Capitalism as a social movement: the corporate and neoliberal reconstructions of the American political economy in the twentieth century

This paper examines the ways in which social movements based among leading capitalists have remade the US political economy. In the first part we examine the period from the late 1880s through the 1920s, sketching the emergence of a hegemonic movement that accomplished the re-embedding of capitalist social relations during the corporate reconstruction of American capitalism. In the second, we examine the disembedding of capitalist relations during the contemporary neoliberal era. The paper makes three major arguments. First, capitalists not just subaltern groups resort to collective action outside of institutional channels of authority and power. Second, during organic crises the movements of capitalists will join with movements of subaltern groups to create hegemonic projects, whose disparate supporters are articulated by discourses. Third, the concept of ‘social movement’ itself should be understood as a constituent part of a larger social formation and not sealed off from features of capitalism and the state. Indeed, hegemonic social movements have reconstructed the larger landscape that social movement theory normally takes for granted as a background. In applying this approach to the contested topic of neoliberalism, we argue that it was not primarily a class-based coup, a policy, ideology, or culture shift but a discourse that united elements of the left and the right as well as a ‘historic bloc’ with homes in both major parties. During both periods subaltern groups played an important role in the hegemonic movements that created corporate capitalism and later neoliberalism.     

From Women's Struggles to Distorted Emancipation

This article develops a critical analysis of transformations of the idea and practice of women's emancipation in late-modern western society under the influence of globalizing advanced capitalism. It builds on analyses of feminist critical theory and critical globalization studies and argues that global capitalism initiates processes in which the practice of emancipation is distorted. Distorted emancipation refers to the social consequences of the marketization and commodification of areas of social life that were previously excluded from market relationships. Care practices, which have been a fundamental issue in women's emancipatory struggles, are used as a reference point. The article argues that even if commodification creates certain possibilities for financial rewards of care, it institutionalizes a double misrecognition of care as both nonproductive work and paid work that cannot be a source of social recognition. Furthermore, distorted emancipation makes positive moments of changing gender patterns available only for some groups of women in socioeconomically, geopolitically or culturally privileged positions. These positive moments are dependent on transnational care practices, which are understood as a manifestation of distorted emancipation.     

Capital,conflict and convergence: a political understanding of neoliberalism and its relationship to capitalist transformation

ABSTRACT

In this article we argue against influential analyses of neoliberalism that prioritize variegation and the role of ideas as key theoretical foci relevant to understanding neoliberalism’s diffusion into myriad national and political settings. Rather, we contend that crucial to understanding neoliberalism is the role of politically-produced convergence around market rationality that reflects two core processes: the reorganization of production and the ascendency of financialization. We present a theorization and analysis of neoliberalism’s political production and diffusion over time, explaining its contested evolution and impact across diverse settings (both ‘North’ and ‘South’) and emphasizing its ever-intensifying symbiotic relationship with the consolidating world market in which the former has increasingly come to serve as the latter’s operating system (OS). Further, we posit that neoliberalism’s form, function and impact demand analytically prioritizing the leverage of constellations of ideological and material interests within the contradictory context of consolidating relations of production and financialization. Our analysis thus challenges many previous expositions of neoliberalism for their failure to locate neoliberalism’s manifestation as arising out of social conflict within particular junctures that privilege certain social forces and ideas over others. We also distinguish our position by highlighting how manifestations of neoliberalism in various settings have combined to yield a greater world market in which variegation has gradually given way to ever-intensifying disciplinary pressures towards market-policy conformity (mono-policy). While current populist movements may well turn out to be important counter movements to neoliberal hegemony, especially if they can internationalize, the disciplining effect of the world market renders many nationally-oriented policy alternatives costly and politically fraught.     

Earth Vikalp Sangam: proposal for a Global Tapestry of Alternatives*

ABSTRACT

Globally there is a visible counter-trend to the destructive process of ‘development’ that the forces of capitalism, statism, patriarchy have imposed. Though still marginal and not yet able to make significant macro-level transformations, the resistance is growing. As is, often emerging from such resistance, there is a re-assertion of ways of life that respect, nature (including humans), co-existence, and justice. Such radical alternatives can be from ancient cultures, or be very new, but all have a core of ethical values that put life at the centre. One crucial barrier to these becoming a force for macro-level change is that they remain scattered, only sporadically learning from each other and becoming a greater critical mass. With this background, a Global Tapestry of Alternatives has been initiated in mid-2019, a kind of confluence of ideas and practices towards further collaboration and visioning. The idea has emerged from the Vikalp Sangam (Alternatives Confluence) process running since 2014 in India.     

马克思主义生态哲学思想践行及其当代价值

马克思主义生态哲学包含着基础理论、现实需求、实践路径三个维度,本文从这三个方面对马克思主义生态哲学展开论述。马克思提出了“现实的个人”的核心概念,成为了马克思主义生态哲学的起点和前提,现实的人和物的关系进入了马克思考察的范围之内。在此基础上,马克思的思想发展为唯物史观,“实践”这一观点获得了其思想中统领和核心的地位,通过实践的视角和方法,在处理人与人、社会、自然三者之间的关系过程中发挥了连接现实的力量。恩格斯则将马克思主义生态哲学的具体阐释和方法总结为自然辩证法,通过对人类历史实践的具体考察,揭示出人与自然之间复杂关系的发展历程,提供了科学的方法论。马克思生态哲学尤其关注现实社会及其产生的生态危机,强调将剖析深入到资本主义社会中,探寻生态危机所产生的表象问题背后的根源在于资本逻辑。伴随着资本的产生和不断发展,一方面带来了生产力和社会的巨大发展和进步,一方面形成的资本逻辑不断作用于人、社会以及自然界,通过支配和利用不同形式的自然力进而控制和影响自然界。资本首先创造出一个普遍有用性的体系,并在效用性这一根本原则上对待自然界,造成人与自然界关系的异化。其次资本遵循无限增值的定律,自然界的资源被无限地投入资本生产中,加剧了资本主义社会的根本矛盾。最后资本对活劳动即劳动者个人的生存和发展也产生了极大的影响。当今中国社会也面临着严峻的生态环境问题,有着复杂的历史原因,在中国特色社会主义社会发展的新时期,矛盾又有着特殊的表现形式,为切实有效地解决所出现的问题,本文从三个方面尝试提出解决方案。一是实现“生态人”的转变,构建人的新型存在形式,克服资本逻辑对个人的消极影响,通过改变个人的经济行为和生活方式,使个人重新回归自身,实现自由发展。二是实施生态文明新举措,改善生态环境,在社会主义制度下,采取一系列符合我国国情的政策措施与法规,将会切实有效地改善当前的生态危机。三是通过共建“人类命运共同体”,实现生态文明的新发展,面向新的文明形态——生态文明,需要我们从人类社会与文明发展的大局出发,统筹考虑,需要各国各地区认清事实,通力合作。     

“A bulletin board of dreams”: corporate empowerment promotion and feminist implications

This article examines the premises of corporate solutions to gender inequality in the Global South. In feminist debates, businesses’ increasing emphasis on women’s empowerment has been discussed both in terms of increasing feminist impact and the co-optation of feminist demands. To explore the ideological effects of corporate gender practices, focus is placed on the Coca-Cola Company’s global “5by20” campaign, which has the stated aim to empower five million women as small-scale entrepreneurs around the world and, in a “win–win” fashion, to double sales by 2020. Based on interviews and participatory observations in Mexico, this article traces a particular narrative of empowerment, envisioned as a transition from dependency to self-sufficiency and threatened by psychological and cultural restraints rather than material conditions. It shows that self-help and positive thinking are essential affective drives, thus reinforcing market-based, individualized development strategies. In response to feminist debates, the article concludes that corporate gender practices can be seen as part of a neoliberal transposition of equality concerns from a political to an economic domain. In effect, when initiatives such as 5by20 promote the accumulation of “human capital” to enhance gender equality, they simultaneously work to legitimize the inequalities that are necessarily entailed in competitive capitalism.     

论资本主义基本矛盾的新变化

随着资本主义的发展 ,资本主义基本矛盾的内容和形式发生了深刻变化。从内容上看 ,伴随着生产的日益社会化 ,资本的占有形式也进一步社会化。从形式上看 ,个别企业的有组织性和整个社会生产无政府状态的矛盾一国范围内有所缓和 ,在世界范围内有所加剧 ;资本主义生产无限扩大的趋势与人民群众有支付能力的需求相对缩小之间的矛盾从一国范围扩展到世界范围 ;无产阶级和资产阶级之间的矛盾在很大程度上表现为发达国家和发展中国家之间的矛盾。     

美国语言诗派与马克思主义诗学

针对嘉绍跨江公路通道中心河大桥主桥单箱双室变截面连续箱梁结构特点，对原GL型三角形挂篮进行改进，使之适用于本桥悬臂浇注的GL改进型三角形。介绍了GL改进型三角形计算模式，并对挂篮结构内力及各体系进行了计算和检算，进一步优化了三角形挂篮设计，提出了GL改进型三角挂篮设计理论依据和注意事项，可为类似工程提供技术和理论支持。     

在对立统一中正确认识社会主义与资本主义的关系

正确认识社会主义与资本主义的关系,既要看到二者对立的一面,又要看到同一的一面,并把对立和同一两种属性有机地结合起来,在对立中把握同一,在同一中把握对立.坚持三个统一的原则批判性与继承性相统一的原则,现实性与前瞻性相统一的原则,前进性与曲折性相统一的原则.     

论普鲁士向资本主义过渡的道路

普鲁士王国依靠强大的常备军在邦国林立的德意志中崛起，常备军庞大固定的军费开支的需求和已经形成的新的世界经济格局决定了王国制定的“重农主义”和“重商主义”并举的政策，在实施这个政策的过程中改变了土地所有制的性质和经营方式，使农业朝着资本主义的方向发展。在此基础上建立了国家官僚机构，在法国大革命的冲击下，通过一系列的改革，最终完成了向资本主义的过渡。