example, does it entail: the promotion of normative commitments in one’s work; the highlighting of previously ignored/neglected topics or aspects of the world; the unravelling of taken-for-granted assumptions in a text; the attempt to take inspiration from different social science disciplines; or the support for particular ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies’ Or should we consider broader issues as well, such as: the changing nature and role of Higher Education in contemporary societies; the relationship between academia and wider society; participation in social and political movements, such as Occupy; and attempts to reform government policies in a more progressive direction’

This two-day conference in Barcelona seeks to explore these issues in an open, honest and reflexive manner. We are interested in all of the above plus more, and wish for the conference to cover a wide range of topics. As such, we seek contributions from those with an interest in political economy research, regardless of their disciplinary affiliation and whether they are in academia or not. We also hope to attract a diverse range of participants, from a number of countries and backgrounds. To this end, limited funds will be available for assisting PhD researchers who present a paper – especially those from Central and Eastern Europe- with their travel and accommodation costs.

Introducing the conference will be Mònica Clua-Losada, Visiting Professor in Public and Social Policy in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. This will be followed by a plenary address by Professor Vicenç Navarro, Professor in Public Policy atJohnHopkinsUniversityand Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and the Director of the Social Observatory of Spain.

The conference language will be English, and there is no fee for attending and participating in the conference. However, as a network formally affiliated with the ESA, we encourage those participating in the conference to: (i) join our mailing list through the above URL; and (ii) consider becoming a member of the ESA, through which for a small supplementary fee one can affiliate with CPERN and therefore support its present and future activities.

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be submitted to cpern@criticalpoliticaleconomy.net by no later than Wednesday 25 April 2012. The applicants will be informed of the selection committee’s decision by no later than Wednesday 9 May 2012.

ABOUT CPERN

The Critical Political Economy Research Network (CPERN) promotes and facilitates research aimed at understanding recent transformations of capitalism and capitalist societies. The primary focus is onEurope, but CPERN is in no way restricted to just this part of the world. CPERN’s purpose is to reassert the centrality of political economy perspectives and to promote critical and emancipatory scholarship. It is a hub for interdisciplinary exchange, straddling principally the disciplines of sociology, politics and economics, but also reaching out to geography, social policy and law.

Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/cfp-the-critical-in-critical-political-economy-barcelona-20-21-sept.-2012

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

Full Employment

No Future

FULL EMPLOYMENT

Call for Papers, Special Issue of the Review of Radical Political Economics on Full Employment

As we currently face the worst economic collapse since the great depression that has resulted in the loss of million of jobs and the highest levels of long-term unemployment since data have been collected, we invite contributors to submit proposals that address the problems of long-term structural unemployment in the United States and world wide.

We invite submissions that address, but do not need to be limited to, the following topics:

1)      What can we learn from employment outcomes across different countries and political economic regimes?
2)      To what extent can public sector action generate sustainable and high-quality employment?
3)      What kind of policies should the public sector pursue? For example should these be employment of last resort (ELR) or jobs created through some other type of “job guarantee policy,” or “permanent jobs programs” for the generation of a certain number of median wage and not last resort jobs, and how should these be financed and administered?
4)      How does this relate to broader macroeconomic policies, including taxation and industrial policy?
5)      Can “full employment” policies succeed in capitalist countries or are partial, temporary, and inadequate programs the best that can be achieved?
6)      What are the historical lessons of the New Deal employment programs in the United States and similar historic or contemporary programs and policies in other countries?
7)      What has been the role of neoclassical economic theory in undermining ideological support for full employment programs, for example vis-à-vis the “natural rate of unemployment” or “NAIRU” doctrines, and what is a proper theoretical/ideological response to these prevalent macroeconomic views?
8)      More generally, is full employment consistent with low-inflation in the United States or elsewhere?
9)      Practical proposals for increasing employment in the United States now and critiques/discussions of the current Summers/Geithner effort to achieve sustained economic growth in the United States with a massive financial sector bail-out and a temporary and limited fiscal stimulus for the broader economy.

Submissions are due by September 30, 2012, and must follow the Instructions to Contributors listed in each issue of the Review, on the RRPE section of the URPE Website, or available from the Managing Editor.  All submissions are subject to the usual review procedures and they should not be under review with any other publication.  We strongly encourage authors to send a brief title and abstract as soon as possible, so we can coordinate timely publication of the issue.

