Credit Crunch

SOUNDINGS CREDIT CRUNCH SEMINAR

We have just put online several of the papers from our May 2009 Soundings seminar (co-organised with the OU) on the credit crunch. Contributors are:

John Clarke, John Harris, Neal Lawson, Gavin Poynter, John Urry, Michael Rustin, Sylvia Walby

To read contributions go to http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/ReadingRoom/public/creditcrunch.html

For information on Soundings 42, The killing fields of inequality, go to http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/journals/soundings/current.html

To subscribe to Soundings for only £20 – by standing order only – download the standing order form at http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/standingorder.html

You can send the form in to the freepost address shown at the bottom of the form – no stamp is needed.

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

Capitalist Crisis

ROBERT BRENNER ON THE ORIGINS OF THE CURRENT CRISIS

A paper by Robert Brenner (Center for Social Theory and Comparative History, UCLA) on What is Good for Goldman Sachs is Good for America: The Origins of the Current Crisis (18^th April 2009) is now available at: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/issr/cstch/papers/BrennerCrisisTodayOctober2009.pdf

It’s 74 pages long – so stock up with ink and paper.

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

High Finance

FINANCIALISATION

Upcoming Events

RMF Roundtable: FINANCIALISATION AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
5 November 2009, 5 – 7 pm, SOAS, London

Labour and the Curious Case of Mexican Bank Resilience
Thomas Marois, SOAS

Global Integration of the Turkish Economy in the Era of Financialisation
Nuray Ergunes, Maltepe University, Turkey

Emerging Economy Central Banks and the Crisis of 2007-09
Juan Pablo Painceira, SOAS

Financialisation and Regulation: The Fate of Basle II
Sedat Aybar, Kadir Has University, Turkey

For more information contact rmf@soas.ac.uk or see http://www.soas.ac.uk/rmf

 *****

International Conference
One Year on from the Panic of 2008: WHITHER FINANCIALISED CAPITALISM?
7 November 2009, 9 am to 6 pm, SOAS, London

09.00-09.45     Registration and Coffee

09.45-12.15     Welcome Addresses and Opening Plenary
Financialised Capitalism and the International Crisis
Gérard Duménil, National Centre for Scientific Research, Paris
Gary Dymski, University of California Center, Sacramento
Costas Lapavitsas, SOAS, London

12.15-13.15 Lunch

13.15-15.30 Parallel Sessions
Contemporary Finance, Regulation and the Real Economy
Malcolm Sawyer, Leeds University Business School
Jan Toporowski, SOAS, London
Paulo L dos Santos, SOAS, London
Varieties of Financialisation
Engelbert Stockhammer, Vienna University of Economics and Business
Trevor Evans, Berlin School of Economics
Claude Serfati, University of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

15.30-15.45 Coffee

15.45-18.00 Plenary
The Social Costs and Implications of Financialisation
Karel Williams and Ismail Erturk, CRESC, Manchester
Andrew Leyshon, University of Nottingham
Robin Blackburn, University of Essex

For more information, contact rmf@soas.ac.uk, or visit http://www.soas.ac.uk/rmf

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

Pink Tide

THE PINK TIDE: RECONFUGURING POLITICS, POWER AND POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE AMERICAS?

2nd Call for Papers

The Pink Tide: Reconfiguring politics, power and political economy in the Americas?

Key-note speakers include: Noam Chomsky, William Robinson, John Holloway, Liam Kane, Marina Sitrin

22-24 January 2010, Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice in conjunction with the Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies Department, University of Nottingham, Nottingham,UK.

The global credit crunch and election to power of governments and presidents that identify as left and left-of-centre throughout the Americas offers one of the most visible political challenges to the TINA discourse that appeared to reign unchallenged for much of the past 15 years. With presidents such as Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Bachelet in Chile and Obama in the United States the region and its peoples are experiencing one of the most exciting and dynamic political periods of recent history.

It is this political conjuncture that the conference would like to explore as it is the organisers belief that the development of our understanding of the political processes occurring will enable us to conceptualise and contribute to the furtherance of more inclusive democracy and development in the region and beyond. We believe that this discussion can be most fruitfully developed between academics, practitioners, policy-makers and community/social movement participants. We also believe that our understanding of the development of alternatives to neoliberalism can only be enhanced by intra-regional dialogue between the North and the South of the Americas.

The conference conveners welcome the participation of a wide range of actors (academics, scholar-activists, social innovators and practitioners) whose work is related to the following themes: the role of political parties and/or the state in social change; grassroots social movements; the creation of new forms of politics and development; LOC governments and neoliberalism; movement and academic knowledges; the US and the ‘Pink Tide’; opposition to ‘pink  tide’; culture/art/media and social change. We particularly encourage cross-disciplinary contributions.

