Capitalism: A Conversation in Critical Theory

by Nancy Fraser, Rahel Jaeggi

Overview

"What is capitalism? How do we understand its relation to twenty-first century society? What does it mean to criticize capitalism? And what kinds of social conflict and struggle can we expect to find under capitalism?In this important new book, Nancy Fraser and Rahel Jaeggi take a fresh look at the big questions surrounding this peculiar social form known as "capitalism," upending many of our commonly held assumptions about what capitalism is and how to subject it to critique. Jaeggi presses Fraser to develop her new, "expanded" view of capitalism, in which capitalism is more than an economic system but an "institutionalized social order" that encompasses multiple domains of society - including the state monopoly on violence, the organization of family life, and relations to the natural environment. Fraser shows how, throughout its history, various regimes of capitalism have relied on a series of institutional separations between economy and polity, production and social reproduction, and human and non-human nature, periodically readjusting the "boundaries" between these domains in response to crises and upheavals. Fraser and Jaeggi discuss in what sense such "boundary struggles" offer a key to understanding capitalism's contradictions and the multiple forms of conflict to which it gives rise.What emerges from this analysis is a renewed crisis critique of capitalism which puts our present conjuncture into broader perspective, along with sharp diagnoses of the weaknesses of contemporary progressive politics, the recent resurgence of right-wing populism, and what would be required of a viable left alternative. This major new book by two leading critical theorists will be of great interest to anyone concerned with the nature and future of capitalism and with the key questions of progressive politics today"--

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745671574
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	07/23/2018
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Nancy Fraser is Henry A. & Louise Loeb Professor of Political & Social Science at the New School for Social Research, and the author of Fortunes of Feminism and Cannibal Capitalism.

Rahel Jaeggi is Professor for Social Philosophy and Director of the Center for Humanities and Social Change at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

Table of Contents

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: Conceptualizing Capitalism

Chapter 2: Historicizing Capitalism

Chapter 3: Criticizing Capitalism

Chapter 4: Contesting Capitalism

Notes

Editorial Reviews

"As the world is caught up in a whirlwind of multiple crises – social, ecological, political, civilizational – we desperately need to get our hands on and shut down the source. In this book, two of the most acute minds in critical theory point their fingers towards capitalism. This is the sort of sober and passionate thinking we need in a world careening out of control."
—Andreas Malm

"An eloquent, well-reasoned, and thorough account of the key institution of our time – capitalism. For them, capitalism is not only a mode of production but also an institutional order or form of life. Those who have followed Fraser’s discussion of recognition or justice, or read Jaeggi on the actuality of alienation, will cherish this brilliant contribution to understanding the world in which we live."
—Robin Blackburn

"In their search for a more expansive definition of capitalism, Fraser and Jaeggi maneuver through different prisms: historically, morally, ethically and functionally. In doing this, they point out the weakness of each and the necessity of combining the views each of these prisms in order to come up with an expansive, inclusive and more honest understanding."
—Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch

From the Publisher