Send 4 hard copies and an electronic version in Word doc. to Hazel Dayton Gunn, Managing Editor, Review of Radical Political Economics, Dept. of City & Regional Planning, 106 W. Sibley Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; hg18@cornell.edu.

 

**END**

 

‘I believe in the afterlife.

It starts tomorrow,

When I go to work’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Human Herbs’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7tUq0HjIk (live)

 

‘Maximum levels of boredom

Disguised as maximum fun’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales)  

 

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

The Elgar Companion to Marxist Economics

Global Economy

THE ELGAR COMPANION TO MARXIST ECONOMICS

http://www.e-elgar.com/bookentry_main.lasso?id=13550

The Elgar Companion To Marxist Economics
Edited by Ben Fine, Professor of Economics and Alfredo Saad-Filho, Professor of Political Economy, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK with Marco Boffo, PhD candidate,  School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK

January 2012
432 pp
Hardback 978 1 84844 537 6
Hardback £135.00 on-line price £121.50

Series: Elgar original reference

Description

This Companion takes stock of the trajectory, achievements, shortcomings and prospects of Marxist political economy. It reflects the contributors’ shared commitment to bringing the methods, theories and concepts of Marx himself to bear across a wide range of topics and perspectives, and it provides a testimony to the continuing purpose and vitality of Marxist political economy.

Contents

Contributors include: G. Albo, R. Albritton, D. Ankarloo, S.J. Ashman, A.J. Ayers, R. Balakrishnan, J. Banaji, S. Bisnath, M. Boffo, T.J. Byres, A. Campbell, P. Cerni, P. Chattopadhyay, S. Clarke, A. Colás, G.C. Comninel, M. Di Meglio, P.L. dos Santos, G. Duménil, B. Fine, J. Ghosh, G. Hoe-Gimm, H. Goodacre, B. Gruffydd-Jones, B. Harriss-White, K. Hart, M. Itoh, H. Jeon, B. Jessop, D. Johnston, R. Kiely, S. Knafo, D. Laibman, D. Lévy, D. Lo, T. Marois, P. Masina, S.D. Mavroudeas, D. Milonakis, S. Mohun, S. Newman, P. Patnaik, U. Patnaik, L. Pradella, H. Radice, A. Saad-Filho, S. Savran, G. Slater, T. Smith, E. Swyngedouw, B. Tinel, A. Toscano, J. Weeks, E. Wood, A. Zack-Williams, P. Zarembka, Y. Zhang

Further information

This Companion takes stock of the trajectory, achievements, shortcomings and prospects of Marxist political economy. It reflects the contributors’ shared commitment to bringing the methods, theories and concepts of Marx himself to bear across a wide range of topics and perspectives, and it provides a testimony to the continuing purpose and vitality of Marxist political economy.

As a whole, this volume analyzes Marxist political economy in three areas: the critique of mainstream economics in all of its versions; the critical presence of Marxist political economy within, and its influence upon, each of the social science disciplines; and, cutting across these, the analysis of specific topics that straddle disciplinary boundaries. Some of the contributions offer an exposition  of basic concepts, accessible to the general reader, laying out Marx’s own contribution, its significance, and subsequent positions and debates with and within Marxist political economy. The authors offer assessments of historical developments to and within capitalism, and of its current character and prospects. Other chapters adopt a mirror-image approach of pinpointing the conditions of contemporary capitalism as a way of interrogating the continuing salience of Marxist analysis.

This volume will inform and inspire a new generation of students and scholars to become familiar with Marxist political economy from an enlightened and unprejudiced position, and to use their knowledge as both a resource and gateway to future study.

Full table of contents
Contents:

Introduction
Ben Fine and Alfredo Saad-Filho

1. Accumulation of Capital
Paul Zarembka

2. The Agrarian Question and the Peasantry
Terence J. Byres

3. Analytical Marxism
Marco Boffo

4. Anthropology
Keith Hart

5. Capital
Jayati Ghosh

6. Capitalism
Ellen Wood

7. Centrally Planned Economy
Dic Lo and Yu Zhang

8. Class and Class Struggle
Utsa Patnaik

9. Classical Political Economy
Hugh Goodacre

10. Combined and Uneven Development
Samantha J. Ashman

11. Commodification and Commodity Fetishism
Robert Albritton

12. Competition
Paresh Chattopadhyay

13. Consumerism
Paula Cerni

14. Contemporary Capitalism
Greg Albo

15. Crisis Theory
Simon Clarke

16. Dependency Theory
John Weeks

17. Ecology and the Environment
Barbara Harriss-White

18. Economic Reproduction and the Circuits of Capital
Ben Fine

19. Exploitation and Surplus Value
Ben Fine

20. Feminist Economics
Radhika Balakrishnan and Savitri Bisnath

21. Feudalism
George C. Comninel

22. Finance, Finance Capital, and Financialisation
Thomas Marois

23. Friedrich Engels
Paresh Chattopadhyay

24. Geography
Erik Swyngedouw

25. Global Commodity Chains and Global Value Chains
Susan Newman

26. Globalisation and Imperialism
Ray Kiely

27. International Political Economy
Alejandro Colás

28. Karl Marx
Lucia Pradella

29. Knowledge Economy
Heesang Jeon

30. Labour, Labour Power, and the Division of Labour
Bruno Tinel

31. Labour Theory of Value
Ben Fine

32. Market Socialism
Makoto Itoh

33. Marx and Underdevelopment
Mauro di Meglio and Pietro Masina

34. Marxism and History
George C. Comninel

35. Method of Political Economy
Branwen Gruffydd-Jones

36. Mode of Production
Jairus Banaji

37. Money
Paulo L. dos Santos

38. Neoliberalism
Gérard Duménil and Dominique Lévy

39. Neoclassical Economics
Dimitris Milonakis

40. Neo-Ricardianism
Sungur Savran

41. New Technology and the ‘New Economy’
Tony Smith

42. Political Science
Alison J. Ayers

43. Population and Migration
Deborah Johnston

44. Productive and Unproductive Labour
Simon Mohun

45. Race
Alfred Zack-Williams

46. Radical Political Economy in the United States
Al Campbell

47. The Rate of Profit
Simon Mohun

48. The Regulation Approach
Stavros D. Mavroudeas

49. Rent and Landed Property
Erik Swyngedouw

50. The Social Structures of Accumulation Approach
Stavros D. Mavroudeas

51. Socialism, Communism and Revolution
Al Campbell

52. Sociology
Alberto Toscano

53. The State
Bob Jessop

54. ‘Transformation Problem’
Alfredo Saad-Filho

55. The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism
David Laibman

56. Transnational Corporations
Hugo Radice

57. Unemployment
Gary Slater

58. Value Form Approach
Samuel Knafo

59. Vladimir I Lenin
Prabhat Patnaik

60. The Welfare State
Daniel Ankarloo

61. World Economy
Gong Hoe-Gimm

References

Index

 

**END**

 

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

Historical Materialism Conference 2012 – Ninth Annual Conference

Karl Marx

HISTORICAL MATERIALISM CONFERENCE 2012 – NINTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The Ninth Annual HM Conference will take place in Central London from 8-11 November 2012

Weighs Like a Nightmare

Historical Materialism Ninth Annual Conference

Has Marx been reanimated once again? From mainstream media to academia, this question hangs in the air. The old ghosts of revolution appear to be shaking off their shackles and getting agitated. What is this spirit? Who are the militants haunting this ramshackle capitalism? Are these new spectres – stalking the streets of Syria, Tunisia and Egypt, Athens, Spain and Wall Street and beyond – or direct descendants of socialist and communist ones? How does the past haunt the present? How might the present haunt the future?

As new conflicts and struggles emerge, the old questions refuse to go away: What type of organisation is needed to sharpen the conflicts, if any? Who are the agents of history and change? Is the scope of political action national or international? What is the political value of alliances and fronts? Does history cunningly work a progressive path through and around the contingencies of struggle? Are the same mistakes to be made, the same failures repeated?

The ninth HM annual conference focuses on the returns and the persistence of political forms and theoretical problems, on the uses and abuses of the history of Marxism in this turbulent present and on the ways and forms in which an inheritance of various Marxist traditions can help us to organise and to act in contemporary struggles.