Various kinds of contributions will be considered, both in situ and remotely. We invite proposals for panels, individual paper and poster presentations, round-table debates, workshops and open spaces. Please could you send a 250 words abstract of your proposed contribution clearly stating the authors postal address, email, phone number and institution to cssgj@nottingham.ac.uk by 20 September 2009.

For further information, please see the Events page on the CSSGJ website:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cssgj/PinkTide.php

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

POLITICS AFTER THE CRASH

FIFTH SOUNDINGS EVENT: POLITICS AFTER THE CRASH
10.30am-4.30pm, Saturday 20 June 2009
120 Belsize Lane, London NW3
(nearest tube stations Belsize Park and Finchley Road)
Speakers include LYNSEY HANLEY, MIKE KENNY (TBC), PAUL MASON, DOREEN MASSEY (TBC), JONATHAN RUTHERFORD, LEANNE WOOD,

As the political fault lines of a new era take shape, what will be the defining politics of the next decade?

In the wake of an era of social dislocation and rapid change one response will be a popular search for belonging and cultural familiarity. Our discussion will explore the popular reactions to the social fragmentation, inequalities and cultural destruction of ways of life that have resulted from the decades of economic restructuring as well as from the recession. This is already evident in the rise of the BNP in certain areas, and the alienation of younger generations from electoral politics. A new political culture will need to articulate the social goods that give security, meaning and value to people: home, family, friendships, good work, locality and imaginary communities of belonging. The way people give priority to these, and the reaction to the threats against them, will shape the post-crash political landscape.

Registration: £25 (includes an excellent lunch).

To reserve a place, go to:  http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/events/seminar5.html
Or send a cheque payable to ‘Soundings’ to FREEPOST, LON 176, London, E9 5BR (no stamp is needed).

Places are limited so early booking is advisable.

TIMETABLE
10.30 – 11.45 Plenary 1: How the forces of global capital have been shaping people’s lives and livelihoods, with Paul Mason and Doreen Massey (tbc)

12pm to 1pm Plenary 2: Culture and belonging in an insecure world
Lynsey Hanley, further speaker tbc

1pm – 2pm lunch

2pm – 3pm
Workshop 1: The appeal of the BNP and how to counter it (speaker tbc)
Workshop 2: Gangs, territory and class (speaker tbc)

3.30 – 4.30pm Closing Plenary: political and policy engagement for a new socialism
Mike Kenny (IPPR) (tbc)
Leanne Woods (Plaid Cymru MWA)
Jonathan Rutherford

For more information on Soundings go to: http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/journals/soundings/contents.html

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

THE CRUNCH CHALLENGES: THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE CREDIT CRUNCH FOR EDUCATION

This is part of the Current Issues in Post-Compulsory Education seminar series at London South Bank University

These seminars should be of interest to all those working in the post-compulsory sector.

The first seminar is:

The Crunch Challenges: The Consequences of the Credit Crunch for Education

Ian McNay

13^th May, 5.30-7.30

8^th Floor, The Keyworth Centre, London South Bank University

Keyworth Street, London SE1 6NG

Reductions in funded student numbers in higher education, reductions in employer support, the prospect of a long-term squeeze on public funding – just some of the more obvious challenges of the credit crunch for higher education. How do we make sense of and address these challenges, including those affecting expansion, mission diversity and equity? Bring your own crunch issues to add to the agenda!  Ian McNay is Emeritus Professor of Higher Education and Management at the University of Greenwich, London, where he was head of the School of Post-Compulsory Education and Training. Recent publications include Beyond Mass Higher Education: Building on Experience (SRHE/Open University Press, 2006) and Higher Education and Human Good (with Jennifer Bone) (Tockington Press, 2006).

Map and directions: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/about/maps.shtml

Teas and coffees will be provided at 5.30, so you must book a place by replying to:

Alison Britton

Reader in Educational Development

Director, Programme for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

London South Bank University

Education Department

Rotary Street

London

Office: Borough Road B304

Phone: 0207 815 6498

Email: alison.britton@lsbu.ac.uk

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Recession Blues

CLICK HERE TO BUY A COPY OF THE SPECIAL ISSUE OF ‘SOUNDINGS’ AT THE SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE OF £5: http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/journals/soundings/current.html

CONTENTS:
ADAM LEAVER on private equity
TOBY LLOYD on the housing disaster
CARLOTA PEREZ on financial bubbles
KATE CRAWFORD on adulthood
ZYGMUNT BAUMAN on life on credit
RICHARD MURPHY on tax justice
JULIE FROUD on city pay
TOBY DODGE on Iraq’s new ruling elite
ANTHONY JACKSON and EVE MITCHELL on food sovereignty
HEATHER NUNN and ANITA BIRESSI on the undeserving poor
STEPHEN AMIEL, JOHN LAUNER on general practice

