Capitalism Books
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Buddhism under Capitalism
Book SynopsisThis book argues that Buddhism has spread due to globalized capitalism, and explores how capitalism is also impacting Buddhists and Buddhism today. Edited by two leading scholars in Buddhist studies, the book examines how capitalism and neo-liberalism have shaped global perceptions of Buddhism, as well as specific local practices and attitudes. It examines the institutional practices that sustained the spread of Buddhism for two and a half millennia, and the adaptation of Buddhist institutions in contemporary, global economic systemsparticularly in Europe and the United States over the last century and half. These innovative essays on the interfaces between Buddhism and capitalism will prompt readers to rethink the connection between Buddhism and secular society. Case studies include digital capitalism, tourism, and monasticism, and are drawn from the USA, Tibet, China, Japan, and Thailand.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction: The Economic Study of Buddhism, Richard K. Payne (Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, USA) and Fabio Rambelli (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA) Part I: Historical Perspective 1. Monastic Capitalism? The inclusiveness of Tibetan monastic Institutions, William K. Dewey (independent scholar) Part II: Contemporary Studies 2. Selling Buddhism by Branding Mindfulness and Reiki as Valuable, Secular Services: Three Interacting Economic Models, by Candy Brown (Indiana University, USA) 3. Consciousness Raising, False Consciousness, and Freud: Buddhist Traditions in Contemporary Mental Health Economies in the United States, Ira Helderman (Vanderbilt University, USA) 4. Buddhist Technoscapes: Interrogating “Skillful Means” in East Asian Monasteries, by Courtney Bruntz (Doane University, Nebraska) 5. Perceiving Authenticity: Online Tourism Reviews of Buddhist Tourist Destinations, Kendall Marchman (University of Georgia, USA) 6. Ethics in Small business capitalism of Women Kuan Im followers in Thailand, Mark Speece (Mahidol University, Thailand) and Jitnisa Roenjun (busines owner in Bangkok, Thailand) 7. Economics of Buddhist ‘Connectionwork’: Analyzing the spread and expansion of Buddhism in the global market economy, Elizabeth Williams-Oerberg (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) 8. Gross National Happiness: Capitalism under Buddhism in the Kingdom of Bhutan, Barbra Clayton (Mount Alison University, Canada) and Della Duncan (California Institute of Integral Studies, USA) Part III: Theoretical Reflections 9. Drawing Blood: At the Intersection of Knowledge Economies and Buddhist Economies, by Scott Mitchell (Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, USA) 10. A Part of or Apart from Globalization? The Ambivalent Relationship between Buddhism and Modern Capitalism, Lionel Obadia (University of Lyon, France) 11. Prolegomena to a Buddhist(ic) Critique of Capitalism, James Mark Shields (Bucknell University, USA) Bibliography Index
£21.84
John Wiley & Sons Inc The Woke Salaryman Crash Course on Capitalism
Book SynopsisLearn the rules of the game of capitalism so you can play to win and build wealth Crash Course on Capitalism and Money: Lessons from the World's Most Expensive City is not your typical personal finance guide. Written by the founders of the top personal finance blog in Singapore, this book acknowledges the frustrations many young people feel as they enter the world of money, and it shows you how to develop the mindset necessary to thrive for the rest of your life. Through visual storytelling, Crash Course on Capitalism and Money melds personal finance, economics, sociology, and psychology to create a book that shows you the path to financial success. If you're ready to rise above discontentment, accept the reality you find yourself in, and put in the work it takes to survive, then thrive in today's worldthen this is the book for you. In this book, you'll find a collection of the most popular comics by The Woke Salaryman. The stories are accompanied by commentaries that offer additional context on how each story fits within the bigger framework of approaching the daunting challenge of navigating money, life and purpose in these times. Why you should get the book: It's a guided tour from the perspective of the disillusioned youth who feel like the game is rigged and the odds are stacked against their favor. The comics and illustrated essays make the technical and boring aspects of personal finance more accessible and interesting. Actionable step-by-step tips on how to make your first steps after graduation. The point is not just to make as much money as possible, but rather to think about personal finance as an important strategic aspect in your life, from which you can then achieve your life goals. For young people just beginning their personal finance journeys, as well as anyone who wants to make better financial and life choices while navigating the rules of capitalism and wealth, Crash Course on Capitalism and Money is a fun and enlightening read.Table of ContentsFOREWOR CHAPTER 1: ACCEPT THAT LIFE IS UNFAIRCHAPTER UNFAIR How much in life is actually up to you? The Four Horsemen of Success Stop blaming the poor for being poor CHAPTER 2: START YOUR FINANCIAL REVOLUTIONCHAPTER REVOLUTION The first 100k is the hardest, but it gets easier Young people are obsessed with investing (they shouldn’t) The 10 timeless principles to increase your income Why you should think like a business (sometimes) CHAPTER 3: THE REALITIES OF THE 2020sCHAPTER 2020s My generation had it worse! Why inequality looks the way it does How I feel about foreigners moving into my homeland CHAPTER 4: BE WEALTHIER THAN THE RICHCHAPTER RICH The one big reason why some rich people will never be happy Why I’m shamelessly downgrading Should I hustle? Or should I lie flat? CHAPTER 5: PARTING WORDS CHAPTER WORDS APPENDIX
£15.30
Johns Hopkins University Press Courteous Capitalism
Book SynopsisA provocative history of how corporate titans in the 1920s used a massive public relations campaign to transform public opinion on big business. In the early twentieth century, as Americans erupted in righteous indignation over the flagrant abuses of big business, utility executives faced an existential crisis. With calls for strict regulation or outright government ownership of utilities, how could streetcar, electricity, and telephone executives thwart municipal ownership, rein in regulation, and secure huge profits? In Courteous Capitalism, Daniel Robert reveals how utility executives answered this question by launching the largest nongovernmental public relations campaign the nation had ever seen. In part, this campaign encouraged managers to compel their clerks to exude courtesy, sunshine, and patience toward customers. Rather than bribe the few, executives would convert the many using a combination of emotional labor and improved customer service. At the same time, executives oTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Courteous Capitalism Begins2. Courteous Capitalism Intensifies3. The Architecture of Consent4. Customer Stock Ownership as Corporate Political Strategy5. Making the News6. Subverting CivicsConclusionNotesIndex
£48.60
Dundurn Group Ltd The Sport and Prey of Capitalists
Book SynopsisWhy are we selling off the impressive public enterprises we often battled as a nation to create?In the early 1900s, thousands of Canadians battled wealthy interests, winning control of Niagara Falls and creating a public power company. Another popular movement succeeded in creating Canada's public broadcasting system to counter American dominance of the airwaves. And a Canadian doctor established a publicly owned laboratory that saved countless lives by producing affordable medications, contributing to medical breakthroughs and helping to eradicate smallpox throughout the world.But in recent decades, we have allowed our inspiring public enterprises to be privatized and our vital public programs downsized, leaving us increasingly dominated by the forces of private greed that rule the marketplace.In The Sport and Prey of Capitalists, Linda McQuaig challenges the dogma of privatization, which has defined our political era. She argues that now moTable of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One….. Justin Trudeau Meets the Smartest Guy on Wall StreetChapter Two….. The Worst Deal of the CenturyChapter Three…..The Thrill of Hearing Organ Music on a Train Crossing the PrairiesChapter Four….Niagara Falls, Berlin RisesChapter Five….. From Horse Barn to World Stage: The Connaught StoryChapter Six….. Driving Out the Loan Sharks: The Case for Public BankingChapter Seven….. Oil and the Search for Our Inner VikingChapter Eight….. The Triumph of the CommonsAcknowledgementsNotesIndex
£16.14
Cornell University Press Staging Democracy
Book SynopsisFocusing on the experiences of people in Russia and Ukraine, Staging Democracy shows how some national leaders'' seeming popularity rests on local economic compacts. Jessica Pisano draws on long-term research in rural communities and company towns, analyzing how local political and business leaders, seeking favor from incumbent politicians, used salaries, benefits, and public infrastructure to pressure citizens to participate in command performances. Pisano looks at elections whose outcome was known in advance, protests for hire, and smaller mises en scène to explain why people participate, what differs from spectacle in totalitarian societies, how political theater exists in both authoritarian and democratic systems, and how such performances reshape understandings of the role of politics. Staging Democracy moves beyond Russia and Ukraine to offer a novel economic argument for why some people support Putin and similar politicians. PiTrade ReviewJessica Pisano, however, offers a new way to think about politics. Staging Democracy is a must read for anyone interested in Ukraine and Russia. But it's also required reading for anyone interested in the evolution of politics in the 21st century. * Democarcy Paradox *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Performances of Democracy 1. Researching Political Theater 2. History of the Form 3. Setting the Stage 4. Staging Performances 5. Improvisation 6. Meanings of Participation 7. States of Ambiguity Conclusion: A New Social Contract
£97.20
Cornell University Press Staging Democracy
Book SynopsisFocusing on the experiences of people in Russia and Ukraine, Staging Democracy shows how some national leaders'' seeming popularity rests on local economic compacts. Jessica Pisano draws on long-term research in rural communities and company towns, analyzing how local political and business leaders, seeking favor from incumbent politicians, used salaries, benefits, and public infrastructure to pressure citizens to participate in command performances. Pisano looks at elections whose outcome was known in advance, protests for hire, and smaller mises en scène to explain why people participate, what differs from spectacle in totalitarian societies, how political theater exists in both authoritarian and democratic systems, and how such performances reshape understandings of the role of politics. Staging Democracy moves beyond Russia and Ukraine to offer a novel economic argument for why some people support Putin and similar politicians. PiTrade ReviewJessica Pisano, however, offers a new way to think about politics. Staging Democracy is a must read for anyone interested in Ukraine and Russia. But it's also required reading for anyone interested in the evolution of politics in the 21st century. * Democarcy Paradox *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Performances of Democracy 1. Researching Political Theater 2. History of the Form 3. Setting the Stage 4. Staging Performances 5. Improvisation 6. Meanings of Participation 7. States of Ambiguity Conclusion: A New Social Contract
£19.79
Cornell University Press Capitalism in Chaos
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewElite business history may never be scintillating, but this ambitious book makes it more compelling. * Choice *
£34.20
Cornell University Press Along the Integral Margin
Book SynopsisIn recent years anthropologists have focused on informal, unfree, and other nonnormative labor arrangements and labeled them as noncapitalist. In Along the Integral Margin, Stephen Campbell pushes back against this idea and shows that these labor arrangements are, in fact, important aspects of capitalist development and that the erroneous noncapitalist label contributes to obscuring current capitalist relations.Through powerful, intimate ethnographic narratives of the lives and struggles of residents of a squatter settlement in Myanmar, Campbell challenges narrow conceptions of capitalism and asserts that nonnormative labor is not marginal but rather centrally important to Myanmar''s economic development. Campbell''s narrative approach brings individuals who are often marginalized in accounts of contemporary Myanmar to the forefront and raises questions about the diversity of work in capitalism.Trade ReviewThis introductory lesson in historical economics goes beyond the simple linear approach, its purpose being to highlight, in modern times, a systemic contradiction between elites and workers, a truncated relationship that the author qualifies as " passive revolution".
£38.70
Cornell University Press Selling the Future
Book SynopsisIn Selling the Future, Ryan Moran explains how the life insurance industry in Japan exploited its association with mutuality and community to commodify and govern lives. Covering the years from the start of the industry in 1881 through the end of World War II, Moran describes insurance companies and government officials working together to create a picture of the future as precarious and dangerous. Since it was impossible for individual consumers to deal with every contingency on their own, insurance industry administrators argued that their usage of statistical data enabled them to chart the predictable future for the aggregate. Through insurance, companies and the state thus offered consumers a means to a perfectible future in an era filled with repeated crises. Life insurance functioned as an important modernist technology within Japan and its colonies to instantiate expectations for responsibility, to reconfigure meanings of mutuality, and to n
£43.20
Vintage Publishing Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock
Book Synopsis**THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**'The visionary author of How to Do Nothing returns to challenge the notion that ‘time is money.’ . . . Expect to feel changed by this radical way of seeing' EsquireWe're living on the wrong clock. And it's destroying us.Our life is dominated by the corporate clock that so many of us contort ourselves to fit inside. It wasn't devised for people, but for profit. We need to embrace a whole new concept of time: one that gives us and our planet a brighter future.In Saving Time, Jenny Odell, bestselling author of How to Do Nothing, examines how we got to the point where time became money. Taking inspiration from the pre-industrial, ecological and geological rhythms of our world, she offers us radical new models to live by that make a more humane, more hopeful existence seem possible.Now is our moment to rethink. And if we do, time might just save us.'An inimitable gift' Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror'One of the most important books I've read in my life' Ed Yong, author of An Immense World'To read it is ... to experience how freedom might feel' Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand WeeksTrade ReviewIt is in the gap between present and future, where outcomes are not yet determined, that Jenny Odell enters with her paradigm-destroying new book ... [A] grand, eclectic, wide-ranging work * New York Times *In a work both magisterial and elliptical, Odell takes on the concept of 'time' from every conceivable angle ... This is both an irresistible big-idea book an a guide to rethinking a burning world * LA Times *A penetrating, provocative investigation into the subject of time - how to understand and live with it - on both an individual and societal level ... impressive * Shelf Awareness *Temporal structure has its comforts, particularly following a tumultuous three years ... That yo-you effect [of the last few years] drew me to Saving Time, Jenny Odell's sharp book tracing the cultural forces that shape our conception of time * Laura Regensdorf, Vanity Fair *Odell fights to provide us with an alternative way to experience the time we have * i Paper *
£10.44
Little, Brown & Company Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death
Book SynopsisHardship is now equated with victimhood. Outward displays of vulnerability in defeat are celebrated over winning unabashedly. The pursuit of excellence and exceptionalism are at the heart of American identity, and the disappearance of these ideals in our country leaves a deep moral and cultural vacuum in its wake. But the solution isn't to simply complain about it. It's to revive a new cultural movement in America that puts excellence first again.Leaders have called Ramaswamy "the most compelling conservative voice in the country" and "one of the towering intellects in America," and this book reveals why: he spares neither left nor right in this scathing indictment of the victimhood culture at the heart of America's national decline. In this national bestseller, Ramaswamy explains that we're a nation of victims now. It's one of the few things we still have left in common-across black victims, white victims, liberal victims, and conservative victims. Victims of each other, and ultimately, of ourselves.This fearless, provocative book is for readers who dare to look in the mirror and question their most sacred assumptions about who we are and how we got here. Intricately tracing history from the fall of Rome to the rise of America, weaving Western philosophy with Eastern theology in ways that moved Jefferson and Adams centuries ago, this book describes the rise and the fall of the American experiment itself-and hopefully its reincarnation.Now updated with a new foreword from the author.
£14.39
Haymarket Books What Was Neoliberalism?: Studies in the Most
Book SynopsisEminent scholar-activist Neil Davidson’s brilliance is on full display in this posthumous work, a timely and prescient introduction to the neoliberal era. While it is widely agreed that neoliberalism arose in the wake of the global economic crisis of the 1970s, there remains much debate about how to understand its significance and even how to define it. Is it best seen as an ideology of free market fundamentalism, a series of policy decisions gutting the public sector and breaking unions, or as an era of capitalist development with its own logic Bringing his considerable intellectual breadth and characteristic generosity to bear on this question, Neil Davidson shows that to truly appreciate what is unique about neoliberalism, and what marks it out as a continuation of capitalism more generally, it is necessary to examine its social dimensions. What Was Neoliberalism? holds fast to Davidson’s conviction that thoroughly understanding the past means being better prepared for the struggles of the future.Trade ReviewPraise for How Revolutionary Were the Bourgeois Revolutions "I was frankly pole-axed by this magnificent book. Davidson resets the entire debate on the character of revolutions: bourgeois, democratic and socialist. He's sending me, at least, back to the library." —Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums "This is, quite simply, the finest book of its kind." —Tony McKenna, Marx and Philosophy Review of Books “What should our conception of a bourgeois revolution be, if it is to enlighten rather than to mislead ? Neil Davidson’s instructive and provocative answer is given through a history both of a set of concepts and of those social settings in which they found application.His book is an impressive contribution both to the history of ideas and to political philosophy.” —Alasdair MacIntyre, author, After Virtue Praise for Holding Fast to an Image of the Past "This is Neil Davidson at his very best. In a sparkling set of essays, Davidson offers a conceptually sophisticated and historically wide-ranging analysis of the work of classical and contemporary political thinkers. From a critical assessment of Tom Nairn on nationalism to his sympathetic reading of the messianic Marxism of Walter Benjamin, Davidson demonstrates the profound intellectual insights to be derived from a careful, open and non-dogmatic deployment of the theoretical resources of historical materialism." —Satnam Virdee at University of Glasgow "Working from the best grounds of a now-classical materialism, with great interpretive breadth and rich historical learning, Neil Davidson offers astute and measured guidance through some main territories of contemporary Marxist and associated intellectual history.” —Geoff Eley, Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History University of MichiganTable of ContentsPreface Introduction History Chapter 1: Intellectual antecedents and material origins Chapter 2: Vanguard neoliberalism: regimes of reorientation, 1973-1991 Chapter 3: Social neoliberalism: regimes of consolidation, 1992-2007 Structure Chapter 4: Boom economies? Chapter 5: Broken societies? Chapter 6: Market states? Conclusion: A new phase of capitalist development or a “Third Period” of neoliberalism?
£18.04
Haymarket Books What Was Neoliberalism?: Studies in the Most
Book SynopsisEminent scholar-activist Neil Davidson’s brilliance is on full display in this posthumous work, a timely and prescient introduction to the neoliberal era. While it is widely agreed that neoliberalism arose in the wake of the global economic crisis of the 1970s, there remains much debate about how to understand its significance and even how to define it. Is it best seen as an ideology of free market fundamentalism, a series of policy decisions gutting the public sector and breaking unions, or as an era of capitalist development with its own logic Bringing his considerable intellectual breadth and characteristic generosity to bear on this question, Neil Davidson shows that to truly appreciate what is unique about neoliberalism, and what marks it out as a continuation of capitalism more generally, it is necessary to examine its social dimensions. What Was Neoliberalism? holds fast to Davidson’s conviction that thoroughly understanding the past means being better prepared for the struggles of the future.Trade ReviewPraise for How Revolutionary Were the Bourgeois Revolutions "I was frankly pole-axed by this magnificent book. Davidson resets the entire debate on the character of revolutions: bourgeois, democratic and socialist. He's sending me, at least, back to the library." —Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums "This is, quite simply, the finest book of its kind." —Tony McKenna, Marx and Philosophy Review of Books “What should our conception of a bourgeois revolution be, if it is to enlighten rather than to mislead ? Neil Davidson’s instructive and provocative answer is given through a history both of a set of concepts and of those social settings in which they found application.His book is an impressive contribution both to the history of ideas and to political philosophy.” —Alasdair MacIntyre, author, After Virtue Praise for Holding Fast to an Image of the Past "This is Neil Davidson at his very best. In a sparkling set of essays, Davidson offers a conceptually sophisticated and historically wide-ranging analysis of the work of classical and contemporary political thinkers. From a critical assessment of Tom Nairn on nationalism to his sympathetic reading of the messianic Marxism of Walter Benjamin, Davidson demonstrates the profound intellectual insights to be derived from a careful, open and non-dogmatic deployment of the theoretical resources of historical materialism." —Satnam Virdee at University of Glasgow "Working from the best grounds of a now-classical materialism, with great interpretive breadth and rich historical learning, Neil Davidson offers astute and measured guidance through some main territories of contemporary Marxist and associated intellectual history.” —Geoff Eley, Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History University of Michigan
£41.60
Haymarket Books The Bewitched World of Capital: Methods, Theory,
Book SynopsisCapital is a chameleon that assumes different guises while maintaining the same logic, exploiting crisis as an opportunity for regeneration. Yet each transformation opens a passage for radical conflict and new revolutionary theories and subjects.This is particularly true of the critical passage from the 1920s to the 1930s, which Giacomo Marramao presents as an incandescent laboratory of theoretical and practical transformations and fierce confrontations. Moving from Austro-Marxism to Frankfurt School Critical Theory, from Hilferding to Grossmann, and Max Weber to Carl Schmitt, The Bewitched World of Capital shows how 'the Political' was remade in the passage from free-market capitalism to mass society, throwing new light on forms of domination and conflict that also traverse our present.Table of ContentsThe Marxism of Crisis and the Political Morphology of Capital Matteo MandariniNote on the Translations1 Introduction (from Il Politico e le trasformazioni. Critica del capitalismo e ideologie della crisi tra anni Venti e anni Trenta)2 Councils and State in Weimar Germany (with Guido De Masi)3 The Theories of Breakdown and Organised Capitalism in the Debates of ‘Historical Extremism’ (from Il Politico e le trasformazioni)4 ‘Theory of the Crisis and the Problem of Constitution: In the Margin to the Konstitutionsproblematik’ (from Il Politico e le trasformazioni)5 Korsch in Italy6 Gramsci’s Marxism and the Theory of Transition7 Corporate Pluralism, Mass Democracy and Authoritarian State8 From the Crisis of the ‘Self-Organised Market’ to the ‘Authoritarian State’: Notes on the Relationship between Political Economy and Critical Theory (from Il Politico e le trasformazioni)9 Political System, Rationalisation, ‘Social Brain’BibliographyIndex
£27.00
Lexington Books Critical Zones of Technopower and Global
Book SynopsisThis book explores technology and the global tech industry in relation to social, health, economic, and environmental relations and politics. Peter Little argues that the power and influence of electronics and Big Tech—from the proliferation of digital platforms to the expansion of global electronic waste streams—is a political-ecological problem that impacts communities and lives in both the Global North and South. From intense resource extraction, industrial pollution, and surging health and economic inequalities, to data-driven surveillance, platform economy proliferation and intrusion, and Silicon Valley corporate-power, Little argues that the political ecology of tech matters now more than ever. Based on a mixture of engagements with tech criticism, ethnographic case studies, and critical analysis and development of guiding concepts—ranging from technocapital to technoprecarious political ecology—the book exposes and interrogates the underlying toxicity, precarity, and planetary politics of the global tech. Critical Zones of Technopower and Global Political Ecology also tracks justice struggles that confront technopower, including “just tech” forms of social action that further reinforce the importance of a global political ecology of technocapitalism in the digital age.Trade ReviewThis book is a must-read to understand the ever-present and intensifying horrors of technocapitalism. -- Alexander A. Dunlap, University of HelsinkiTable of ContentsIntroduction: Amidst Platforms, Pathologies, and Planetary PlunderPart One: Groundwork for a Technocapital Ecology Critique Chapter 1 Technocapitalism and Hegemonic TechnocapitalChapter 2 Pandemic Portals and Pathologies of TechnopowerChapter 3 Technocapital Ecologies and Toxic Sacrifice ZonesPart Two: Toxic Frontlines of Technopower in the Global North and SouthChapter 4 Big Tech Necropolitics and Toxic Sacrifice in the Global NorthChapter 5 Toxic Supply Chains and E-Waste Ecologies in the Global SouthPart Three: On Global Political Economy and Just Tech TransitionsChapter 6 On Technopowered Late Liberal DemocraciesChapter 7 Engaging Tech and the Limits of Transformation: A Conversation with Mark BlythChapter 8 On Just Tech and Emerging Ecologies of CareConclusion: Towards a Technoprecarious Political Ecology
£72.90
Lexington Books Global Capitalism and Climate Change: The Need
Book SynopsisNow in its second edition, Global Capitalism and Climate Change: The Need for an Alternative World System examines anthropogenic climate change in the context of global capitalism, a political economy that emphasizes profit-making, is committed to on-going economic growth, results in massive social inequality, fosters a treadmill of production and consumption, and is heavily reliant on fossil fuels. Looking ahead, Hans A. Baer explores the systemic changes necessary to create a more socially just, democratic, and environmentally sustainable world system capable of moving humanity toward a safer climate. This book is recommended for readers interested in anti-systemic efforts, including eco-anarchism, eco-feminism, the de-growth perspective, Indigenous voices, and the climate justice movement.Trade ReviewSystem change has been an increasingly strong rallying call within climate action movements. But what does it really mean? In this second edition of Global Capitalism and Climate Change: The Need for an Alternative World System, nearly a decade since its original publication, Hans A. Baer details the massive implications of system change for the climate emergency that we are now experiencing globally. -- Anitra Nelson, The University of MelbourneHans A. Baer has for years produced critical and original work on the climate crisis, and this book, now in its second edition, may well be his masterpiece—passionately written, filled with facts and critical analysis, and crystal clear in its radical message. You can read it as a manual, a clarion call, an encyclopedia, or a guidebook. It has everything you need to understand why fundamental changes are necessary and how we can make them happen. Indeed, Baer makes it possible to imagine the end of capitalism rather than the end of the world. That is no mean achievement. -- Thomas Hylland Eriksen, University of OsloTable of ContentsChapter 1: The Impact of Climate Change on the Environment and Human Societies Chapter 2: The Capitalist World System and its Contradictions Chapter 3: The Capitalist Treadmill of Production and Consumption as a Generator of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Chapter 4: The Inadequacies of Existing Climate Regimes for Mitigating Climate Change Chapter 5: Why Green Capitalism Is Insufficient to Mitigate Climate Change Chapter 6: The Climate Movement: Internationally, Nationally, and Locally Chapter 7: Visions of the Future: Dystopia, Reflexive Modernization, and Eco-Socialism Chapter 8: Toward a Socio-Ecological Revolution: System-Challenging Transitional Reforms Conclusion: Climate Change, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Need for Eco-Socialism
£87.30
OR Books Cars and Jails: Dreams of Freedom, Realties of
Book Synopsis“Racism is like a Cadillac, they bring out a new model every year.”— Malcolm X (a former auto worker) Written in a lively, accessible fashion and drawing extensively on interviews with people who were formerly incarcerated, Cars and Jails examines how the costs of car ownership and use are deeply enmeshed with the U.S. prison system. American consumer lore has long held the automobile to be a “freedom machine,” consecrating the mobility of a free people. Yet, paradoxically, the car also functions at the cross-roads of two great systems of entrapment and immobility– the American debt economy and the carceral state. Cars and Jails investigates this paradox, showing how auto debt, traffic fines, over-policing, and automated surveillance systems work in tandem to entrap and criminalize poor people. The authors describe how racialization and poverty take their toll on populations with no alternative, in a country poorly served by public transport, to taking out loans for cars and exposing themselves to predatory and often racist policing. Looking skeptically at the frothy promises of the “mobility revolution,” Livingston and Ross close with thought-provoking ideas for a radical overhaul of transportation.Trade Review“An extraordinary example of how critical carceral studies can enlighten, complicate and inspire.”— Angela Y. Davis, activist, scholar and author"I’ve dreamed for years that somebody would write this book. It’s not only a brilliant intervention but a necessary one. Livingston and Ross explore the profound antisociality of automotive life in a society configured by racial hierarchy. They have thoughtfully illuminated the mutual articulation of automotivity and carcerality in provocative ways that have enormous practical value."— Paul Gilroy, award-winning theorist of race and racism and author of Postcolonial Melancholia
£12.34
Fernwood Publishing Co Ltd Scoundrels and Shirkers: Capitalism and Poverty
Book SynopsisScoundrels and Shirkers examines the deep relationship between capitalism and poverty in England since the 12th century. It exposes the dynamics of capitalism, from its origins in the long transition from feudalism to its current crisis under neoliberal capitalism, in producing poverty.The book, unique in the historical breadth of its focus, shows conclusively that poverty is an inevitable consequence of capitalism. In the search for profits and control of society's economic surplus, capitalism expands, adapts and innovates, producing not only commodities and wealth but also, and necessarily, poverty.With the partial but important exception of the 1945–51 period, and to a lesser extent the time between 1906 and 1914, there has never been a serious attempt to solve poverty. Efforts have always been to manage and control the poor to prevent them from starving or rebelling; to punish and blame them for being poor; and to force them into poverty-level jobs. Any real solution would require the logic of capitalism to be deeply disrupted. While possible in theory, such a change will require massive social movements.
£20.25
Rowman & Littlefield International Neoliberal Transformations of the Italian State:
Book SynopsisThe book is an exploration, on both theoretical and empirical grounds, into the nature and the transformation of the state in the neoliberal era. Nowadays, a widespread crisis of legitimation affects the institutions and authority of the state; similarly, and especially after the Great Crisis of 2008 to present, the European project is increasingly questioned by populist and neo-nationalist forces, which politically advance in the state and society, and promote further coercive-oriented reconfiguration of state powers and apparatus. The ‘nationalist international’, the ‘new populists’ and/or the ‘rise of new international fascism’ are questions on the verge of international scholarship and political debate. However, many of these studies often miss the specificity and critical importance of the study of the state and of state (institutional and ideological) powers; even more importantly, the phenomenon of populism/neo-authoritarianism is interpreted by the mainstream as a clear break with traditional centrist parties, with the result of neglecting the past authoritarian tendencies that accompany the entire history of neoliberalism. This book aspires to be a guide for political activist and policy-makers: specifically, by showing how the state is of critical importance to the making of neoliberalism in institutional and cultural terms, it also aims to rethink the state as the arena of politics and, accordingly, as the key site to promote alternatives to neoliberalism.Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsList of Figures1. Introduction2. The State and its Transformations: An Unfolding Debate3. The Integral State and its Transformations in the Global Political Economy: An Alternative Approach4. A Difficult Republic: Italy from the ‘Economic Miracle’ to the Neoliberal Order5. The Discursive Construction of the Neoliberal State in Italy6. The Rise of the Executive State and the Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy7. Society, Territory, Politics: Understanding Contemporary Crises in Italy8. Conclusions: State Transformations, Decline of Democracy and Neoliberal Organic CrisisBibliographyAppendix 1Index
£80.10
C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd A New Spirit of Capitalism: Toward More
Book SynopsisCapitalism represents the greatest engine of material well-being that the world has ever seen. But scepticism about its viability has grown across the political spectrum, on the back of rising inequalities, climate change and digital disruptions. This book joins the debate about the crisis of capitalism—not by blindly defending the system, but by advocating concrete proposals to put it on a more socially and environmentally sustainable path. Too often, conversations about the future of capitalism consider it as a homogeneous socio-economic system whose features vary little from one location to another; this commonly leads to one-size-fits-all recommendations to address capitalism’s flaws. The contributors to this book, by contrast, look at the transition needed from the perspective of capitalism’s multi-faceted nature, in response to challenges including the green transition, the digital revolution and spiralling inequalities. These present difficult trade-offs in terms of growth, efficiency and stability, which each capitalist model will solve differently.
£22.50
Lexington Books Re-Reading Economics in Literature: A Capitalist
Book SynopsisIn Austrian economic thought, “human action” guides all social and cultural experience. For both the real world and for fictional texts, this starting point can illuminate literature in new ways and offer valuable insight for literary critics who have previously been beholden to Marxism and other anti-capitalist perspectives. In Re-Reading Economics in Literature: A Capitalist Critical Perspective, Matt Spivey posits that in its relationship to literature, Austrian economic criticism entails a methodology that embraces the following: 1) an analytical reading that promotes both the individual artist as the creator of literature and the individual reader as the consumer of literature; 2) an understanding of the entrepreneurial quality of literature, that capitalism is a system that embraces creativity and evolution in the marketplace; and 3) a recognition of subjective value as fundamental to human choice and action, both in art and in the real world. In addition to the study of the individual, Spivey also incorporates the concepts of business cycles, government intervention, social dynamics, and technological evolution in his analysis. Scholars of literary studies and economics will find this book particularly useful. Table of ContentsIntroduction1: The Austrian School of Economic Literary Criticism2: The Power of Human Capital in Frederick Douglass’s Narrative3: Gatsby, Daisy, and the Austrian Business Cycle4: “The Monster’s Sick”: Rural Economics in The Grapes of Wrath5: Bigger’s World: Urban Economics in Native Son6: Rage Against the Machine: Kurt Vonnegut’s Player PianoConclusionWorks Cited
£69.30
Berghahn Books Merchant Kings: Corporate Governmentality in the
Book Synopsis In the nineteenth century, the Netherlands and its colonial holdings in Java were the sites of dramatically increased industrialization. Led by a group of “merchant kings” who exemplified gentlemanly capitalism, this ambitious trading project transformed the small, economically moribund Netherlands into a global power. Merchant Kings offers a fascinating interdisciplinary exploration of this episode and reveals not only the distinctive nature of the Dutch state, but the surprising extent to which its nascent corporate innovations were rooted in early welfare initiatives. By placing colony and metropole into a single analytical frame, this book offers a bracing new approach to understanding the development of modern corporations.Trade Review “Schrauwers adds new theoretical insights into studies of governmentality through the concepts of corporate governmentality and corporatization as well as his unique conceptualization of assemblage. In this light, Schrauwers’ book will be particularly useful for anthropologists, historians, and sociologists who study governmentality, capitalist modes of production, political economy, and colonial-trade history.” • Society for the Anthropology of Work “Merchant Kings presents a fascinating and detailed study of corporate practices in the nineteenth-century Dutch colonial empire. It will make an important contribution to our understanding of corporations, colonization, and capitalism.” • Joshua Barkan, University of Georgia “A well-written and compelling book, offering a new view on the nineteenth-century economy of the Dutch Empire.” • Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk, Utrecht UniversityTable of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Section I: State Formation in the Greater Netherlands Introduction: Corporate Governmentality Chapter 1. Aristocratic Restoration in the Nineteenth-Century “Greater Netherlands” Section II: Corporate Governmentality in the Realm of the Merchant-King Chapter 2. Policing the Pauper in the Realm of the Merchant-King Chapter 3. The Cultivation System Chapter 4. Manufacturing Commodity Chains: The NHM and Cotton Chapter 5. “Sweetening the Pot”: the Javanese Sugar Industry Chapter 6. Weaving an Empire: G. & H. Salomonson and the “Social Question” Section III: The Credit Mobilier and Corporate Assemblage Chapter 7. Political Economy, the “Self-Regulating Market” and “Economic Governance” Chapter 8. The Credit Mobilier: Constructing an Economic Sovereignty Chapter 9. The Credit Mobilier and the Railways Conclusion: Assemblage, Corporatization, and the Government of the Economy Bibliography Index
£96.30
Berghahn Books The Age of Capitalism and Bureaucracy:
Book Synopsis The historian Wolfgang Mommsen was one of the foremost experts on Max Weber as well as an insightful and accessible interpreter of his work. Mommsen’s classic book, first published in 1974 under the title The Age of Bureaucracy, not only concisely explains the basic concepts underlying Weber’s worldview, but also explores the historical, social, and intellectual contexts in which he operated, including Weber’s development as an academic, his relationship to German nationalism, and his engagement with Marxism. Supplemented with a new foreword, a bibliography that includes recent studies, and a postscript by Volker Berghahn that surveys the most important debates on Weber's work since his death, this short volume serves as an excellent resource for scholars and students alike.Table of Contents Foreword Volker R. Berghahn Preface to the First Edition List of Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1. The Universal Historian and the Social Scientist Chapter 2. The Champion of Nationalist Power Politics and Imperialism Chapter 3. The Alternative to Marx: Dynamic Capitalism instead of Bureaucratic Socialism Chapter 4. The Theory of the ‘Three Pure Types of Legitimate Domination’ and the Concept of Plebiscitarian Democracy Chapter 5. A Liberal in Despair Postcript Volker R. Berghahn Select Bibliography
£85.60
Berghahn Books The Age of Capitalism and Bureaucracy:
Book Synopsis The historian Wolfgang Mommsen was one of the foremost experts on Max Weber as well as an insightful and accessible interpreter of his work. Mommsen’s classic book, first published in 1974 under the title The Age of Bureaucracy, not only concisely explains the basic concepts underlying Weber’s worldview, but also explores the historical, social, and intellectual contexts in which he operated, including Weber’s development as an academic, his relationship to German nationalism, and his engagement with Marxism. Supplemented with a new foreword, a bibliography that includes recent studies, and a postscript by Volker Berghahn that surveys the most important debates on Weber's work since his death, this short volume serves as an excellent resource for scholars and students alike.Table of Contents Foreword Volker R. Berghahn Preface to the First Edition List of Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1. The Universal Historian and the Social Scientist Chapter 2. The Champion of Nationalist Power Politics and Imperialism Chapter 3. The Alternative to Marx: Dynamic Capitalism instead of Bureaucratic Socialism Chapter 4. The Theory of the ‘Three Pure Types of Legitimate Domination’ and the Concept of Plebiscitarian Democracy Chapter 5. A Liberal in Despair Postcript Volker R. Berghahn Select Bibliography
£22.75
Berghahn Books Ethnographies of Deservingness: Unpacking
Book Synopsis Claims around 'who deserves what and why' moralise inequality in the current global context of unprecedented wealth and its ever more selective distribution. Ethnographies of Deservingness explores this seeming paradox and the role of moralized assessments of distribution by reconnecting disparate discussions in the anthropology of migration, economic anthropology and political anthropology. This edited collection provides a novel and systematic conceptualization of Deservingness and shows how it can serve as a prime and integrative conceptual prism to ethnographically explore transforming welfare states, regimes of migration, as well as capitalist social reproduction and relations at large.Trade Review “This is an excellent collection that has a coherence that is rare in edited volumes. It makes a major contribution to social scientific understandings of inequality through its focus on categorisations of ‘deservingness’. In what I think is a brilliant move, it combines conceptual and historical analysis with a focus on three themes that are rarely brought together in a single volume, namely: social welfare, migration and personal/household debt.” • Paul Stubbs, Former Co-President of the Association for the Anthropology of Policy of the American Anthropological Association “The book addresses the concept of deservingness from different points of view. The four main parts of the book are rich in ethnography, have a strong theoretical background and offer to the reader a panoramic view that takes into consideration the (un)deservingness as a processual and relational notion rather than a condition.” • Georgeta Stoica, Université de La RéunionTable of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: Deservingness: Reassessing the Moral Dimensions of Inequality Andreas Streinzer and Jelena Tošić Part I: Deservingness – Genealogies, Struggles and Ideologies Chapter 1. Caring for the Old and Letting Them Die: A Political Economy of Human Worth Susana Narotzky Chapter 2. Must the Tired and Poor ´Stand on Their Own Two Feet`? Tools for Analyzing How Migrants’ Deservingness is Reckoned Sarah S. Willen and Jennifer Cook Chapter 3. Deserving Classes without Class: Explaining the Neo-Nationalist Ascendency Don Kalb Chapter 4. A Methodological, Reflexive and Comparative Approach to Deservingness Erik Bähre Part II: Categories, Policies and Negotiations of Deservingness Chapter 5. Hartz IV. Affective and Sensual Registers of Moral Inferiority Stefan Wellgraf Chapter 6. Unemployment, Deservingness and Ideological Apparatuses: A Case Study from Turin, Italy Carlo Capello Chapter 7. The Politics of Austerity Welfare: Charity, Discourses of Deservingness and Human Needs in a Portuguese Church Parish Patricia Matos Chapter 8. ‘Here, Morality is a Sense of Entitlement’: Citizenship, Deservingness, and Inequality in Suburban America Elisa Lanari Part III: The (Un)Deserving Migrant/Refugee Chapter 9. Ambivalences of (Un)Deservingness: Tracing Vulnerability in the EU Border Regime Sabine Strasser Chapter 10. The Politics of Deservingness among Resettled Bhutanese Refugees Nicole Hoellerer Chapter 11. Suffering and Vulnerability Reconfigured. Refugee Images of Hungarian Migrants Working in Refugee Accommodation Institutions in Germany Ildikó Zakariás and Margit Feischmidt Part IV: Debt Relations – State, Market Actors and Debtors Chapter 12. Do Mortgagors in Hardship Deserve Debt Relief? Legitimizing and Challenging Inequality during the Spanish Home Repossessions Crisis Irene Sabaté Chapter 13. Households on Trial: Over-Indebtedness, State and Moral Struggles in Greece Theodora Vetta Chapter 14. Victims, Patriots and Middle Class: The (Un)Deservingness of Debtors in Post–Credit Boom Croatia Marek Mikuš Afterword: Differentiating Deservingness James G. Carrier Index
£96.30
Liverpool University Press Fables of Development: Capitalism and Social
Book SynopsisFables of Development: Capitalism and Social Imaginaries in Spain (1950-1967) focuses on a basic paradox: why is it that the so-called “Spanish economic miracle” —a purportedly secular, rational, and technocratic process— was fictionally portrayed through providential narratives in which supernatural and extraordinary elements were often involved? In order to answer this question, this book examines cultural fictions and social life at the time when Spain turned from autarchy to the project of industrial and tourist development. Beyond the narratives about progress, modernity, and consumer satisfaction on a global and national level, the cultural archives of the period offer intellectual findings about the expectations of a social majority who lived in the precariousness and who did not have sufficient income to acquire the consumer goods that were advertised. Through the scrutiny of interdisciplinary archives (literary texts, cinema, newsreels, comics, and journalistic sources, among other cultural artifacts), each chapter offers an analysis of the social imaginaries about the circulation and distribution of capital and resources in the period from 1950, when General Franco’s government began to integrate into international markets and institutions following its agreements with the United States, to 1967, when the implementation of the First Development Plan (1964-1967) was completed.Trade Review“Drawing inspiration from Fredric Jameson, Walter Benjamin and Cornelius Castoriadis, Ana Fernández-Cebrián historicizes the providential narratives and extraordinary/supernatural discourses accompanying the “economic miracle” of Franco dictatorship’s developmentalist turn. This is an impressive contribution toward understanding an uneven geopolitical landscape whose ideological features remain all too familiar.”Benjamin Fraser, Professor of Iberian Studies, The University of ArizonaTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionI. Dreamworlds of Development: Cold War Imaginaries in Franco’s Spain1: Fables of Intervention2: Fables of Outer SpaceII. Providential Capitalism3: Fables of Chance4: Fables of GraceAfterword
£71.25
Emerald Publishing Limited Covid, Brexit and The Anglosphere: Frameworks for
Book SynopsisWhat is the role of trade to both expedite growth and to provide the transformative innovations needed in our post-Pandemic, post-Brexit, unstable world? Using historical examples to demonstrate how complex forces interplay into virtuous or vicious cycles of cumulative causation, Simmons and Culkin suggest alternative trade approaches to drive economic growth. Set within the socio-political space defined by a nascent Anglosphere and its implicit nationalism, they map alternative frameworks to embolden entrepreneurs to make the future. With fresh thinking Covid, Brexit and The Anglosphere equips academics, students, policymakers and general readers with the tools to drive growth in a post-Pandemic post- Brexit fragmenting world order facing rapidly advancing technical change.Trade ReviewAs a serial entrepreneur this book grasps the complex challenges I face on a daily basis. The two main concepts discussed give valuable insights into the dynamics of launching innovations that drive growth. The Quadruple Innovation Vortex neatly demonstrates the interlocking roles of the state, universities and financial capital working in partnership with entrepreneurs like myself to overcome obstacles and reach the market. The complexity and interrelation of Cumulative Causation reflects the real world the entrepreneur works in where numerous different aspects need to work together to generate the virtuous cycle of success. Simmons and Culkin’s book is a “must read” for those who want to explore how innovation and growth require so much more than just Open Trade. -- Jukka Peltola, Serial entrepreneur in global media, consumer product and complementary medicine markets.This forward-thinking book is innovative and exciting, Simmons and Culkin’s dare to imagine and envisage innovation by addressing the unanswered questions that we have all been asking. The book is an essential read for academics, researchers, policy makers and business leaders alike because it presents groundbreaking ideas on innovation and how we can drive economic growth in practical ways that are hard to ignore. -- Professor Kiran Trehan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Partnerships and EngagementWith the United Kingdom’s Brexit transition in seemingly perpetual motion, Simmons and Culkin provide an easily-digestible menu of socio-economic historical context, assessment of contemporary structural stagnation of breakthrough innovation, and forward-looking positive proposals for recovery from Brexit by sustaining a knowledge economy. The authors have delivered a valuable academic text that is both accessible to the lay reader, and provides important insight for businesses, investors and policy makers. In particular, the focus on establishing disruptive innovation through harnessing partnership with academic researchers provides a practical framework to catalyse economic growth that benefits wider society. -- Professor Darragh Murnane, Professor of Pharmaceutics and Deputy Director, The Centre for Doctoral Training in Aerosol ScienceThis is a great little book – aimed as a teach-in for undergraduates and others on what ‘free trade’ means (lots of different things it seems and you can take your pick!) and how, if done correctly, it could stimulate entrepreneurship and encourage growth [...] not only very informative but also at times quite entertaining. -- Vicky Pryce, The Society of Professional EconomistsTable of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Before We Begin …Definitions Chapter 3. The Menu – Differing Trade Theories Chapter 4. The Aperitif 400 Years of Change;– Southwark and Cumulative Causation Chapter 5. The Sorbet -Economic Background Chapter 6. The Soup – Nationalism Popularism, Trade and Development Chapter 7. The Seasoning? - The Anglosphere Chapter 8. "Specials” – Innovation, Trade Growth and the Entrepreneur Chapter 9. Main Course - Shocks, Trade & Growth Chapter 10. Two Twists – Regulations and Monopolies Chapter 11. Pause for Reflection, Britain in 1910 Chapter 12. Dessert Menu – Acquiring Resources to Support Innovation Chapter 13. The “Digestif” Cumulative Causation Chapter 14. Coffee and Conclusions
£17.09
Berghahn Books Insidious Capital: Frontlines of Value at the End
Book Synopsis With a team of anthropologists and geographers, Insidious Capital explores “value and values” in what may well be the last phase of capitalist globalization. In a global perspective of fast transforming social spaces that move from East to West, the book explores the struggles around the exploitation and valuation of labor, environmental politics, expansion of the ground rent, new hierarchies, the contradictions of higher education, the off shoring of “immaterial” labor, the illiberal right, and the mobilizations against it. This is a book about the variegated frontlines of value within an uneven, but not random, geography of capitalist expansion.Trade Review “This is a very interesting book that explores ‘the frontlines of value’ and globalization through several carefully constructed case studies from different parts of the world.” • Lesley Gill, Vanderbilt University “This is a shining example of the sensitive, nuanced, and path-breaking work going on in Marxist scholarship today, opening new pathways for theoretically informed ethnographic work on global capitalism, anywhere and everywhere. Insidious Capital is exactly the book we need right now.” • Christopher Krupa, University of TorontoTable of Contents Foreword Don Kalb Introduction: Value: Regimes and Frontlines at the End of the Cycle Don Kalb Chapter 1. Special Economic Zones: The Global Frontlines of Neoliberalism’s Value Regime Patrick Neveling Chapter 2. On Difference and Devaluation: Notes on Exploitation in a Myanmar Squatter Settlement Stephen Campbell Chapter 3. Carbon as Value: Four Short Stories of Ecological Civilization in China Charlotte Bruckermann Chapter 4. Enclosing Gurugram: Vernacular Valorization as India’s Urban Frontline Tom Cowan Chapter 5. Construction, Labor, and Luxury in Kathmandu’s Post-Conflict Tourism Economy Dan Hirslund Chapter 6. Dispossession as a Manifold: The Value Frontlines of Authoritarian Populist Politics in Turkey Katharina Bodirsky Chapter 7. “Scraps from the Bourgeois Kitchen”: on the Romanian Frontline of Outsourced Creativity Oana Mateescu and Don Kalb Chapter 8. "As Much Value as Possible”: Construction, Universities, Finance, and the “Greater Good” in the Northeast of England Sarah Winkler-Reid Chapter 9. Labor, Value, and Frontlines in Reading and Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, the Year 2020 Sharryn Kasmir
£89.10
Troubador Publishing Capitalism Versus Communism: The Cold War
Book SynopsisThe Cold War was a series of momentous worldwide events and Capitalism Vs Communism is designed to give an introductory overview, while also providing context for more recent political moments. The conflict played out between communism and capitalism for most of the second half of the twentieth century came quickly to be termed the Cold War. The birth of communism in Europe can be traced as far back as Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto of 1848 but the ideology was first actively imposed only after the 1917 revolution in Russia under the leadership of Lenin followed by Stalin. During the Second World War, an uneasy alliance between capitalism and communism led to the defeat of Nazi Germany but with the coming of peace, that alliance was replaced by Russian domination of Eastern Europe, while China was overrun by Mao Tse-Tung’s communist forces. The Cold War began immediately after the end of WW2 when the United States sought to prevent the spread of communism. Mark Hichens has delivered a well researched, but accessible introduction to the Cold War and its lasting effects.
£14.39
Anthem Press General and Periodic Crises of Overproduction
Book SynopsisJean Lescure’s two-volume General and Periodic Crises of Overproduction is a pioneering study of the causes and consequences of industrial crises in capitalist economies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The author, who held doctorates in political economy and law, is most remembered as a founder of the French historical school and a staunch advocate of empiricism in the economic sciences. Lescure called his approach the ’complex historical method’, by which he sought to revise classical and quantitative economic theory through the historical analysis and statistical observation of cyclical phenomena. Ever the controversialist, Lescure wrote in an engaging style, accessible to non-specialists and economists alike, and critiqued the leading monetary theorists of the period, insisting that observation of the movements in production costs, industrial orders and profits be given priority over circulation and credit in understanding the periodic crises of capitalist economies. In Lescure’s view, crises were inevitable in both market and command economies and their onset and consequences were predictable with the help of the more detailed production statistics newly available to economists and entrepreneurs at the time. Observation of corporate profits, the margin between cost price and selling price, provided the means to predict crises and measure their impact, not only on industry and trade but also on the working classes who would endure unemployment and the many social ills that accompany it. Lescure, unlike many of the liberal economists of the time, was always careful to include in his historical account statistical analysis of unemployment figures, as well as those on crime, marriage and birth rates, homelessness and suicide. Although he remained sceptical of government intervention in the form of monetary policies adjusting the money supply, and lauded the success of industrial concentration and trusts in reducing costs and prices, Lescure admitted the state’s role in the recovery of the 1930s, when social insurance schemes and investment in public works mitigated the worst effects of unemployment for industrial labour. This treatise, which grew out of his doctoral work, was a lifetime project for Lescure, who updated it periodically over five editions, to include each new cycle of growth, crisis, depression and recovery. Volume one provides a historical study of economic crises from the post-Napoleonic period through the Great Depression and the recovery of the late 1930s. Volume two offers a critique of the theories of crises, their causes and potential remedies, in which Lescure outlines his preference for ‘organic’ theories that focus on the production process and qualitative statistical observation of the movements in costs, selling prices, industrial orders and profits. The text of the fifth edition appears here in English for the first time, unabridged and complete with editorial materials designed to help the English reader understand the work on its own terms and situate its author’s prominent place in the history of economic thought.Trade ReviewThis first authoritative English scholarly edition of Jean Lescure’s seminal work on business cycles is essential reading for all who study economics and and markets. Lescure showed that to understand market success and periodic failure, economists had to take a historical view, using high quality, long-term statistics— Jacob Soll, University Professor and Professor of Philosophy, History, and Accounting, University of Southern California“Lescure’s book is a powerful historical reminder that ‘the study of the general movement of business cannot dispense with the study of the main branches of production.’ Aggregate dynamics cannot be detached from the transformation of internal structures. This entails that the theory and the policy of economic fluctuations need a multisectoral viewpoint. The co-editors have done an admirable job and have provided an outstanding introductory essay.” — Alberto Quadrio Curzio, Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, ItalyThis book is a classic in the empirics and theory of industrial fluctuations and an English translation has been long overdue. Its emphasis on overheating as the primary signal and cause of an approaching crisis is combined with a detailed reconstruction of the role of different industries in economic fluctuations. Lescure’s core and most valuable lesson is that the analysis of industrial crises must combine the sectoral and the macro levels of investigation, and that multi- layered interdependence provides the key for the differential diffusion of crises across industrial sectors and economic systems— Roberto Scazzieri, National Lincei Academy and University of Bologna Gonville and Caius College and Clare Hall, Cambridge.‘Jean Lescure’s Des Crises is a lively and original blend of historical narrative, statistical evidence and contextually grounded theoretical construction that revolves around interde-pendencies between sectors and countries. The work is wonderfully contextualized and translated in this first English edition, which will be of great interest to students of economic crises.’ — Ivano Cardinale, Reader in Economics, Goldsmiths, University of London‘Lescure’s book belongs to the early nineteenth-century literature on economic fluctuations, but is of striking actuality for its discussion of market and sectoral interdependencies within and between nations; generalized crises; and contagion in a globalized world. The editors and the translator deserve the gratitude of economists, historians and historians of economic thought for this edition of a classic treatise that may have suffered from a language barrier thus far.’ — Lilia Costabile, University of Naples Federico II and Clare Hall, CambridgeTable of ContentsAcknowledgements; Introduction: Jean Lescure on the Role of Solidarité in Industrial Economies and Among the Social Sciences; Early Biography; The First World War and the Globalization of Crises; Lescure and Aftalion on Interdependencies in the Economy and the Possibility of General Overproduction Crises; Methodological Pluralism and Interdependencies in the Social Sciences; Historical Narrative and Statistical Evidence in Lescure’s ‘Complex Historical Method’; Lescure’s Liberalism and the Role of Government in the Recovery of the 1930s; Lescure’s Complex Historical Method and the Use and Misuse of Statistics; Are Crises Inevitable and Forecastable?; Translator’s Note; General and Periodic Crises of Overproduction; Volume I: The Phenomenon; Chapter 1: The Phenomenon; Section 1: A Historical Study of Economic Crises; Section 2: Theoretical Outline of the Alternating Periods of Growth and Depression; Section 3: The Role of Various Industries in the Alternating Periods Growth and Depression; Volume II: Causes and Remedies; Chapter 2: The Causes of General Overproduction Crises; Section 1: Theories Explaining Crises as Monetary Phenomena; Section 2: Theories Explaining Crises Through the Phenomena of Production, Consumption and Distribution; Chapter 3: Remedies for Crises; Section 1: Is the Crisis an Evil?; Section 2: Remedies; Section 3: Crises and the Working Class; Conclusion; Annexes; Appendix One: Bibliography of the Works Cited by Jean Lescure; Appendix Two: Bibliography of the Works of Jean Lescure; Index
£108.00
Vintage Publishing Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock
Book Synopsis**THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**We're living on the wrong clock. And it's destroying us.'To read it is ... to experience how freedom might feel' Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand WeeksOur life is dominated by the corporate clock that so many of us contort ourselves to fit inside. It wasn't devised for people, but for profit. We need to embrace a whole new concept of time: one that gives us and our planet a brighter future.In Saving Time, Jenny Odell, bestselling author of How to Do Nothing, examines how we got to the point where time became money. Taking inspiration from the pre-industrial, ecological and geological rhythms of our world, she offers us radical new models to live by that make a more humane, more hopeful existence seem possible.Now is our moment to rethink. And if we do, time might just save us.'An inimitable gift' Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror'One of the most important books I've read in my life' Ed Yong, author of An Immense WorldSaving Time featured on the New York Times bestseller list 26.3.23Trade ReviewSaving Time is an exposé of our past, an antidote to our present, and a manifesto for the future. It is rigorous, compassionate, profound, and hopeful. It is one of the most important books I've read in my life * Ed Yong, author of An Immense World *A revealing exploration of the forces that keep us locked in a shallow, commodified and adversarial relationship with time. But it is also a portal to a far richer alternative. To read it is to slip through the bars of our modern temporal prison and experience how freedom might feel * Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks *The rarest kind of intervention: it alters you immediately, and then it lasts ... Saving Time is an inimitable gift * Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror *A rare book that does more than meet the current moment, it defines it * Booklist *Odell's journey to find the best way to use our limited time on earth is an eye-opening look at what it really means to be alive * TIME *It is in the gap between present and future, where outcomes are not yet determined, that Jenny Odell enters with her paradigm-destroying new book ... [A] grand, eclectic, wide-ranging work * New York Times *Stunning ... Odell approaches time in a way I've only seen previously in science fiction [and] this expansiveness, both thematic and formal, is what makes Odell's writing so valuable and unique. ... It is, ultimately, an extraordinarily good thing that Odell's work exists in the world * Irish Times *Fiercely generous ... invites us to exit the superhighways and explore the scenic detours, byways, rebel camps, the other visions of who we can be while reminding us that slowness can yield more than speed * Rebecca Solnit, author of Orwell's Roses *Odell has gifted us a way to move through this intertidal moment by reclaiming our more intuitive, felt experience of the passage of time. ... A beautiful, clarifying, and surprisingly reassuring literary triumph * Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock *Saving Time is about what it means to be on the clock, personally, politically and existentially. The book's writing glows. Reading this book is like being in the company of a particularly thoughtful friend: Odell shows you the truths of the structures you inhabit and then, warmly, attempts to protect you from your own nihilism * Alissa Quart, author of Bootstrapped *From the vast sweep of geological time to incremental seasonal changes observed on a single branch in a local park, this potently mysterious book explores the ways in which we might begin to challenge the cramped temporal confines of our modern lives * Helen Gordon, author of Landfall *By now a legend thanks to the simple but impactful wisdom of her first book, How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell furthers her argument for escaping the so-called attention economy. ... This follow-up promises to be as satisfying, optimistic, and enrapturing as Odell's original bestseller * Elle *An intriguing look into our attitudes to time ... striking * Guardian *A scintillating and important meditation on the notion of time * Times Literary Supplement *A powerful critique of the way we conceive of time in the modern, industrial world ... striking ... Odell calls for a way of living that is less extractive, less dependent on domination, and less about the human self * Guardian *The bestselling author of How to Do Nothing ... returns with another urgent examination of modern life * i-D *A moving and provocative game changer * Publishers Weekly *In a work both magisterial and elliptical, Odell takes on the concept of 'time' from every conceivable angle ... This is both an irresistible big-idea book an a guide to rethinking a burning world * LA Times *A penetrating, provocative investigation into the subject of time - how to understand and live with it - on both an individual and societal level ... impressive * Shelf Awareness *Temporal structure has its comforts, particularly following a tumultuous three years ... That yo-you effect [of the last few years] drew me to Saving Time, Jenny Odell's sharp book tracing the cultural forces that shape our conception of time * Laura Regensdorf, Vanity Fair *
£19.00
Scribe Publications The New World Disorder: how the West is
Book Synopsis‘A far-sighted analysis of the world order, and an urgent warning of what the future may hold in store.’ Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads ‘Excellent ... In the face of countries such as China and Russia challenging the US-led international order, Neumann’s book is a plea to Western countries to acknowledge their mistakes ― but not to abandon the very values that have inspired others around the world.’ Emma Sky, author of The Unravelling The West has fatally overestimated itself. What does this mean for the world? Over the last thirty years, through a mixture of naivety and arrogance, the West has lost its global advantage. Today’s challenges are profound: climate change, polarisation in society, and tensions with Russia and China. Instead of a liberal world order, a new world disorder has emerged. Yet the triumph of the West had seemed unstoppable not that long ago. After the end of the Cold War, the democratic market economy took hold in the former Eastern Bloc, Russia went from being an enemy to a partner, and even China turned to capitalism. Then came the terrorist attacks of 9/11 that shook the world. The War on Terror destabilised an entire region; the Arab Spring only brought forth new autocracies; and, following the annexation of Crimea, the confrontation with Russia intensified. The West is under pressure, and it has only itself to blame. It’s time for a new start: modernity must become sustainable if it is to survive. Peter R. Neumann, an internationally acclaimed expert on terrorism and geopolitics, uncovers the mistakes that led to our present situation and sets out the dangers the world will face if the West fails to reinvent itself.Trade Review‘This is a lucid and immensely readable analysis of how our current polycrisis emerged, less from malign intent than from a failure to understand humanity as it is, not as we wish it was. Showing how there are fundamental differences of perspective and no global agreement on how societies should be run, it goes beyond despondency to provide an impressive, evidence-based argument for geopolitical pluralism.’ -- John, Lord Alderdice, Senior Research Fellow, Harris Manchester College, Oxford, and Executive Chairman of the Changing Character of War Centre, Pembroke College, Oxford‘The New World Disorder presents a concise and highly readable description of how the West went from post-Cold War triumph to its current despair. In this compelling book, Peter Neumann issues a powerful call for the West not only to recognise its mistakes, but also to renew itself and live up to its ideals.’ -- Daniel L. Byman, Director and Professor of the Security Studies Program, Georgetown University, and author of Spreading Hate‘A far-sighted analysis of the world order, and an urgent warning of what the future may hold in store.’ -- Peter Frankopan, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Silk Roads‘The New World Disorder is a great piece of work. In the face of countries such as China and Russia challenging the US-led international order, Neumann’s book is a plea to Western countries to acknowledge their mistakes — but not to abandon the very values that have inspired others around the world.’ -- Emma Sky, author of The Unravelling‘Peter Neumann provides an incisive tour d’horizon of the mistakes and failures of the past three decades that have divided and weakened the West and undermined its liberal ideals. With clarity and concision, The New World Disorder explains both why this has happened and what can be done to reverse it.’ -- Bruce Hoffman, author of God, Guns, and SeditionPraise for Bluster: Donald Trump's war on terror: ‘In this important book, Neumann argues that Donald Trump has undermined counterterrorism efforts by conflating terrorism with immigration and emboldening the far right at home while torching the United States’ soft power around the world. A timely, persuasive, and utterly devastating critique of Trump’s role in America’s longest war.’ -- Erica Chenoweth, Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard UniversityPraise for Radicalised: ‘Neumann, basing his work on research by his International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College, London, suggests that under “aggressive containment,” ISIS will collapse under its own contradictions. He traces the group’s rise in a concise, informative summary, and looks at both overall ideology and the personal narratives of individual fighters. Striking a readable balance between academic prose and anecdotal journalism, this book provides a start in “realistically evaluating a phenomenon that will define the new wave of terrorism.”’ * Publishers Weekly *Praise for Old and New Terrorism: ‘This book is suitable for everybody who wants to understand the basic principles and driving forces behind current terrorist groups as well as those wishing to in-depth knowledge of the history of terrorism. Despite the complexity of the evidence about the gradual changes that have led to a transformation in the phenomenon of terrorism, the overall thesis of the book is easy to comprehend, and all arguments are easy to follow.’ * Central European Journal of International and Security Studies *
£17.00
Rowman & Littlefield The Production of Consumers and the Formation of
Book SynopsisWe live in a society surrounded by stuff and bombarded with advertisements that try to convince us that shopping will improve our lives. Sometimes our lives do improve, yet our purchases are more often motivated by an impulse to satisfy immediate desires rather than reflective deliberation about how our purchasing choices enable us to live the lives we want. Christian moral reflection often criticizes this conundrum as “mindless consumerism,” arguing that it pulls Christians away from loving God above all things. While such critiques often encourage Christians to focus their desire on God rather than material goods, we might still wonder how we can exercise such control over our desires. By attending to desire itself ─ how it arises, how it is shaped by social context, and its role in cultivating a virtuous life ─ we can learn how to desire and then act in ways that are more consonant with our conception of what it means to live well. Within the Christian tradition, Thomas Aquinas offers a compelling model of human desire that, when juxtaposed with Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social practices, can help us make more considered judgments about how to navigate the consumer society in which we live.Trade ReviewFor those rightly concerned with the ways consumerism deforms desire, Christine Darr gives us something worth consuming – a wonderful treatment of the habits of consumption and how they interact with habits of character. However, much more than and certainly far more helpful than a simple diatribe, Darr’s excavation of how desire is formed and shaped in pursuit of the American Dream – in conversation with the likes of Aquinas, Bourdieu and MacIntyre – gives the reader important tools for becoming a more reflective, and one hopes, freer and more responsible consumer. In this regard, the treatments of the virtue temperance and the practice of cooking are gems. -- Daniel M. Bell, Jr., Utah Valley UniversityTable of Contents1. Recent Christian Ethical Reflection on “Consumerism”2. Human Desire in a Consumerist Culture3. Practice, Advertising, and the American Dream4. Cultivating Virtue within American Capitalism5. Consumer Practice as a Possible School for Virtue
£62.10
Amsterdam University Press Finance and the World Economy in Weimar Cinema
Book SynopsisAfter the First World War, the effects of financial crisis could be felt in all corners of the newly formed Weimar Republic. The newly interconnected world economy was barely understood and yet it was increasingly made visible in the films of the time. The complexities of this system were reflected on screen to both the everyday spectator as well as a new class of financial workers who looked to popular depictions of speculation and crisis to make sense of their own place on the shifting ground of modern life. Finance and the World Economy in Weimar Cinema turns to the many underexamined depictions of finance capital that appear in the films of 1920s Germany. The representation of finance capital in these films is essential to our understanding of the culture of the Weimar Republic – particularly in the relation between finance and ideas of gender, nation and modernity. As visual records, these films reveal the stock exchange as a key space of modernity and coincide with the abstraction of finance as a vast labour of representation in its own right. In so doing, they introduce core visual tropes that have become essential to our understanding of finance and capitalism throughout the twentieth century.Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: The Stock Exchange as a Space of Modernity and Labour of Representation The Stock Exchange as a Space of Modernity The Stock Exchange as a Labour of Representation Chapter 2: Dr. Mabuse and His Doubles Dr. Mabuse the Speculator Dr. Mabuse and the Weimar Financial Imaginary Chapter 3: Women and Financial Capital in Weimar Cinema The New Woman as Speculator Women as a Medium of Exchange Chapter 4: Finance, Liquidity and the Crisis of Masculinity in Weimar Cinema The Threat of Dissolution Reactionary Modernism and Finance Capital Chapter 5: The Aggregate Image and the World Economy Macroeconomic Visions Epilogue Fungibility and Authenticity Appendix Bibliography
£111.15