We invite proposals for presentations or panels (with two or three suggested participants) on topics such as: the echoes of the past in the present; learning or not learning from the past; the reanimation of revolution; history as farce, history as tragedy; historiography and Marxism; cycles; circulation; anti-memory as a political stance; new histories of capital and the labour movement; Marxism and ‘deep history’; theory as history; the role of archival sources in history and the place of theory; rhythms of historical development, combined, uneven or otherwise; concepts of pre-capitalism; the question of successive modes of production; historical or other materialisms; the return of radical politics in Eastern Europe and elsewhere; post-communism; the endless afterlives of ‘Classical’ Marxists and ‘Western’ Marxist theorists and others who refuse to go away; the reruns of crisis; the role of memory and the revisioning of history; forgotten figures suddenly blasted into contemporary relevance; perma-war; imperial ghosts and their legacies, racism’s haunting returns; old and new world orders; old and new cultures; avant-gardes and rearguards; the re-reading of classic texts; the question of Marxism’s relation to tradition; ideas of inheritance and ‘selective tradition’; recovery; recuperation; periodisation; continuities and discontinuities; narratives of new and old beginnings (of history, of culture, of the Left, of Marxism).

HM will also consider proposals on themes and topics of interest to critical Marxist theory not directly linked to the call for papers (we particularly welcome contributions on non-Western Marxism, history and politics, and on empirical inquiries employing Marxist methods and on Marxism and gender). While Historical Materialism is happy to receive proposals for panels, the editorial board reserves the right to change the composition of panels or to reject individual papers from panel proposals.

Please submit a title and abstract of between 200 and 300 words (or a fully worked through panel proposal) by registering at http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/conferences BEFORE 26 April 2012

Deadline for registration of abstracts: 26 April 2012

http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/conferences/annual9/submit

Preference will be given to subscribers to the journal and participants are expected to be present during the whole of the event – no tailor-made timetabling for individuals will be possible, nor will cameo-appearances be tolerated.

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

The Failure of Capitalist Production – Andrew Kliman

Andrew Kliman

THE FAILURE OF CAPITALIST PRODUCTION – ANDREW KLIMAN

 Salford Business School presents:

The Failure of Capitalist Production: Underlying Causes of the Great Recession

Professor Andrew Kliman of Pace University offers exemplary theoretical insight as well as analysis of economic data, and therefore explains the causes and the development of recent crises in unparalleled ways.

Andrew Kliman is the author of numerous academic articles and books that centre on the creation and the capture of economic value in Marx’s tradition.

Book details: http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745332390

For more information please contact:
Dr. Thoralf Dassler
t.dassler@salford.ac.uk

6pm, Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Room G21, Mary Seacole Building
Frederick Road Campus
University of Salford,M5 4WT

**END**

 

‘Maximum levels of boredom

Disguised as maximum fun’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales)  

 

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Origins of the Current Crisis: Consequences and Political Alternatives

Crisis Sublime

ORIGINS OF THE CURRENT CRISIS: CONSEQUENCES AND POLITICAL ALTERNATIVES

Two-day seminar in Helsinkiand Tampere:

with

Professor Alex Demirović, Berlin, and Professor Andrew Kliman, New York.

PART I

Wednesday 29.2.2012 at 4.15 pm. at the University of Tampere, Linna Building, Väinö Linna Hall, Kalevantie 5, Tampere

Origins of the Current Crises

Opening words: Antti Ronkainen

PART II

Thursday 1.3.2012 at 3.15 pm. at the House of Science and Letters, Lecture Hall 505, Kirkkokatu 6, Helsinki

Consequences and Political Alternatives

Opening words: Juha Koivisto

The seminar is organized by the Finnish Karl Marx Society, the Finnish Society for Marxist Social Science, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities and School of Communication, Media and Theatre, University of Tampere.

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Oxford Radical Forum 2012

Oxford

OXFORD RADICAL FORUM 2012

OXFORD RADICAL FORUM 2012: 2 – 4  MARCH 2012

http://orf2012.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/events/179785195464536/

>> Speakers from the Middle East & North Africa Revolutions >>
>> Skype Link-up with Occupy Wall St. Activists >>
>> Terry Eagleton on his New Book: Why Marx was Right >>

…and much more at this year’s…

>>OXFORD RADICAL FORUM >>
>>2 – 4  MARCH 2012>>

In the last year, as the global economic crisis has deepened, we have seen revolutions sweep dictators from power across the Middle East and North Africa and resistance to austerity spread across Europe and the US with the Occupy Movement. There have been a number of general strikes in Greece and mass strikes in Britain.

This year’s Oxford Radical Forum (ORF) will be held from 2-4th March. This will be the fifth anniversary of the forum, run by students, lecturers and local activists based in the city. This year it is bigger than ever, with almost thirty sessions over a host of colleges and venues during the weekend.

The forum opens with ‘the MENA Revolutions: One Year On’, with Nadine El-Enany (activist from Cairo), Gilbert Achcar (SOAS), Anne Alexander (Cambridge) and Firoze Manji (Pambazuka Press). This will be followed by a discussion between Terry Eagleton and Alex Callinicos on ‘Why Marx was Right’.

Over the weekend, we will bring together Occupy activists from New York via live link-up with activists from Occupy London, for reflections on how the movement has changed politics and on how it can develop. International perspectives will also be brought by sessions on political struggle from Latin America to the Eurozone to China. A meeting on sexual liberation will be joined by Ghassan Makaram, a Lebanese LGBTQ activist. On Saturday, Greg Philo will join Moshe Machover and Daphna Baram for a meeting on Palestine and the Media.

This year’s line-up also reflects rising levels of resistance to austerity in Britain. We will bring together trade unionists from public and private sectors, students and community activists. Our session on the future of education will discuss this government’s decision to withdraw its Higher Education Bill with John Holmwood (Campaign for the Public University) and others. We will also have important sessions on ‘Defending the Right to Protest’, ‘Race, Racism and Resistance’, and even ‘Radical Science’.

As always the event is entirely FREE, but we welcome and encourage donations towards the costs of putting on the Forum.

We hope you will join us at the event. Spread the word!

Further information on speakers and timetables will be available and updated here:
http://orf2012.wordpress.com/

Contact Us: 2012oxfordradicalforum@gmail.com
Twitter: @orf2012
#oxfordradicalforum

Facebook (event): http://www.facebook.com/events/179785195464536/
Facebook (group): http://www.facebook.com/groups/10571655629/

**END**

 

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Andrew Kliman at Bookmarks Bookshop

Andrew Kliman

ANDREW KLIMAN AT BOOKMARKS BOOKSHOP

PRESENTS

The Failure of Capitalist Production
with Andrew Kliman
5 March, 6.30pm £2* (refreshments inc)

The recent financial crisis and Great Recession have been analysed endlessly but this is the first book to conclude, on the basis of in-depth analyses of official US data, that Marx’s crisis theory can explain these events.

Kliman’s conclusion is simple but shocking: short of socialist transformation, the only way to escape the stagnant, crisis-prone economy is to restore profitability through full-scale destruction of existing wealth, something not seen since the Depression of the 1930s.

Venue: Bookmarks Bookshop, 1 Bloomsbury Street, WC1B 3QE
*£2 redeemable against any purchase on the night

Please contact us to reserve a place, 020 7637 1848: events@bookmarks.uk.com

Liberate Your Mind!
Bookmarks Bookshop
1 Bloomsbury Street
London
WC1B 3QE
020 7637 1848
http://www.bookmarksbookshop.co.uk

Follow us on twitter: @bookmarks_books

See our book of the month on the website!

**END**

 

‘Maximum levels of boredom

Disguised as maximum fun’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub,Bangor, northWales)  

 

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Fourth Critical Finance Studies Conference

Money Menace

FOURTH CRITICAL FINANCE STUDIES CONFERENCE

15-17 August 2012
Call for Papers
Essex Business School, University of Essex
Colchester, UK

‘…In what is broadly called commentary, the hierarchy between primary and secondary text plays two roles which are in solidarity with each other. On the one hand it allows the (endless) construction of new discourses. The dominance of the primary text…..is the basis for an open possibility of speaking. But on the other hand the commentary’s only role, whatever the techniques used, is to say at last what was silently articulated “beyond”, in the text. By a paradox which it always displaces but never escapes, the commentary must say for the first time what had, nonetheless, already been said, and must tirelessly repeat what had, however, never been said.’ (Foucault, 1981: 55-56)

Critical Finance Studies Conference

Studying finance critically is playing with / being played by the normative forces of financial apparatuses; risking one’s self in the course of producing radically novel ways of thinking and comprehending finance and, ultimately, of creating new possibilities of life. With this in mind the Fourth Annual Critical Finance Studies conference will be held this year at the University of Essex, Essex Business School, August 15th -17th. With a conference gap in 2011 and with a financial crisis that is still on the agenda, and perhaps even stronger than ever, even compared with 2008, we have decided to devote this year’s conference to the ongoing financial crisis.