To subscribe by standing order at the special price of £20 go to http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/standingorder.html

For Soundings ebook THE CRASH: A VIEW FROM THE LEFT go to: http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/ebooks/crash.html

For details of Soundings 20 JUNE EVENT go to http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/events/seminar5.html

Please pass on this email to friends and colleagues who might be interested

New readers – to sign up to receive regular information on soundings and related events click here http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/newsletter.html

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

Capitalism Hits the Fan

A Message from Rick Wolff about his Film

Dear Friends

I hope that you may find a new film that I made with the Media Education Foundation (MEF) interesting and useful. Called “Capitalism Hits the Fan,” it is aimed at colleges, universities, and also high schools for instructional use, but it can serve other purposes as well. You can get a sense of it at http://www.capitalismhitsthefan.com/

The dvd can be ordered now and will be shipped by month’s end. It is also possible to view the full-length version (just under an hour) freely, albeit in low resolution, at the MEF website: http://www.mediaed. org/cgi-bin/ commerce. cgi?preadd= action&key=139. While the institutional prices are high, individuals can order the DVD for $ 19.95. The DVD contains both the full-length version and a shorter 35-minute version.

You may be especially interested in the critical analytical approach to explaining the causes of the current crisis, in the critique of Keynesian stimulus-cum-re-regulation “solutions,” and in the sketch of an alternative solution.

Your comments and criticisms would be welcome.

Rick Wolff

Capitalism Hits the Fan

Richard Wolff on the Economic Meltdown

A Media Education Foundation Production

“With unerring coherence and unequal breadth of knowledge, Rick Wolff offers a rich and much needed corrective to the views of mainstream economists and pundits. It would be difficult to come away from this viewing with anything but an acute appreciation of what is needed to get us out of this mess” – Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Urban Education, City University.

About the Movie

With breathtaking clarity, renowned University of Massachusetts Economics Professor Richard Wolff breraks down the root causes of today’s economic crisis, showing how it was decades in the making and in fact reflects seismic failures within the structures of American-style capitalism itself. Wolff traces the source of the economic crisis to the 1970s, when wages began to stagnate and American workers were forced into a dysfunctional spiral of borrowing and debt that ultimately exploded in the mortgage meltdown. By placing the crisis within this larger historical and systemic framework, Wolff argues convincingly that the proposed government “bailouts”, stimulus packages, and calls for increased market regulation will not be enough to address the real causes of the crisis – in the end suggesting that far more fundamental change will be necessary to avoid future catastrophes. Richly illustrated with motion graphics and charts, this is a superb introduction designed to help ordinary citizens understand, and react to, the unravelling economic crisis.

Preview the Movie at: http://www.capitalismhitsthefan.com/

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

Culture (and Cultural Studies) After the Crunch: the End of Neoliberalism?

10.30am-5pm, February 4^th, 2009

At Rich Mix, London

Organised by the Pavis Centre for Cultural and Social Theory, The Open University & the Centre for Cultural Studies Research, University of East London

The crisis of financial markets and the cheap-credit economy is interpreted by many as spelling the end of the 30-year neoliberal regime which has had such profound political, social and material consequences for world culture. Are we now witnessing the opening of a new conjuncture? What might be the social and cultural consequences of emergent forms of re-regulated capitalism? Does the Democratic landslide in the U.S. Presidential election presage an upsurge of progressive political activity -from within and outside government – in the Anglo-Saxon world, as did the elections of 1932 and 1964? Or has the cultural impact of neo-liberalism changed forever the meaning of ‘progressive’ cultural and social forces?

Speakers
Prof. Tony Bennett (Open University)

Prof. John Clarke (Open University)

Prof. Nick Couldry (Goldsmiths College)

Dr. Jeremy Gilbert (University of East London)

Prof. Lawrence Grossberg (University of North Carolina)

Prof. Mica Nava (University of East London)

Dr. Jason Toynbee (Open University)

Tea, Coffee and Lunch will be provided

For free registration send an email to Fernando D. Rubio: f.d.rubio@open.ac.uk

Directions

Rich Mix, London.

35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road
London, E1 6LA

Tube:  Liverpool Street

Buses: 388, 8    

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Rikowski web site, The Flow of Ideas is at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

THE DEEPENING ECONOMIC DISASTER – WEB SITE

See this politically interesting, economically topical and useful web site at: http://nyusociology.org/blogs/radical/2008/12/08/the-deepening-economic-disaster/

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Rikowski web site, The Flow of Ideas is at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk