Never Waste A Crisis

Crisis

NEVER WASTE A CRISIS

CALL FOR PAPER PROPOSALS

Never Waste a Crisis. Strategies of Representing and Managing Crisis after the Crash

1-2 November, 2012, Midland Hotel, Morecambe

Deadline for paper proposals: 17 June, 2012, to be sent to a.kutter@lancaster.ac.uk

Workshop organised by CPERC, Sociology Department, Lancaster University, within the frames of Bob Jessop’s ESRC professorial fellowship and the project “Great Transformations. A Cultural Political Economy of Crisis Management”  

The North Atlantic Financial Crisis that surfaced in 2007/08 and subsequent efforts at crisis management have produced unstable constellations. Whereas the financial sector has been rescued with large injections of capital but minor structural adjustments, the symptoms in many economies of ‘epic recession’ and fiscal crisis remain. Among political and economic elites, such finance-centred crisis management remains largely unchallenged. At the same time, the economic and social costs of the austerity packages and of a finance-dominated economy more generally have spurred contestation from various quarters. The workshop on ‘Strategies of Representing and Managing Crisis after the Crash’ seeks to explore the politics (broadly interpreted) of this constellation. Papers in the workshop will review different agents’ strategies of tackling the North Atlantic Financial Crisis through discursive construction, contestation, and policy-making. We encourage the submission of papers that highlight the discursive and semiotic of economic and political processes or that situate the analysis of crisis discourse in broader questions of political economy.

Speakers include so far: Colin Hay (tbc), David Howarth, Brigitte Young 

For more details and updates see: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/cperc/events/seminars.htm and 

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/cperc/research/great_transformations.htm 

**END**

‘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

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

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

Crisis, Class and Resistance

 

CRISIS, CLASS AND RESISTANCE

A one-day Conference on Political Economy hosted by International Socialism Journal

Saturday 12 May, 10:30am-6pm

School of African and Oriental Studies (Vernon Square Campus), Central London (Kings Cross/St Pancras tube)

With:

Robin Blackburn (author of Age Shock: How Finance is Failing Us)

Alex Callinicos (author of Imperialism and Global Political Economy)

Guglielmo Carchedi (author of Behind the Crisis: Marx’s Dialectics of Value and Knowledge)

Esme Choonara (author of A Rebel’s Guide to Trotsky)

Joseph Choonara (author of Unraveling Capitalism: A Guide to Marxist Political Economy)

Kevin Doogan (author of New Capitalism? The Transformation of Work)

Jane Hardy (author of Poland’s New Capitalism)

Paul Mason (author of Why it’s Kicking Off Everywhere)

Guy Standing (author of The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class)

In an era of crisis, revolt and revolution, questions are arising that demand answers from the radical left: How is Marx’s analysis of capitalism relevant to the current crisis? Is the working class the agency which can overthrow capitalism? What forms of organisation and resistance are most effective in fighting for a different world? This one-day conference, organised by International Socialism journal, will bring together activists, writers and academics from different traditions and backgrounds to discuss these and other issues. 

Price: £10 waged / £3 students & unwaged

To book, call 020 7819 1177 or email isj@swp.org.uk

**END**

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

Europe in Crisis

Eurozone Crisis

EUROPE IN CRISIS

PERG Workshop – Europe in Crisis

Thursday, 19 April, 9.30 -17.00

JG 1008 (John Galsworthy building), Kingston University, Penrhyn Road

Europeis in a crisis. An international financial crisis has laid bare the fundamental flaws in the construction of the European economic policy regime. Monetary integration without fiscal and social integration has not only resulted in a mediocre economic performance, falling wage share and persistent imbalances, but has also left the peripheral countries without protection against the crisis. Rather than using fiscal policy to counteract a Great Depression in the European South, fiscal policies are firmly put into austerity mode. If the subprime financial crisis was not sufficient to lead to a new Great Depression, austerity might do so. The workshop will discuss the causes of the crisis in Europe, the present economic policy and strategies to deal with the crisis, and progressive alternatives forEurope.