The Financial Crisis– futures and pasts re-interpreted

We strongly encourage papers that contribute to our ongoing collaborative research project that seeks to engage finance in new and critical ways and from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. This is especially important when trying to understand the current ‘financial situation’, e.g. how people in everyday work and life are affected, how the environment is affected, how theories cope and adapt in the face of a protracted crisis, and how politicians, professional bodies and professionals respond to or promote change or not. We encourage papers that tackle these sorts of issues and, with this in mind, the conference is organized around three sub-streams: an open stream on theory, method, and critique; a stream on financial imaginaries/imagining finance; and a stream on sustainability/finance (see below for more details). The conference finale will comprise a semi-public and interdisciplinary panel in order to, we hope, create some interesting debates, and inspire new thoughts and create new possibilities of life.

Papers should be submitted to the allocated convenor for each sub-theme. We encourage and welcome passionate academic work in different stages and forms, but they all need to be developed enough so that the audience can be intellectually challenged and involved in discussions. The deadline for an extended abstract (about 1000 words) is 15th April 2012. A review panel will announce their decision of acceptance within two weeks from the deadline. Accepted papers should be submitted in their final form by 1 July 2012.

The conference is organised by Dr Ann-Christine Frandsen at Essex Business School, Essex University in collaboration with Dr Thomas Bay Stockholm University (Forslund and Bay, 2009). The venue will be at the University of Essex, Colchester Campus. The conference language will be English. Discussants will be appointed – introducing papers, chairing sessions, involving participants.

Open Stream: Theory, Method, and Critique

Convenors: Jason Glynos, Department of Government, University of Essex ljglyn@essex.ac.uk & Ann-Christine Frandsen, Accounting Group, Essex Business School, frandsen@essex.ac.uk

We invite papers in finance studies that provoke critical engagement with current practices, open up pathways for effective political mobilization and socio-economic transformation, or sketch out possible counter-visions entailing alternative practices and forms of governance. The open stream is designed to catch contributions that tackle issues that fit the conference theme but do not necessarily fall neatly into one of the titled streams. For example: How might critical engagements with finance tell us something about the way markets are performed in other areas of economic life? What forms of subjectivity might different finance practices promote? How should we think the connections between finance and other sectors of the economy? What role should key concepts such as merit and remuneration, surplus labour, speculation, technology, and competition play in how we theorize and imagine finance?

The politics of financial reform draws on a range of characterizations, diagnoses, and prognoses of the recent financial crisis. Such ‘problematizations’ matter because they set in train path dependencies that invite us to problematize those problematizations themselves. Some, for example, seek to avoid heaping blame onto a few individual ‘bad apples’, one of the most trenchant narratives repeatedly and insistently articulated in the mass media. Some seek to avoid locating the fault with finance as such. Others argue that the financial crisis should be understood as a hubris-induced elite debacle rather than a systems accident or fiasco (Engelen et al 2011). The tension between explanatory and interpretive dimensions in these problematizations is never far from the surface, but what is clear is that the way finance is characterized, problematized, and contested has consequences for citizens and for policy makers, not least because of the sorts of futures they open up or close down. This raises issues about how different theoretical perspectives and methodological techniques shape the way we characterize, problematize, and contest financial practices and associated policy and media representations at elite and popular levels; or about how different sorts of critique emerge, relate, and interact with one another, for example, normative and ideological forms of critique.

We encourage the submission of papers that draw on poststructuralist, post-marxist, psychoanalytic, Deleuzian, Foucauldian, and other traditions, and that explore a range of theoretical, methodological, and critical issues linked to the analysis of finance. What forms of innovative, progressive, and sustainable banking and finance do such perspectives enable us to imagine? What role should experiment play in these efforts to conjure alternative visions? How should these experiments be financed? What innovative means of critique are available to citizens living in democratic polities with a tightly coupled nexus of elites in politics-finance-media? What role should music, film, television, social networking platforms, and other media play in facilitating both the process of critique and the conjuring of counter-visions of finance practice and governance?

