Marxist political economy Research Papers (original) (raw)

Most ―mainstream accounts of the West-East divergence gain theoretical inspiration from Max Weber and/or Karl Marx, and have therefore traced the ―rise of the West to the unique social processes that apparently fostered capitalism in Europe. Critics have labelled these accounts ―Eurocentric insofar as they imply the inherent superiority of the West over the East,1 and they have offered alternative ―anti-Eurocentric narratives which ostensibly avoid such analytical and normative pitfalls. These critics have succeeded in directing our attention to experiences in the non-European world. However, they have sought to validate these experiences by simply extending (in space and time), rather than transcending, the problematic concepts and assumptions that plagued the ―Eurocentric Weberian and Marxist accounts of the origins of capitalism. This paper argues that a truly non-Eurocentric approach requires a definitive break with these assumptions and the adoption of an alternative historical materialist understanding of the origins of capitalism pioneered by Robert Brenner. While not explicitly conceived as non-Eurocentric, Brenner‘s concept of social-property relations offers the surest foundation for understanding ―the great divergence‖ without doing violence to history or succumbing to European triumphalism.

- by
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- Historical Sociology, Marxism, Transnational and World History, Postcolonial Studies

Current influential attempts to bring together psychoanalysis and Marxism turn on the question of how to critique and move beyond capitalism without reverting to a utopian notion of communism. Taking this question seriously, the article explores the implications of psychoanalytic categories such as the real, fantasy, jouissance, and the formulae of sexuation, for Marxian economics and politics. Rethinking Marxism in conjunction with Lacanian psychoanalysis, the article aims to formulate a post-phantasmatic relation to the economy of surplus, and from there, to offer a new ethico-political stance around exploitation and communism.

- by Yahya M Madra and +1
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- Marxist Economics, Class, Jacques Lacan, Slavoj Žižek

Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault are widely accepted to be central figures of post-war French philosophy. Philosophers, cultural theorists, and others have devoted considerable effort to the critical examination of the work of each of these thinkers, but despite the strong biographical and philosophical connection between Foucault and Deleuze, very little has been done to explore the relationship between them. This special issue of Foucault Studies is the first collection of essays to address this critical deficit with a rigorous comparative discussion of the work of these two philosophers.

- by Nicolae Morar and +2
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- Critical Theory, Discourse Analysis, History, Cultural History

Queste pagine sono state scritte da Marx in periodi differenti della sua vita. Messe insieme segnano e abbracciano tutto l'arco di sviluppo del suo pensiero. Le date sono di per sé eloquenti (1844, 1858, 1867, 1881-1882) e subito ci richiamano alla mente opere e vicende già note e ben conosciute: i "Manoscritti economico-filosofici del 1844", "Per la critica dell'economia politica", il "Capitale", gli ultimi anni terribili della vita di Marx. Il filo che le tiene insieme è non solo il nome di Marx, ma anche, e soprattutto, l'oggetto specifico della ricerca che Marx conduce dall'inizio alla fine della sua vita. L'oggetto è in generale l'economia e il suo carattere specifico è dato dal significato politico che essa assume all'interno del rapporto sociale di tipo capitalistico. Karl Marx (1818-1883) è stato uno degli ultimi geni enciclopedici dell'età moderna. Dopo la formazione filosofica e politica negli ambienti della Sinistra hegeliana, Marx inizia nel 1844 a Parigi lo studio critico dell'economia politica che, parallelamente all'impegno politico per la costituzione e l'organizzazione del movimento internazionale dei lavoratori, lo impegnerà per il resto della sua vita.

- by Giovanni Sgro'
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- Marxism, Marxist Economics, Philosophy of Karl Marx, Marxist theory

This article explores the patterns of class inequality and capital accumulation in Brazil, showing the drivers and limits of the decline in inequality that occurred during the Workers' Party governments. It proposes that minimum wage hikes and greater social security changed the demand pattern and kick-started a cumulative causation process. Growth and redistribution thus reinforced each other for a period, and then spelled their own limits. As growth accelerated in the 2000s, a Gini decomposition indicates that class inequality decreased, but confined to changes between workers-capitalist income and social stratification were preserved. This also endogenously led to a re-gressive structural change, as low-productivity, labour-intensive services grew and international trade patterns worsened. This created a medium-term dependence on commodity prices for balance-of-trade solvency, and heightened cost-push inflation, which could not be overcome under the limited policy framework in place. The constrained basis for reducing inequality and the regressive structural change underscore that developmental strategies requires broad, multi-dimensional inequality-reducing measures and an encompassing catching-up project.