9.00 Registration and coffee

9.30 Introduction

10.00-12.00 Roots of the crisis

-         E. Stockhammer, Kingston University: Rebalancing the Euro area: inflationary or depressive

-         D. Gabor, University of West England: The Missing Link: European bank funding strategies and ECB’s crisis policies

-         J. Grahl, Middlesex University: The First European Semester: an incoherent strategy.

12.00-13.20 Lunch

13.20 -15.20 EU Economic Policy

-         T van Treeck, IMK: Reducing Economic Imbalances in the Euro Area: Some Remarks on the Current Stability Programs

-         J Weeks, SOAS: Crisis Scams in Italy, Spain and the UK: Triumph of Ideology over Reality

-         T. Evans, Berlin School of Economics and Law: The crisis in the euro area

15.40-17.00 Progressive strategies for Europe

-         D. Sotiropoulos, Kingston University: The fundamental problem of Euro zone and the problem with ‘fundamentals’: an alternative (Marxian) approach to European economic policy context

-         R. Hyman, LSE, and R. Gumbrell-McCormick, Birkbeck: European Trade Unions: Responses to the Crisis

 

Political Economy Research Group (PERG)

The Political Economy approach highlights the role of effective demand, institutions and social conflict in economic analysis and thereby builds on Austrian, Institutionalist, Keynesian and Marxist traditions. Economic processes are perceived to be embedded in social relations that must be analysed in the context of historical considerations, power relations and social norms. As a consequence, a broad range of methodological approaches is employed, and cooperation with other disciplines, including history, law, sociology and other social sciences, is necessary. (http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/research/perg )

MA Economics (Political Economy) at Kingston University

http://www.kingston.ac.uk/postgraduate/booklets/FASS/political-economy-MA.pdf

MA Politics, Philosophy, Economics at Kingston University

http://www.kingston.ac.uk/postgraduate/booklets/FASS/PoliticsPhilosophyEconomics.pdf

 

**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)

 

‘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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

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

Critical International Political Economy

Critique

CRITICAL INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY

Dear All

Claes Belfrage and Owen Worth have the pleasure of announcing the publication of a special issue on “Critical International Political Economy: Renewing Critique and Ontologies” in International Politics as volume 49, Issue 2 (March 2012). 

The special issue contains contributions by Owen Worth, Claes Belfrage, Ian Bruff, Jill Steans & Daniela Tepe, Phoebe Moore, Nana Rodaki, Kyle Murray and David M. Berry. It endeavours to renew critique in IPE by engaging with the work of Rosa Luxemburg (Worth) and the notion of aesthetics andFrankfurtSchool theory (Belfrage).

It seeks to highlight the relevance of Nicos Poulantzas for contemporary debates on ‘the international’ (Bruff), the significance of the global and gendered dimensions of citizenship, community and ‘cohesion’ (Steans & Tepe), and the absence of “work” in critical IPE (Moore).

It attempts to renew the tradition by considering “the city” (Rodaki), the role of Christian ‘renewalism’ in the production of global free market hegemony (Murray) and the relevance of understanding code to international political economy (Berry).

Link: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ip/journal/v49/n2/index.html

We hope you engage with the special issue and that it will serve the purpose of renewing critique and ontologies in Critical IPE in particular and IPE as a whole more generally.

All the best
Claes and Owen

**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

‘Marx’s Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism’ – by Peter Hudis

Peter Hudis

‘MARX’S CONCEPT OF THE ALTERNATIVE TO CAPITALISM’ – BY PETER HUDIS

Peter Hudis, Oakton Community College and Loyola University

In contrast to the traditional view that Marx’s work is restricted to a critique of capitalism and does not contain a detailed or coherent conception of its alternative, this book shows, through an analysis of his published and unpublished writings, that Marx was committed to a specific concept of a post-capitalist society that informed his critique of value production, alienated labor and capitalist accumulation. Instead of focusing on the present with only a passing reference to the future, Marx’s emphasis on capitalism’s tendency towards dissolution is rooted in a specific conception of what should replace it. In critically re-examining that conception, this book addresses the quest for an alternative to capitalism that has taken on increased importance today.

ISSN: 1570-1522

ISBN13: 9789004221970

Planned Publication Date: June 2012

Version: Hardback 

Pages, Illustrations: approx. 272 pp.

Historical Materialism 36

Imprint: BRILL

 

Table of contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Why Explore Marx’s Concept of the Transcendence of Value Production? Why Now?
The object and purpose of this study
Objectivist and subjectivist approaches to Marx’s philosophical contribution

1. The Transcendence of Alienation in the Writings of the Young Marx
Marx’s beginnings, 1837–41
Marx’s critique of politics and philosophy, 1842–3
Marx’s critique of economics and philosophy, 1843–4
Discerning the ideal within the real, 1845–8
Evaluating the young Marx’s concept of a postcapitalist society

2. The Conception of a Postcapitalist Society in the Drafts of Capital
The ‘first draft’ of Capital: The Poverty of Philosophy (1847)
The ‘second draft’ of Capital: the Grundrisse (1858)
The ‘third draft’ of Capital: the manuscript of 1861–3

3. The Vision of the New Society in Marx’s Capital
Volume I of Capital
Volumes II and III of Capital

4. Marx’s Late Writings on Postcapitalist Society
The impact of the Paris Commune on Marx
The Critique of the Gotha Programme and ‘Notes on Wagner’

Conclusion: Evaluating Marx’s Concept of a Postcapitalist Society

Appendix: Translation of Marx’s Excerpt-Notes on the Chapter ‘Absolute Knowledge’ in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit

Bibliography
Index

 

Biographical note:

Peter Hudis, Ph.D. (2011) in Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago, is Lecturer in Philosophy and the Humanities at OaktonCommunity Collegeand LoyolaUniversity. He has published extensively on Marxist theory and is General Editor of The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg.

Book details and ordering at: http://www.brill.nl/marxs-concept-alternative-capitalism

I am really looking forward to reading this book: Glenn Rikowski

**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

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

Theory As History: Essays on Modes of Production and Exploitation – by Jairus Banaji

Panopticon

THEORY AS HISTORY: ESSAYS ON MODES OF PRODUCTION AND EXPLOITATION – BY JAIRUS BANAJI 

THEORY AS HISTORY

ESSAYS ON MODES OF PRODUCTION AND EXPLOITATION

JAIRUS BANAJI

AVAILABLE NOW

———————————–

WINNER OF THE 2011 ISAAC AND TAMARA DEUTSCHER MEMORIAL PRIZE
AVAILABLE AT A SPECIAL 30% DISCOUNT

In celebration of the fact that Theory as History, a title from the Historical Materialism Book Series (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/category/hm-series), has been awarded the prestigious Deutscher Prize, Haymaket Books is offering a 30% discount of all copies sold through our website. Simply enter the coupon code “THEORY30” at checkout to receive the discount.

———————————–

The essays collected here straddle four decades of work in both historiography and Marxist theory, combining source-based historical work in a wide range of languages with sophisticated discussions of Marx’s notion of ‘modes of production.’ From the emergence of medieval relations of production; the origins of capitalism; the dichotomy between free and unfree labour; and essays in agrarian history that range widely from Byzantine Egypt to 19th -century colonialism. The essays demonstrate the importance of reintegrating theory with history and of bringing history back into historical materialism.

———————————–

PRAISE FOR THEORY AS HISTORY

“The great merit of this volume is that it establishes an approach for [the debates about the nature and origin of capitalism] that is deeply theoretical, but at the same time refreshingly unhampered by the kind of doctrinaire attachment to a perceived (and often misread) orthodoxy that plagued so much of “historical materialism” for the past century. It is scholarly, without being purely academic … Banaji’s book deserves to be read and debated as one of the starting points for a new wave of Marxist historiography, still in the process of liberating itself from the ghost of its formalist past.”
—PEPIJNBRANDON, International Socialism

“Banaji’s seemingly idiosyncratic but in fact highly sophisticated and original approach to historical analysis provides not only a welcome stimulus and a challenge for scholars today, but also will give them plenty to think about for many years to come”
—MARCEL van der LINDEN, research director of the International Institute of Social History

“Theory as History is a book written at the summit of a lifetime’s engagement with issues of Marxist theory and practice … Banaji’s work demonstrates that no aspect of human history is irrelevant to the present. His scholarship shows immense skill, depth and range … [proving] it is not the Marxist method that has been at fault, but the dominance of non-Marxist theory and method in the minds of Marxist .” —Counterfire

———————————–

JAIRUS BANAJI spent most of his academic life atOxford. He has been a Research Associate in the Department of Development Studies, SOAS,University ofLondon, for the past several years. He is the author of Agrarian Change in Late Antiquity (Oxford, 2007).

———————————–

ISBN: 978-1-60846-1431 / $28 / Paperback / 408 pages

———————————–

For more information or to buy the book visit: www.haymarketbooks.org; to request review or examination copies write to john@haymarketbooks.org 

**END**

‘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

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

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

Communication, Crisis, and Critique in Contemporary Capitalism

 

Sociology

COMMUNICATION, CRISIS, AND CRITIQUE IN CONTEMPORARY CAPITALISM

Communication, Crisis, and Critique in Contemporary Capitalism
Conference of the European Sociological Association’s Research Network 18 – Sociology of Communications and Media Research

October 18-20, 2012.

University of the Basque Country, Bilbao

Details: http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/ESA_RN18_CfP2012.pdf

Keynote Talk: Professor Peter Golding (Northumbria University,UK) – Why a Sociologist should take Communications and Media Seriously

Abstract
In the presentation of this paper, Peter Golding will reflect on why the study of communications and media demands the insights and methods of sociology, and why RN18 therefore is an appropriate network within the European Sociological Association. He will present reflections on how such key sociological concerns as inequality, identity, power, and change are at the heart of the questions we should be posing in addressing the nature and role of the media as institutions and communications as a social process. The paper will also address how far changes in the technologies of media and communications alter, or should alter, our approach to generating research and insight in this field.
Peter Golding is pro-vice chancellor of research & innovation at Northumbria University, founder and honorary chair of ESA RN18.

Call for Submissions and Participation
We are living in times of global capitalist crisis that require rethinking the ways we organize society, communication, the media, and our lives. The current crisis seems to a certain degree be different compared to previous ones, among other reasons due to the role of mediated communication and information in establishing/changing economic, political, and social relations as well as the crisis itself. The crisis can also be seen as crisis of what has been called consumer capitalism or informational capitalism. More precisely it has resulted on the one hand in a hyper-neoliberal intensification of neo-conservative policies and on the other hand in the emergence of new popular movements that are critical of the commodification of everything and demand the strengthening of society’s commons. The second movement has in the social sciences been accompanied by a renewed interest in critical studies, the critique and analysis of class and capitalism, and critical political economy. The overall goal of this conference is to foster scholarly presentations, networking, and exchange on the question of which transitions media and communication and media sociology are undergoing in contemporary society. The conference particularly welcomes contributions that are inspired by sociological theories, critical studies, and various strands and traditions of the critical study of media & society.

Questions that can be covered by presentations include, but are not limited to:

* What is a crisis? What forms of crisis are there? How do they relate to capitalism and communication?

* How have the media presented the crisis? Which similarities and differences in crisis reporting are there between different media (television, press, and new media) or between media in different countries?

* How has the crisis affected various media and cultural industries? What is the role of changing media technology in the economic crisis? How has the media economy changed since the start of the crisis in 2008? How have advertising investments, profits, market values, etc developed in the media economy since the start of the crisis? How has the global expansion of media industries been reshaped by the crisis and what is the future of global media and news agencies? What changes can be traced in the production of news and other media content? Are there changes in the nature of media products?

* What is the role of media and communication technologies in the financialization, acceleration, and globalization of the capitalist economy? How can a post-crisis media economy look like? How has advertising favoured a climate of private consumer debt?

* What are the ideological implications of the crisis for mediascapes? Which ideological discourses do companies, CEOs, managers, or neoliberal politicians use for justifying their interests, lay-offs, high bonuses, inequalities, etc and how are these discourses represented by the media or in strategic company reports? How are hyper-neoliberal crisis policy responses (“socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor” in the form of bank bail outs and budget cuts in areas like welfare, education, social security, health care, etc) ideologically justified and how do the media represent such ideologies? What is the role of finance capital in the media and cultural industries? Which hegemonic, alternative, or contradictory interpretations and reception practices of media content that relates to the crisis are there? Which ideologies and myths underlie the capitalist crisis?

* What is the role of media, communication, critical journalism, and alternative media in contemporary uproars, riots, rebellions, social movements, protests, demonstrations, and revolutions?

* How do identities and mediated identities change in times of crisis? How should one think about the relationship of economy and culture in light of the capitalist crisis? What is the relationship of class and identities and of politics of redistribution and recognition today? How do we have to rethink and reshape the relation between political economy and cultural studies in the light of capitalist crisis in order to adequately study the media and communication?

* How is the public sphere changing in the light of the global crisis? What are perspectives for politics, participation, and democracy today and how do these perspectives relate to the media and communication? Is the role of media in democracy changing? If so, how? Are media a distinct player in politics? If the established media form an estate of power in democracy, do we today new a new estate of power? If so, how could it look like?

* What are the causes, realities, and consequences of the commodification of the communication commons? What are alternatives to the commodification of the communication commons? How can one strengthen and create public media and commons-based forms of communication? What are the relationships and differences between the commodity logic, the gift logic, and the logic of public goods and how do these logics shape the media?

* How do contemporary societal trends, such as integration, diversity and conflicts in Europe and the world, transnationalism and networking, digitization, informatization, globalization, glocalization, prosumption, neoliberalism, privatization and commodification, migration, racism, changing gender relations, consumer and advertising culture, warfare, terrorism, the new imperialism, surveillance, social movement protests, global societal risks, the strengthening of right-wing extremist and fascist movements, or the anti-corporate movement and other movements, shape media and communication and how do media and communication in turn shape society in times of crisis and transition?

* What are the tasks, roles, responsibilities, and identities of the sociology of media and communication in a society that is facing deep crisis? What is the actual or potential role of critique, ethics, struggles, counter-power, resistance, protest, civil society, and social movements in contemporary societies and contemporary communications?

* What are the major trends that shape contemporary society and how are these trends related to mediated communication and knowledge production? In what society do we live? What society do we desire to have? What forms of media and communication do we find in contemporary society? What forms of media and communication do we desire and how must society change in order to achieve these goals?

* What are the major trends in respect to crisis, communication, and critique in Europe? What are the major trends in respect to crisis, communication, and critique in other parts of the world?

* How do different companies and organizations make use of different information transmission technologies? What is the role of high speed financial flows and associated transmission networks in the finance industry? How (in)visible are these flows?

Submission

An abstract of 200-250 words should be sent to Dr. Romina Surugiu, University of Bucharest, at the following e-mail address: bilbao.conference@yahoo.com. Please insert the words Bilbao in the subject. The deadline for abstract submission is May 31st 2012. 

**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  

‘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

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

IIPE Financialisation Working Group

Geese

IIPE FINANCIALISATION WORKING GROUP

Call for Papers for AHE/FAPE/IIPPE Conference, Paris July 5-8th, 2012

Following two highly successful previous IIPPE conferences in Political Economy, the Association for Heterodox Economics (AHE), the French Association of Political Economy (FAPE), and the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) are jointly coordinating the Third International Conference of Political Economy in Paris, July 5-8, 2012. We therefore would like to encourage contributions to that fall under the broad theme of the conference, “Political Economy and the Outlook of Capitalism”.

Given the significance taken by the role of financialisation in the current crisis, the IIPPE Financialisation Working Group encourages contributions which examine the causes and consequences of the crisis in the context of financialisation, as well as those which critically engage with the concept of financialisation itself. Also welcome are submissions which propose alternatives, policies and solutions both in relation to the crisis and to the broader crisis in theoretical economics.

In accordance with the general call for papers, contributions covering the following areas are particularly encouraged:

• “The Role of Financialisation in the Capitalist World”. This area aims to highlight the importance of financialisation and the role that it has played in the last 30 years in the transformation of capitalist relations of production and specifically the subsumption of real accumulation to finance.
• The profound inability of mainstream economics to provide either a satisfactory account of the ongoing crisis or to provide any significant alternatives to the current status quo and the resulting opportunities for heterodox economics and Marxist political economy to provide such sound and progressive alternatives.
• The role and uses of alternative methodologies in the studies of (international) financial markets and critique of mainstream economics
• How to locate the world economy and the neoliberal nation state in the study of finance
• Manifestations and consequences of financialisation in developing and emerging countries
• The financialisation of commodities and natural resources
• The European crisis and future role of the Euro
• A critical engagement with the term “financialisation” itself, i.e. its contribution to the literature, differentiation from other concepts such as globalisation, neoliberalism etc.

In addition to submission of individual papers, we would particularly encourage the submission of panel proposals of 2-4 presentation each. Panels which collectively present the work of institutions or other academic groups provide an excellent opportunity to showcase work in a greater depth that is possible in single presentations. It is further hoped that the conference will provide an opportunity to deepen links between groups working on finance from a critical perspective.

Abstracts of individual papers (max. 250 words) or panel proposals (max. 250 words plus abstracts of the individual papers) should be sent to Maria Dafnomili (mdafnomili@econ.soc.uoc.gr) by the end of January 2012.

 

**END**

 

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a new 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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

Capitalizing Power: The Qualities and Quantities of Accumulation

Peterborough United

CAPITALIZING POWER: THE QUALITIES AND QUANTITIES OF ACCUMULATION

Capitalizing Power: The Qualities and Quantities of Accumulation
A Conference of the Forum on Capital as Power
September 28-30, 2012, York University, Toronto
Call for Papers
Abstract Submission Deadline: June 30, 2012

Full text: http://bnarchives.yorku.ca/322/

 

With the global crisis lingering, many now wonder how capital has become so powerful, and what should be done about it. Although we are eager to provide answers, the problem starts with the question itself: what exactly do we mean by ‘capital’, and what does it mean to say that capital is ‘powerful’? The difficulty lies in the fractured nature of modern social science – both its conventional division into numerous disciplines, including economics, politics, sociology, international relations, and culture, and the habitual bifurcation of the economy itself into real and nominal spheres. These fractures create conceptual rifts: they place most aspects of power outside the economic process, and they portray capitalization as a fictitious mirror of an economic reality located in production.

The theory of Capital as Power removes these fissures by abolishing the disciplinary divisions between economics, politics, and other disciplines, as well as the economic bifurcation of the real and nominal. In doing so, the theory puts power at the centre of analysis and examines finance as the main algorithm of capitalist power.  The goal is to decipher the conversion of qualities to quantities: to theorize and research how the qualities of power – the multifaceted interactions of command and obedience, force and submission, violence and resistance – are universalized and discounted to the quantities of capitalization. 

We are calling for theoretical, empirical, and historical papers to engage critically with questions such as the following. How does power bear on accumulation, and how does it get capitalized? How has capitalization evolved and mutated? What are the qualitative forms of power in capitalism, and how do they compare to those that characterized earlier modes of power? What are the historical roots of capital as power? Do these roots alter the way we understand the origins of capitalism? How does capitalism convert qualities into quantities? What are the limits of capitalized power? How is capitalized power resisted and opposed? Can it be reformed or overthrown? Can these questions be addressed by mainstream and heterodox theories of capitalism – and if so, how do their answers differ from those offered by the theory of capital as power?

We are also interested in concrete areas of inquiry related to these broader questions. Suggested topics include:

* Capitalist power and labour – from proletarianization and wages to productivity and organization;
* International and regional relations and the capitalization of power;
* Capitalist and democratic accounting, including the history of discounting and its possible alternatives;
* Power and price formation – from local to global markets;
* The state as a locus of capitalization – from taxes and the law to ideology and violence;
* The role of capitalist power in contemporary crises;
* Capitalized power and nature – from genetic engineering, to energy, to the biosphere;
* Comparative modes of power: ancient and feudal, communist and fascist, capitalist and beyond;
* Capital as Power versus ‘primitive accumulation’ – dispossession, co-option and genocide;
* The power dimensions of ‘immaterial’ capitalism – from leisure and fear to knowledge and ideology;
* The psychology of capitalist power;
* Alternative visions for a de-capitalized society.

The conference will comprise two parts: public presentations open to all (day one), followed by a closed workshop for the conference participants (days two and three). The workshop will consist of longer presentations, allowing more time for debate, discussion and contemplation. Participants should be prepared to present in either part, depending on the allocation made by the organizers. Please email abstracts of 250 words to: casp.york@gmail.com. The deadline for abstract submissions is June 30, 2012.

***

Recent additions and updates to the Bichler & Nitzan Archives: http://bnarchives.yorku.ca/perl/latest 

Free to repost and circulate with due attribution under the Creative Commons License (attribution-noncommercial-no derivative). To unsubscribe, reply to this email with “unsubscribe” in the subject field.

–

Jonathan Nitzan

Political Science | Social and Political Thought, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, Ontario, M3J-1P3, Canada

Voice: (416) 736-2100, ext. 88822; Fax: (416) 736-5686; Email: nitzan@yorku.ca

Website: http://bnarchives.net

Discussion Forum: http://www.yorku.ca/cmass/forum/

**END**

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a new 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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

Capitalist Crisis – London Conference

Capitalist Crisis

CAPITALIST CRISIS – LONDON CONFERENCE

Fundamentals of Political Economy – Weekend School, January 21-22

11am-5pm. Room 2b, University of London Union, Malet Street, London.  
£10 waged, £5 concessions.

Lots of time for questions and debate! All welcome!

MEETINGS INCLUDE:

Labour theory of value – Moshe Machover

Political economy and the state – Werner Bonefeld

Money and finance – Hillel Ticktin

Against Keynesianism – Mike Macnair

In 2008 the banks crashed. States round the world bailed them out by borrowing money. Inevitably, this did not get rid of the crisis but rather gradually transmuted it into a crisis of the creditworthiness of individual states: today the crisis of Eurozone state creditworthiness threatens a new bank melt-down (which may already have happened by the time of this weekend school).

The ‘solution’ demanded by governments and the media is austerity. Creditors – ‘savers’ – must not be made to accept the losses: the working class, both in and out of paid work, must do so. Predictably, the result is an economic downward spiral – as seen in Greece, but coming now to the rest of Europe.

The ‘Occupy’ movement has represented a cry of rage but not put forward a clear alternative. The broad left, including the far left, has committed itself to Keynesian ideas – that states should borrow more and spend more and hope by doing so to grow ‘their way out’ of the crisis.

Understanding the unfolding crisis and proposing real alternatives requires us to grasp Karl Marx’s critique of political economy. But while education in the basics of Marx’s ideas was commonplace on the far left in the 1970s, today it has withered away: there are academics and theorists who ‘do’ political economy, while left activists and groups ‘do’ only campaigns.

The Weekend School aims in a small way to contribute to beginning to overcome this gap in the education of the left. We are therefore seeking to address fundamentals rather than to tackle the analysis of the crisis directly.

This conference has been organized by the CPGB/‘Weekly Worker’ but it’s wide range of speakers makes it very interesting to anyone who wants to understand capitalism’s present crisis.

Go here for the full timetable: http://www.cpgb.org.uk/

**END**

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a new 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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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