Capitalizing Power

Bonuses for Some

CAPITALIZING POWER

CAPITALIZING POWER: THE QUALITIES AND QUANTITIES OF ACCUMULATION (September 28-30, 2012)

Conference: September 28, Senate Chamber (N940), Ross North Building, Keele Campus, York University

Workshop: September 29-30, 172 York Hall, Glendon Campus, York University

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This is the third in a conference series organized by the Forum on Capital as Power. The present meetings explore the capitalization of power. There are 24 presentations, including keynote addresses and guest presentations by Jeffrey Harrod, Herman Schwartz, Justin Podur, J.J. McMurtry and Jonathan Nitzan. The conference is sponsored by a SSHRC Connection Grant and York University.

Attendance is free and all are welcome.

PROGRAMME & INFORMATION: http://bnarchives.yorku.ca/341/

First published at: http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/conference-on-capitalizing-power-york-28-30-sept-2012  

 

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‘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

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

 

Glenn Rikowski’s paper, Critical Pedagogy and the Constitution of Capitalist Society has been published at Heathwood Press as a Monthly Guest Article for September 2012, online at:

http://www.heathwoodpress.com/monthly-guest-article-august-critical-pedagogy-and-the-constitution-of-capitalist-society-by-glenn-rikowski/

 

Heathwood Press: http://www.heathwoodpress.com

 

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.

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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/

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‘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