The roles of state and market have become a topic of the utmost importance under debate in economics. The argument that the one shouldn't get involved in the other's development can't be supported -it is a false disjunctive syllogism which doesn't stand up to close examination. Assumptions being made the most to refer to the antagonism of state to market have even considered markets to be inherently efficient, stressing that a minimal state redistributing wealth is responsible for achieving equity. This paper presents different views held by representatives of disparate schools of economic thought. Arguments for a more dialectic view on this topic are employed as conclusions. keyworDS: marxist political economy, state, institutions, market. RECiBiDO: 5/10/2016 aCEPtaDO: 2/12/2016 CLaSifiCaCióN jEL: P16, P26, B14, B25 Silvia odRiozola GuitaRt • HeNRy ColiNa HeRNáNdez ECONOMÍa Y DESaRROLLO RNPS: 0009 • iSSN: 0252-8584 • año xlviii • vol. 158 • N. o 1 • eNeRo-juNio • 2017 • PP. 245-269 […] cada tantos siglos hay que quemar la Biblioteca de Alejandría. El Congreso, Jorge Luis Borges

This article is dedicated to Marx’s theory of money application as a base for institutional money research. It is proved that the lack of attention paid by institutional money theory researchers to fundamental aspects of money theory can lead to error commitments and reduce the explicative force of their conceptions. Marx’s theory of money is considered to be more acceptable base for more concrete research on money than neoclassical money theory, as far as the last one meet serious theoretical difficulties in explanation of the nature of money. The existing examples of Marx’s theory of money applying in institutional money research demonstrate timeliness and perspectiveness of further research on this direction.

- by Dima Bondar
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- Marxist political economy, Commodity Theory of Money
- by Joshua Murray
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- Political Sociology, Historical Sociology, Capitalism, Marxist political economy

qui a Bergamo siamo in stato d'assedio ma la vita continua. Stanno sbocciando i bulbi di tulipano che ho comprato ad Amsterdam a ottobre. E si fanno lezioni in videoconferenza. Meglio di niente per salvare l'anno scolastico. In allegato un primo bilancio sulla pandemia e una riflessione sulle epidemie, facilitata dalla mia antica passione per l'evoluzionismo e la genetica. Tra qualche giorno finirò un pezzo un po' più lungo e che si potrebbe dividere. Ciao. Michele

- by Michele Nobile
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- Marxism, Political Ecology, Marxism and Ecology, Social-Ecological Systems

This paper considers perspectives on marriage in the Queer and feminist community reviewing key contemporary thinkers on the subject and using direct interviews and material from radical Queer activists and academics in the field. It examines problems inherent in the fight for gay marriage and examines the ways gay marriage intersects with issues of race and class. I conducted dozens of interviews over the course of the research involved in this project. Many of them were broadcast in a documentary entitled, “Beyond Gay Marriage, broadcast on KPFA in 2010 and podcast by Race, Poverty & the Environment http://reimaginerpe.org/rpe/radio/dettmer. Quotations from these interviews are interwoven in the text without specific footnote. Unattributed direct quotations are excerpted from the transcript of Lisa Dettmer, Beyond Gay Marriage audio documentary, KPFA/ RP&E (2010).

- by lisa dettmer
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- Critical Theory, Feminist Sociology, Gender Studies, Queer Studies

Iz uvodnika: "Prav v teh okoliščinah je še toliko pomembnejše, da politično ekonomijo komuniciranja vnovič vzpostavimo kot temelj kritičnega (če že ne celotnega) komunikološkega raziskovanja. Razlog ni le v dejstvu, da kritična komunikologija – s tem pa tudi politična ekonomija komuniciranja – vprašanj, povezanih z mediji, komunikacijskimi sistemi, informacijskimi tehnologijami ali komunikacijsko sfero ne obravnava zaradi njih samih, temveč zaradi njihove konstitutivne vloge, ki bi jo morali igrati v demokratičnih družbah. Še pomembnejši vzrok je: a) v fokusu tega pristopa, ki je odločno usmerjen v proučevanje asimetrij moči, globokih družbenih razkolov in skrajnih neenakosti v nadzoru nad proizvodnimi sredstvi, ter b) v njegovih temeljnih izhodiščnih značilnosti, ki jih v prevedenih besedilih omenjajo tako Meehanova, Mosco in Waskova kot McChesney, torej v zgodovinski perspektivi, združevanju in preseganju ločnice med teorijo in prakso, izhajanju iz družbene totalitete in moralni filozofiji oziroma normativnih predpostavkah, zaradi katerih je pristop odkrito političen. Ta izhodišča so še zlasti pomembna v času globoke krize, saj je skrajni čas, da se domnevno kritični del znanstvene sfere začne zavedati svojega poslanstva in se preneha pretvarjati, da je lahko izločen iz družbenih bojev."

- by Michael R. Krätke
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- Sociology, Social Policy, Welfare State, Socialism

Like all other nations Nigeria aspires to greatness but over five decades after Independence still ranks very low on all parameters of good governance. The objective of the paper is to examine the concepts of leadership, participatory democracy and good governance, evaluate their significance as components of the development process and articulate the implications of their absence from the administration of public institutions. The paper argues that all three elements are missing from the development process in Nigeria. Systems Analysis or systems theory as enunciated by David Easton is adopted as the theoretical framework. Methodologically the study relies mainly on secondary historical sources of data collection. The paper is significant for its identification of the need for these concepts as guiding principles of the development process in Nigeria. The scope of the paper is Nigeria as a whole from Independence in 1960 till date. It draws the conclusion that Nigerians must insist...

- by Matthew Ogali
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- Sociology, Public Finance, Development Studies, Political Theory
- by fafner 100
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- International Relations, Political Economy, Marxist political economy
- by Michael R. Krätke
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- Political Economy, Economic Theory, Marxist political economy, Karl Marx

Barely five years ago, the debate about humanity's energy future was still organized by the paradigm of "peak oil." That is, the existence of a relative threshold beyond which the planetary consumption of oil would grow more quickly than the advances in new methods of extraction within a given margin of economic viability. 1 The end of the oil era was fast approaching, as the reserves would eventually run dry. 2 The peak oil paradigm garnered two kinds of responses. On one side, those who were convinced of the necessity to get away from oil advocated a transition toward a new energy base consisting of renewables and/or toward much less energy-intensive societies. 3 Others, particularly the stakeholders in the hydrocarbon industry, claimed that we were far from a "peak," because the reserves of hydrocarbons were actually much larger than we thought if we included the vast potential of unconventional oil sources in the form of fracked gas and oil, the tar sands, certain deposits of coal and certain deposits of offshore oil and gas, along with the conventional oil reserves. These sources of hydrocarbons, the existence of which had been known for a very long time, suddenly became recoverable with the rise in the price of oil and gas in the early 2000s. And in fact, history has tended to side with the industry rather than the transition advocates, who watched with some astonishment as the prices rose -in keeping with the peak oil model -producing effects that were the complete opposite of what their theory predicted. The impact of demand overtaking supply, combined with geopolitical factors such as the two Gulf wars certainly translated into an increase in prices. However, this increase, rather than having an effect on demand by pushing energy consumers toward renewable sources and even technology that is more energy-efficient (as was the case during the last big energy crises in 1973 and 1978), played out on supply instead, stimulating the production of the so-called "unconventional" forms of oil, the extraction of which had become economically viable at the new heights of price per barrel. The global exponential increase in oil consumption has not been stopped by the equally rapid increase in prices. Instead, the reality since the 2010s has been a price ceiling and then a drop as these new sources of oil entered the market, which has allowed the consumption of oil to continue rising at a brisk pace. The price mechanism sent the wrong message: as the rate of increase in consumption accelerated faster than the rate of increase of extraction, prices moved upwards as expected 4 , but at a certain price threshold, the quantity of recoverable oil increased suddenly. Rather than telling us that the wells were running dry, the increase in prices promised abundance and pushed the pressure for a change of our energy base into the mists of the distant future. 5

- by Melinda Cooper
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- Feminist Economics, Political Economy, Racial and Ethnic Politics, Welfare State
- by Michael R. Krätke
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- Political Economy, Marxism, Labour Process, Value theory (Philosophy)

A number of people have claimed that the ongoing financial crisis has revealed the problems with neoliberal thought and neoliberal policies in the 'Atlantic Heartland'. However, if we look at the history of the 'Heartland' economies then it becomes evident that they were never neoliberal in the first place - that is, the economic policies and discourses in these countries did not follow neoliberal prescriptions. /We Have Never Been Neoliberal/ explores this divergence between neoliberal theory and 'neoliberal' practice by focusing on the underlying contradictions in monetarism, private monopolies, and financialization. The book finishes by proposing a 'manifesto for a doomed youth' in which it argues that younger generations should refuse to pay interest on anything in order to avoid the trap of debt-driven living.

- by Kean Birch
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- Business, Business Ethics, Finance, Sociology

- by Matthew Ogali
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- Public Finance, Development Studies, Political Theory, Public PolicyStudies
- by Robert Ovetz, Ph.D.
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- Anarchism, Post-Marxism, Capitalism, Marxism (Political Science)
- by Michael R. Krätke
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- Political Economy, Globalization, Rosa Luxemburg, Marxist political economy

Na análise da questão social, podem-se visualizar duas
contradições que tanto se localizam em níveis diferentes, como estão
em relação de dependência. No nível mais fenomênico, que remete às
instâncias ideológicas e estatais, tem-se a contradição entre a igualdade
jurídica abstrata e a desigualdade social. Na base econômica, ocorre a
contradição da igualdade entre as trocas de mercadorias com a desigualdade econômica derivada da produção. Estas contradições referendam-se em movimentos distintos e consubstanciados em relações de equivalência e de não equivalência. Objetivou-se, neste capítulo, apresentar brevemente algumas destas características. (In the analysis of the social question, one can see two contradictions that are both located at different levels and in a relationship of dependence. At the most phenomenal level, which refers to ideological and state instances, there is the contradiction between abstract juridical equality and social inequality. On the economic basis, there is the contradiction of equality between the exchange of goods and the economic inequality derived from production. These contradictions are referenced in distinct movements and embodied in relations of equivalence and non-equivalence. The purpose of this chapter is to briefly present some of these characteristics).

- by Henrique Wellen
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- Political Economy, Social Policy, Marxism, Marxist Economics
- by victor charles
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- European History, Modern History, African Studies, Marxism

With focus on Facebook, this paper contributes to the scholarly discussion that draws from Marxist concepts to examine “labour relations” between social media organizations as capitalist enterprises and users as both free labour and unwitting commodities sold to advertisers. This critical stream of research has not yet paid much attention to the ideological processes that may be facilitating the establishment and maintenance of such exploitative relations. We adopt a discursive perspective and draw on linguistic pragmatics to shed light on these processes. In particular, we employ the notions of ‘relevance’ and ‘cognitive illusion’ to explore in detail the discourse that influences how the userplatform relationship is, firstly, constructed in and by Facebook’s organizational communication, and secondly, understood by social media users. We introduce a discursive process we callcontext manipulation; it is an analytical concept that helps bring to focus the discursive obscuring of...

- by Anu A Harju
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- Discourse Analysis, Sociology, Pragmatics, Digital Media

Prosegue l'impegno delle Edizioni "La Città del Sole" di proseguire, dopo molti anni, la pubblicazione delle Opere complete di Marx ed Engels sulla base della nuova edizione critica in corso in Germmania e, dunque, con traduzioni e cure particolarmente attente dei testi, che rendono finalmente disponibili per gli studiosi italiani anche numerosi inediti.

Ernest Mandel war einer der originellsten und produktivsten Denker der linken sozialistischen Bewegung. Seine über zwei Dutzend Bücher und unzähligen Artikel zur politischen Ökonomie des Kapitalismus, zur ökonomischen und politischen Theorie und zu Fragen der Weltgeschichte und Politik, sind in über 30 Sprachen übersetzt und erreichten ungewöhnliche Auflagenhöhen-wegen seiner bemerkenswerten Fähigkeit, die teilweise recht schwierigen Feinheiten der marxistischen Kapitalismuskritik in allgemeinverständliche Sprache zu übersetzen, und wegen eines offenen Marxismusverständnisses, das die Fallstricke des an Moskau oder Peking orientierten Dogmatismus ebenso vermied wie die theorielose Handwerkelei reformistischer Sozialdemokraten. Der leidenschaftliche politische Aktivist, fesselnde Redner und schneidende Polemiker beeinflusste damit weltweit hunderttausende junger politisierter Menschen und schulte zehntausende von politischen Aktivisten.

- by Christoph Jünke
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- Critical Theory, History, Political Philosophy, Marxism

Rape and other forms of sexual violence have always been a consistent feature of war. Yet it is only fairly recently that researchers have identified rape as a deliberate tool of war-making rather than simply an inevitable side effect of armed conflict. Much of the emerging literature has suggested that the underlying causes of rape stem from a single motivation—whether individual, symbolic, or strategic—leading to disagreement in the field about how we can understand and respond to the causes and consequences of sexual violence in war.
In Rape Loot Pillage, Sara Meger argues that sexual violence is a form of gender-based political violence (perpetrated against both men and women) and a manifestation of unequal gender relations that are exacerbated by the social, political, and economic conditions of war. She looks at trends in the form and function of sexual violence in recent and ongoing conflicts to contend that, in different contexts, sexual violence takes different forms and is used in pursuit of different objectives. For this reason, no single framework for addressing conflict-related sexual violence will be sufficient. Taking a political economy perspective, Meger maintains that these variations can be explained by broader struggles over territory, assets, and other productive resources of that motivate contemporary armed conflicts. Sexual violence is a reflection of global political economic struggles, and can’t be addressed only at the local level—it must be addressed through regional and international policy. She concludes by providing some initial ideas about how this can be done via the UN and national governments.

- by Sara Meger
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- Gender Studies, Feminist Theory, Peace and Conflict Studies, Conflict

Since Marx first declared religion to be the opiate of the masses, institutions of religion and spirituality have been preemptively rejected from serious consideration by most scholars, critical sociologists included. The assumption seems to always be that religion is either a reactionary response to difficult realities or a mere illusion, delusion, or epiphenomenon of brain/social function. This paper looks at the “authentic core” of religious institutions, religious experience, and, using biographical examples from the literature, argues that far from being a reactionary holdout of our primitive past, religion and spirituality are, in fact, essentially revolutionary in content. It is suggested that, in the context of a growing global ecological, political, and economic crises, the revolutionary core of religion and spirituality has to be examined, recovered, and even embraced as part of any local or global strategy of transformation.

- by Dr. S.
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- Religion, Political Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Marxism

The formation of Karl Marx´s thought went through different moments
and had different influences. Among these, the so-called “three sources” stand out: German philosophy, English political economy and the revolutionary perspective. In the case of political economy, it is possible to visualize three central periods that demarcate important differences in Marx´s relationship with this science: up to 1844, between 1845 and 1849, and after 1857. If, during the transit of these periods, some important categories stand out, the forms of treatment given to the categories of labour power and abstract labour announce important
theoretical and political mediations.

- by Henrique Wellen
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- Political Economy, Social Work, Marxism, Marxist Economics

This article examines the structures of international relations that facilitate political violence in postcolonial states. It explores the intersections of patriarchy and imperialism in the contemporary political economy to understand how armed conflict and political violence in postcolonial states form an integral element of the global economy of accumulation in deeply gendered ways. By focusing on the structural level of analysis, this article argues that the siting of armed conflict in postcolonial contexts serves to maintain neo-colonial relations of exploitation between the West and non-West, and is made both possible and effective through the gendering of political identities and types of work performed in the global economy. I argue here that armed conflict is a form of feminized labour in the global economy. Despite the fact that performing violence is a physically masculine form of labour, the outsourcing of armed conflict as labour in the political economy is 'feminized' in that it represents the flexibilization of labour and informalization of market participation. So while at the same time that this work is fulfilling hegemonic ideals of militarized masculinity within the domestic context, at the international level it actually demonstrates the 'weakness' or 'otherness' of the 'failed'/feminized state in which this violence occurs, and legitimizes and hence re-entrenches the hegemonic relations between the core and periphery on the basis of problematizing the 'weak' state's masculinity. It is through the discursive construction of the non-Western world as the site of contemporary political violence that mainstream international relations reproduces an orientalist approach to both understanding and addressing the 'war puzzle'.

The Tweed Ring spawned a vibrant financial sector that was integral to its brief success but has never been previously examined. William “Boss” Tweed and his allies employed banks controlled or comanaged by Tammany politicians to embezzle funds, build political alliances, and invest in a wide array of business ventures. The capital of these savings and commercial banks—city money, deposits from Catholic charities, and the savings of immigrant laborers—was accumulated through political channels. During their operation between 1867 and 1871, politician-bankers engaged in a mix of patronage deals and profit-driven financial speculation. In effect, Tammany banks were ground zero for the Ring's conversion of political hegemony into a windfall of economic capital that fueled party activities and buoyed personal fortunes. Importantly, the anti-Ring mobilization by upper-class reformers was more than a revolt of wealthy taxpayers concerned with abstract goals of good government or rescuing city credit; it was also a reaction by old-line bankers in direct competition with Tammany upstarts. A dramatic bank run catalyzed by reformers in November 1871 drove them into bankruptcy, bringing this novel experiment in political capitalism to an end.

- by Jeffrey Broxmeyer
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- Cultural History, Economic History, Cultural Studies, Political Sociology

A book that doctrines the approach Line of Wealth instead of much touted Line of Poverty approach.

- by ECONOMIC JUSTICE
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- Post-Socialism, Marxist political economy, Economy, Poverty Reduction

Las dinámicas propias del desarrollo capitalista y la introducción del neoliberalismo en el Perú en la década de 1990 han cambiado la estructura de clase del Perú y han causado la erosión de las bases sociales de las organizaciones populares. Consideramos esta erosión como una de las principales razones por la cual la izquierda peruana no ha llegado al poder estatal en los últimos treinta y cuatro años. La evolución de la estructura de clases del Perú en el período 1980-2014 no ha sido objeto de investigación y de una discusión política profunda en el Perú. El debate actual sobre la clase y la estructura de clases en América Latina parece estar basado en un concepto weberiano de clase y la teoría de la estratificación social. Aunque un análisis de la sociedad en términos de las relaciones con el consumo, los ingresos y los grupos ocupacionales podría ser útil, sin embargo, consideramos que el concepto marxista de clase más adecuada como la sociedad en su conjunto y su dinámica interna se está concentrando en este concepto. Este trabajo presenta un concepto de clase que incluye una definición de fracciones de clase y estratos sociales. Además, elabora un marco para el análisis de clases en el Perú y criterios para operacionalizar la definición de clase presentada.

- by Jan Lust
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- Marxism, Marxist Economics, Class, Marxist theory

Resumo: Buscou-se analisar, de forma breve, elementos históricos, teóricos e políticos que consubstanciaram o trânsito da relação entre Karl Marx e a economia política. Para tanto, destacou-se a relação dos sentidos das categorias de trabalho abstrato e de força de trabalho com o evolver dessa dinâmica, demarcado por três momentos centrais: uma crítica de teor filosófico e moral; a aceitação da teoria ricardiana dos salários; e uma assimilação crítica, propulsora de uma análise econômica inovadora. Palavras-chave: Karl Marx. Economia política. Força de trabalho. Trabalho abstrato. (Abstract: We tried to analyze historical, theoretical and political elements that composed the transit of the relationship between Karl Marx and political economy. To do that, the relationship between the meanings of the categories of abstract work and the labour power was highlighted with the evolution of this dynamic, marked by three central moments: a critique with philosophical and moral content; the acceptance of the Ricardian theory of wages; and a critical assimilation, propelling an innovative economic analysis. Keywords: Karl Marx. Political economy. Labour power. Abstract work.)

- by Henrique Wellen
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- Political Economy, Political Philosophy, Social Work, Political Theory
- by Werner Bonefeld
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- Critical Theory, Sociology, Economic Sociology, Political Sociology

In his book, Capitalised Education: An Immanent Materialist Account of Kate Middleton, David R. Cole thoughtfully and thoroughly engages in an analysis that extends beyond the modern era to take into account a multiplicity of events and forces, which in their encounters produce social and cultural phenomena. Cole’s work is explicitly political as he engages in applied philosophy to elaborate upon the flows of capitalism and the emergence of Kate Middleton as a media object. The book, in its entirety, both is and is not about Kate Middleton. Through detailed and beautiful storytelling, Cole explores various historical plateaus (e.g., the death of Princess Diana, and monarchies of King George VI, Henry II and Lady Eleanor, the rise of industrialism, attitudes towards and about teaching) and describes the ways in which those plateaus are still at work, in some cases almost one thousand years later, to construct a capitalised education. Elaborating on the notion of capitalised education, Cole describes his project as a consideration of “the ways in which the factors analysed and revealed...come together and produce palpable social and cultural effects through Kate Middleton as media object” (p. 2). In his elaborations, Cole develops an immanent materialist analysis that is informed by the work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s notions of assemblage, the rhizome, desire, and the Body without Organs, to name a few, though Cole does not get bogged down in explaining the theory itself. Rather, Cole embodies a Deleuzoguattarian ontology as he seeks to move beyond origins and causation and instead focuses on the at times more unfamiliar, but ever-proliferating intensities that impact the ways in which we emerge with that which we encounter, at times unconsciously. Students of philosophy, history, and education, and researchers who are interested in Deleuzoguattarian-influenced work will find Cole’s work both compelling and thoroughly enjoyable. ~ anonymous, Amazon site
The pomp and ceremony of a royal wedding might seem a strange anachronism in a world of global finance and cyber-capitalism. Yet, as David Cole demonstrates, the two are folded intricately into each other. Through an immanent materialist analysis that brings together key recent and historical moments or ‘plateaus’ in the emergence of capitalism, liberalism, and constitutional monarchy, and culminating in Kate Middleton’s 2011 marriage to Prince William, Cole’s wide ranging and provocative work reveals the complex and subtle ways in which capitalism’s decoding and deterritorialization go hand-in-hand with the continuation of social privileges and hierarchies. Along the way he speaks to the major political movements of the last century (liberalism, communism, fascism, empire, and decolonization), the globalization of media, the 2008 financial crisis, and more. Linking these to both established and emerging theories of radical political action, Cole traces the moments of rupture that might allow another politics to come to the fore. ~ Nathan Widder, Royal Holloway, University of London
Kate Middleton is an international celebrity, as well as a crucial figure in the biological, economic, and cultural reproduction of the British class system. In this book, David R. Cole offers us a multifaceted analysis of Middleton as "media object." Touching on topics as diverse as courtly love in medieval Europe and derivatives markets in contemporary finance, Capitalised Education traces a web of far-flung relationships that fatally lead us back to the absurdities of our collective fascination with the British Royal Family. ~ Steven Shaviro, Wayne State University
Cole has produced a masterful and critical evaluation of how the British Monarchy continues to assert and grow its influence in the 21st century. He significantly contributes to an almost muted discourse which critically explores how this influence is achieved and what is risked and gained in its attainment. The reader can’t but be left with a desire to question whether we should be comfortable with the process and effects this has on our behaviour, development and socialisation. ~ Roberto H. Parada, University of Western Sydney

- by David R Cole
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- Semiotics, Teaching and Learning, Education, Marxism

Miller have both written engaging analyses of the global agriculture/food system and its alternatives. Within this general subject area, the authors take interest in different foci and use different theoretical frameworks in their analyses. The result is two analyses that seem more complementary than competitive, which together offer us a comprehensive understanding of the global capitalist food regime and many food movements and initiatives producing alternatives to it. Albritton is a renowned political economist and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at York University who offers us a Marxist analysis of one of the central contradictions of our time: why are so many in the West over--fed and over weight to the point of obesity while many more of the rest are malnourished and starving to death? His project delivers a critical analysis of the global food regime, how it is organized to d, or fed predominantly junk food), and how it is a major contributor to the killing of the planet through its dependence on petroleum and the extensive use of arable land for the production of non--food crops and products, such as tobacco, cotton, and ethanol. The purpose of his project is not to explicate the myriad of alternative food movements and initiatives and the messy work they undertake in trying to make change. This is where Edible Action comes in. Miller is a popular educator whose academic training in anthropology and environmental studies is complemented by her almost twenty years of experience in the alternative food, agriculture, and co--op sector. She is a gifted storyteller who teaches us about the ills of

- by Ian Hussey
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- Political Economy, Globalization, Sustainable Production and Consumption, Marxism

The renewed interest in Marxism that occurred in social sciences and humanities after the 2008 economic crisis has not yet found its counterpart in spatial planning. This paper examines what Marxist planning theory and practices could mean in the current conjuncture. It does so through scrutinising (1) the vibrant Marxist discourse in planning that existed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, (2) the recent history (since the 1980s) of planning theory and its relation to the political economy, and (3) the current political economic context (not least defined by the diabolic crisis). Where previous Marxist approaches to planning were very strong on analysing the political economy, I argue there is currently a need—with old hegemonies losing ground, communicative approaches losing support, and neoliberalism in the political economy losing legitimacy—to also discuss establishing alternatives.

- by Ståle Holgersen
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- Critical Theory, Sociology, Human Geography, Climate Change
- by Victor Pickard
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- Critical Theory, American History, Cultural Studies, Political Sociology
- by Alviandro Aliem
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- Marxism, Marxist Economics, Marxist political economy, Karl Marx

Review of Ming Wan, The China Model and Global Political Economy: Comparison, Impact, and Interaction, Routledge, 2014 and Lin Chun, China and Global Capitalism: Reflections on Marxism, History, and Contemporary Politics, Palgrave... more

- by Thomas David DuBois 杜博思
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- Political Economy, Development Studies, Marxism, Chinese Studies

Th e 1940s was a contentious decade for US media policy. Activists, policy- makers, and media industries grappled over defining the normative foundations that governed major communication and regulatory institutions. At this time, a reform agenda took shape at both the grassroots social movement level and within elite policy circles. An analysis of the rise and fall of this postwar media reform movement
holds at least three key lessons for contemporary media activists. First, it reminds us of the imperative to maintain a strong inside/outside strategy that keeps regulators connected to the grassroots. Second, we learn that media activists retreat on structural reform objectives at their own peril. Finally, we must remember that media reform rises and falls with other political struggles and radical social movements. With these lessons in mind, media reformers should seek to build liberal- left coalitions and, perhaps, a new popular front.

- by Victor Pickard
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- Critical Theory, History, American History, Intellectual History

The present work proposes an analysis of the principles of security, predictability and international stability from the perspective of the existing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. In the same context, it seeks to analyze the consequences of conflict in its various forms of affectation. Finally, the balance between the existing conflict in the world and its impacts on the international scenario is sought, suggesting possible solutions that could be adopted by the European Union and international organizations. The objective is to contextualize the political crisis, Russian imperialism, the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty, and the suffering caused by the unpredictability of Russia's actions, aiming at a complete understanding of the subject studied. Ukraine is an independent country and has been recognized as a nation since the end of the USSR. Due to its independence, Ukraine began to seek Western values, establish relations with Western countries, aiming for a strategic approach with the European Union, and NATO. Using an empirical methodology, with a bibliographic analysis of the facts, the research focuses on the principles of security, predictability and stability, human rights violations, military power and the consequences of their use in the life of the community. The position of the USA, the European Union, international organizations and main leaders aiming at the defense, security and restoration of peace is questioned to end the conflict.