Stream 2: Financial Imaginaries/Imagining Finance

Convenor: Christian de Cock, Management Group, Essex Business School cdc@essex.ac.uk

A key area of concern in this stream is the “imaginary of finance”, the semiotic system that gives meaning and shape to the economic field in which finance is embedded. Empirically we encourage the submission of papers that explore how, despite the convulsions of 2008 and their continuing reverberations, this imaginary has remained pretty much intact anno 2012 (in that we have witnessed over and over again the re-articulation of established themes and genres). Established financial imaginaries have no doubt proved extremely powerful in shaping the thoughts and perceptions of key political and economic decision makers and it would be interesting to learn more about the mechanics of this. Theoretically we encourage papers that can enrich and develop the notion of “imaginary” itself within a financial context. Examples could include Lacan’s (Real-Symbolic-Imaginary) or Iser’s (Real-Fictive-Imaginary) triad.  We also encourage the submission of papers that can offer new ways of imagining finance. Following Yusoff and Gabrys (2011), we see imagination as “a way of sensing, thinking, and dreaming the formation of knowledge, which creates the conditions for material interventions in and political sensibilities of the world”. What are the conditions of possibility to change dominant framings of the financial imagination? Can we re-imagine the organization of finance as an ethical, societal, and cultural problem? Can we open up a generative space of unknowing which can create the possibility to take us beyond the seemingly eternal dialectic of economic catastrophe and ‘business as usual’? These are just some of the questions you may help formulate answers to.

Stream 3: Sustainability / Finance

Convenor: Steffen Böhm, Management Group, Essex Business School and interdisciplinary Centre for Environment and Society, University of Essex, steffen@essex.ac.uk

Finance is arguably at the heart of what might be called the global capitalist economy, which is geared towards ever increasing growth of production and consumption. A whole host of critics and social movements have pointed to the unsustainable nature of this self-referential system, and particularly its negative environmental consequences. Specifically, financial service industries have been repeatedly accused of funding environmentally very damaging extractive industry projects (such an open pit mining, oil tar sands, etc), contributing to the creation of speculative bubbles of commodity markets (e.g. leading to higher basic food prices), and endangering the livelihood of indigenous and other communities (threatened by global industries invading their land, for example), to name but a few of the grievances that have been articulated. We are seeking contributions that map, evaluate and expand such critiques of finance and its problematic relation to sustainability.

On the other hand, however, finance increasingly likes to portray itself as part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. The financial services industry has arguably made some efforts to positively contribute to issues such as climate change (e.g. through carbon disclosure), land grab and livelihoods in developing countries (e.g. through the Equator Principles) and environmental protection in more general terms (e.g. through the UN Global Compact). While some might accuse such initiatives as ‘hot air’ or even ‘greenwash’, which often lack real power and impact, there are more concrete efforts to offer sustainable finance solutions, ranging from microfinance to carbon offsetting, from community finance to payments for environmental services. What should we make of this move of finance ‘going green’ and ‘ethical’? What empirical evidence is there to suggest that such finance approaches to solving environmental and social issues are actually working?

Overall, then, we encourage submissions that problematize the relationship between sustainability and finance in its broadest sense. We are not only interested in critiques of current finance approaches to sustainability, but particularly encourage studies of how groups and communities can use money and finance in novel ways to live more sustainable lives. We are hence keen to explore the ways of how finance can make a contribution to another possible world.

For any general enquiry about the conference please contact Ann-Christine Frandsen. Any specific questions related to one of the streams each please contact relevant convenor

Organising committee: (Alphabetic order)
Professor Steffen Böhm
Professor Christian de Cock
Dr Ann-Christine Frandsen
Dr Jason Glynos
Dr Pik Liew
Dr Sumohon Matilal
Chloe Warren – Marketing Officer, EBS

Organiser: Ann-Christine Frandsen Essex Business School, University of Essex, Colchester Campus, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK

Phone: +44 (0)1206 87 869 809

Email: frandsen@essex.ac.uk

To find out more about Essex Business School visit: http://www.essex.ac.uk/ebs

In Collaboration with

Thomas Bay, Stockholm University

References:

D. Forslund and T. Bay, (2009). ‘The eve of critical finance studies’.  Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization. Vol. 9(4), pp. 285-299.

M. Foucault, (1981). ‘The Order of Discourse’ (Inaugural Lecture at the College de France, given 2 December, 1971). In R. Young (ed), Untying the Text: a Post-Structuralist Reader.  London: Methuen, 1981, pp. 48-78.

Dr Steffen Böhm | Professor in Management and Sustainability | Essex Business School | University of Essex | Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK | Rm 5NW.4.4 | Tel. +44(0)1206 87 3843 | http://www.essex.ac.uk/ebs/staff/profile.aspx?ID=727
http://steffenboehm.net

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski