Massimo De Angelis | University of East London (original) (raw)

Papers by Massimo De Angelis

Keynesianism, Social Conflict and Political Economy, 2000

It is now a matter of common sense to recognize a shift in the object, finalities, and tools of o... more It is now a matter of common sense to recognize a shift in the object, finalities, and tools of orthodox economic discourse after the Second World War. On a formal level, it is widely recognized that this shift has occurred in different areas, as is schematically illustrated in Table 7.1. In Chapter 6 it was shown that the war gave momentum to and legitimized the practices of state planning in the economy, especially demand management policies. After the war the “Keynesian Revolution” acquired a formal recognition through the official acknowledgment of government responsibility for a policy of full employment. This came in Britain with the publication of the White Paper on Employment policy in 1944 by the coalition government and in the United States with the Employment Act of 1946. These two pieces of legislation, although criticized by both the left- and right- wing,1 represented the state’s formal acceptance of a new era of economic policy.

Introduction........................................................................................ more Introduction.........................................................................................1 Orientations ........................................................................................2 Governance as neoliberal strategy: a genealogy................................................4 Two layers of governance .......................................................................10 Governance layer I ...........................................................................10 Linkages 1: Neoliberal practices and governance.............................................16 Linkages 2: "Government action" and globalisation ...........................................19 Governance discourse...........................................................................20 Self-regulation and co-regulation. ...........................................................20 Partnership among social actors ............................................................21 Principl...

Commoning with George Caffentzis and Silvia Federici, 2019

Citizenship Studies, 2019

In this paper, I deploy the framework of commons as social systems which I have developed in my l... more In this paper, I deploy the framework of commons as social systems which I have developed in my last book Omnia Sunt Communia to interpret the debate developed in this issue, enquire on the relationship between commons and citizenship, and ground the question of migrants' inhabiting on the theory of commoning.

Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 1999

Capital Class, Jul 1, 1998

The Routledge Companion to Alternative Organization, 2011

Capital & Class, 2000

following about the period 1972 to date. ‘In Wearside, the rise in part-time working among Wearsi... more following about the period 1972 to date. ‘In Wearside, the rise in part-time working among Wearside women (+56 per cent), barely outweighs the fall which has occurred in full-time employment among females alone...’ and he concludes, on the basis that two part-time jobs may equal one full-time, that ‘there is no case for arguing that female employment has increased at all. (A similar point might be made regarding aggregate income from employment, given the generally lower levels of pay associated with female and part-time work.)’ (p.80). I thought this information was stunning but I could not find anything in this book to help me understand it. ____________________ References Hollands, R. (1995) Youth Cultural Identification in the Post-Industrial City. The Department of Social Policy, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Weber, M. (1978) Economy and Society. University of California Press. 156 Capital & Class #70

South Atlantic Quarterly, 2014

What does it mean to say no to a capitalist social system that has the power to put life to work ... more What does it mean to say no to a capitalist social system that has the power to put life to work for its own development and, in so doing, shapes subjectivities, horizons, architectures, urban and rural spaces, life rhythms, ecologies, and polities in its own image? This question arises with particular urgency in the midst of one of the deepest capitalist crises, with its catastrophic social and ecological consequences. This article argues that the answer to our question resides ultimately in a particular type of social power, one that recomposes the social practice of the commons to achieve autonomy from capital, especially and initially in matters of social reproduction (food, health, care, housing, knowledge, and education).

Für eine neue Politik jenseits von Markt und Staat, 2012

South Atlantic Quarterly, 2017

The absence of a reflection on revolutionary practices and subjects is the main weakness of the r... more The absence of a reflection on revolutionary practices and subjects is the main weakness of the radical critique of the Anthropocene. The risk is to envision the Anthropocene as a space for villains and victims but not for revolutionaries. It is crucial to challenge the (in)visibility and (un)knowability of the Anthropocene beyond geological strata and planetary boundaries. As the Capitalocene, the Anthropocene has left its traces in the bodies of people upon which the new epoch has been created. The traces of the Capitalocene are not only in geological strata but also in the biological and genetic strata of human bodies; exploitation, subordination, and inequalities are inscribed into the human body and experienced, visible and knowable by subalterns without the mediation of—many times actually in opposition to—mainstream scientific knowledge. This essay inflects the concept of Capitalocene with what we call Wasteocene, to stress the contaminating nature of capitalism and its perdu...

This is a pre-edited version of a forthcoming entry for the Encyclopedia of Political Science, Wa... more This is a pre-edited version of a forthcoming entry for the Encyclopedia of Political Science, Washington: CQ Press

Theomai, 2012

* N. de T.: Toda vez que, a lo largo del artículo, el autor se refiera a la acumulación [propiame... more * N. de T.: Toda vez que, a lo largo del artículo, el autor se refiera a la acumulación [propiamente dicha], se deberá entender que alude a la reproducción ampliada, en contraposición a la acumulación primitiva u originaria. 3 Este no es el caso cuando el concepto se aplica a la descripción histórica de la llamada transición del feudalismo al capitalismo. Tal como describiré brevemente más adelante, esto ha generado mucho debate.

In Omnia Sunt Communia, Massimo de Angelis offers a radical political economy, illuminating the s... more In Omnia Sunt Communia, Massimo de Angelis offers a radical political economy, illuminating the steps necessary to arrive at a post-capitalist world. By conceptualizing the idea of commons not just as common goods but as a set of social systems, de Angelis shows their pervasive presence in everyday life, and he maps out a strategy for total social transformation. From the micro to the macro, de Angelis unveils the commons as fields of power relations—shared space, objects, and subjects—that explode the limits of daily life under capitalism. He exposes attempts to co-opt the commons, through the use of seemingly innocuous words such as “participation” and “governance,” and he reveals the potential for radical transformation rooted in the social reproduction of our communities, life, work, and society as a whole.

Commons movements’ first goal is addressing directly different needs of reproduction by mobilisin... more Commons movements’ first goal is addressing directly different needs of reproduction by mobilising the natural and creative resources at their disposal. On the other hand, movements of protest mobilise these resources to put forward claims to the state so as to prevent the cut in these resources or their extension. For this reason, it is possible to find ideological and class divisions between commons movements and protest movements, which provide a fertile ground for capital to use these divisions and further its livelihood and ecological, crisisridden agenda. It is therefore becoming a vital necessity to develop paradigmatic horizons that favour an epistemic decoupling from capital, and a sense of how it is possible to link the formation of resilient alternatives that address the problems of ecology and livelihood posed by these crises, while at the same time building social movements that favour these alternatives and open more spaces for their development. We therefore face the ...

The film Don't look up is like a mirror reflecting the consciousness of the world, a mirror showi... more The film Don't look up is like a mirror reflecting the consciousness of the world, a mirror showing us through what perverse mechanisms it is possible for the collective power accumulated over 300 years of economic development to be transformed into collective impotence in safeguarding social reproduction in the face of a major threat. And this is not because of a lack of knowledge or technology, but simply because of the way our world is organised. . . .

Keynesianism, Social Conflict and Political Economy, 2000

Commoning with George Caffentzis and Silvia Federici, 2019

Citizenship Studies, 2019

Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 1999

Capital Class, Jul 1, 1998

The Routledge Companion to Alternative Organization, 2011

Capital & Class, 2000

South Atlantic Quarterly, 2014

Für eine neue Politik jenseits von Markt und Staat, 2012

South Atlantic Quarterly, 2017

Theomai, 2012

Keynesianism, Social Conflict and Political Economy, 2000

Beginning of History 'The Beginning of History challenges Hardt and Negri's view in Empire that p... more Beginning of History 'The Beginning of History challenges Hardt and Negri's view in Empire that postmodern capitalism is a total system with no "outside". For De Angelis the "outside" is alive and well in spaces of sharing, conviviality and communality that are continually created by struggles throughout the planet, from women farmers in Third World villages protecting the forest commons to the internet activists creating "free" software and "anti-copyright" licenses. The Beginning of History brings this creativity to the center of anti-capitalist thought and through it provides new meanings to the concepts of anarchism, socialism and communism.'-Silvia Federici, author of Caliban and the Witch 'Massimo De Angelis has developed a reputation as the most brilliant of Contents List of Figures viii List of Tables and Boxes viii Preface ix 1 The beginning of history Other dimensions Front line and alternatives Emanating antagonism False polarities Structure of the book PART I ORIENTATIONS: CO-PRODUCTION OF LIVELIHOODS AS CONTESTED TERRAIN 2 Value struggles Temporary time-space commons The market as an ethical system Positing the outside Value struggles 3 Capital as a social force Capitalism as subsystem Capital Telos, drive and conatus 4 With no limits Capital's boundlessness Global M-C-MЈ: a classic illustration 5 Production and reproduction Circuit coupling Waged and unwaged work and the realm of the invisible 6 Production, reproduction and global loops The front line: the articulation between conati International division of labour v vi PART II GLOBAL LOOPS: SOME EXPLORATIONS ON THE CONTEMPORARY WORK MACHINE 7 Enclosures and disciplinary integration Generation and homeostasis A conceptual map Governmentality Global loops Neoliberal globalisation Globalisations 9 The global work machine Global production networks and TNCs Disciplinary trade Spatial substitutability and 'class composition' PART III CONTEXT, CONTEST AND TEXT: DISCOURSES AND THEIR CLASHING PRACTICES 10 Marx and the enclosures we face Capital encloses Marx and the continuous character of enclosures Continuity, social conflict and alternatives 11 Enclosures with no limits Enclosures as a front line Types of enclosure 12 The 'law of value', immaterial labour, and the 'centre' of power Global markets and value practices What is the 'law of value'? Critical approaches to the 'law of value' The 'centre' of power 13 The valuing and measuring of capital Measuring and feedback Commodity values Measuring and struggles 14 Market freedom and the prison: Hayek and Bentham Orientations Market order CONTENTS Panopticism Market and panopticism: two overlapping orders 15 The fractal panopticon and ubiquitous revolution The market order and panopticism Beyond panopticism PART IV 'BY ASKING QUESTIONS WE WALK': THE PROBLEMATICS OF DECOUPLING The 'outside' The beginning of history The 'outside' Enclosure, dispossession and the outside Very brief detour on imperialism Detritus-conatus

Sage Handbook of Marxism, 2021

In the limited space of this chapter, I will discuss some aspects of these emancipatory potential... more In the limited space of this chapter, I will discuss some aspects of these emancipatory potentials of the commons through three different routes.
A first theme begins with a paraphrase of the very first section of Das Kapital in which Marx begins his analysis of capital starting from its elementary form of wealth, the commodity. The rationale of this paraphrase is to reproduce the logic of Marx’s argument while at the same time substituting the commodity with the elementary form of post-capitalist wealth, common goods. Thus, I begin to read those early pages on the commodity as if they were written for the elementary form of post-capitalist wealth, and instead of the commodity we were talking about, common goods. As I turn Marx on his head from an analysis of capital to an analysis of its antipode, postcapitalism and the commons, I develop the narrative from a paraphrase of those early pages of Capital into the discovery of the Commons as social systems. Just as in the analysis of the commodity Marx uncovers a capitalist system and its alienating and exploitative features, so in the analysis of common goods, we uncover the commons systems and their emancipatory potentials.
A second theme is an exploration of the possible connection between the com-mons and the question of radical transformation of the current social formation which sees the dominance of state and capital. I turn here to Marx’s conceptu- alisation of social revolution as different from political revolution (Davidson, Chapter 18, this Handbook), and to the key importance of the development of alternative modes of production (which I interpret in terms of the commons) within the fabric of the old, without which any political revolution would be, in Marx’s view, ‘quixotic’.
A third theme, which builds from the second, interrogates the interrelation of the Anglo-Saxon usage of the commons (plural) and the continental European usage of the term common (comune, commun) (singular). Here I highlight the importance to maintain both usages in a virtuous systemic relation. All these themes point to a Marxian-inspired framework for the commons understood as social systems (De Angelis, 2017).

Sage handbook of marxism, 2022

Entry for the Sage Handbook of Marxism

Sage Handbook of Marxism, 2022

An entry for the Sage Handbook of Marxism

We live in the midst of a social and economic crisis, one of the worst in capitalism's history; a... more We live in the midst of a social and economic crisis, one of the worst in capitalism's history; at the same time the environmental crisis, according to the predictions of the vast majority of scientists, is approaching catastrophe. Neither states nor markets seem able to offer solutions. On the contrary, many believe that they are the main sources of these crises. It is in this context that talks of – and social movements for – commons have become not only increasingly commonplace, but also increasingly relevant. In general terms, the commons are social systems in which resources are shared by a community of users/producers, who also defi ne the modes of use and production, distribution and circulation of these resources through democratic and horizontal forms of governance. Such commons are not utopias, if nothing else because they exist and are produced vis-à-vis a social force – capital – that often demands their co-optation , if not enclosure. In this chapter we will examine various conceptualizations of commons, tracing a brief history of commons thinking in the process, before concluding that commons are essential to both capital and anti-capitalist social movements – and will therefore be a key focus of social antagonism over the next century.