Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital

by Vivek Chibber

Overview

Postcolonial theory has become enormously influential as a framework for understanding the Global South. It is also a school of thought popular because of its rejection of the supposedly universalizing categories of the Enlightenment. In this devastating critique, mounted on behalf of the radical Enlightenment tradition, Vivek Chibber offers the most comprehensive response yet to postcolonial theory. Focusing on the hugely popular Subaltern Studies project, Chibber shows that its foundational arguments are based on a series of analytical and historical misapprehensions. He demonstrates that it is possible to affirm a universalizing theory without succumbing to Eurocentrism or reductionism.

Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital promises to be a historical milestone in contemporary social theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781844679768
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	03/12/2013
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	768,656
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Vivek Chibber is Associate Professor of Sociology at New York University. He has contributed to, among others, the Socialist Register, American Journal of Sociology, Boston Review and New Left Review. His book Locked in Place: State-Building and Late Industrialization in India won the 2005 Barrington Moore Book Award and was one of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles of 2004.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Chapter 1 Postcolonial Theory and Subaltern Studies 1

1.1 Postcolonial Studies as Analysis and Critique 1

1.2 The Rise of Subaltern Studies 4

1.3 Subaltern Studies as Theory 9

1.4 Assessing Subaltern Studies 20

1.5 The Failure of Subaltern Studies 22

1.6 What This Book Is Not 26

Chapter 2 Dominance Without Hegemony: The Argument Explained 28

2.1 Subaltern Studies in Context 29

2.2 The Roots of the Postcolonial Crisis 31

2.3 The Two Paths to Bourgeois Power 35

2.4 Capitals Universalizing Tendency and the Bourgeois Revolutions 37

2.5 Universalization Abandoned: Capitals Colonial Venture 43

2.6 Conclusion 50

Chapter 3 Dominance Without Hegemony: The Argument Assessed 54

3.1 The English Revolution 56

3.2 The French Revolution 66

3.3 Conclusion 76

Chapter 4 Dominance Without Hegemony: The Argument in Context 80

4.1 Bourgeois Interests and Land Reform 81

4.2 The Bourgeoisie and Subaltern Classes 84

4.3 The Bourgeoisie and Nation-Building 86

4.4 The Postcolonial Crisis Revisited 89

4.5 Critique or Apologia? Subalternists as the New Whigs 91

4.6 Conclusion 99

Chapter 5 Capital's Universalizing Tendency 101

5.1 What Is at Stake 103

5.2 What Does Capitalism Universalize? 109

5.3 Capital and Power 113

5.4 Conclusion 125

5.5 Postscript: The Bogey of a "Hyperreal Europe" 127

Chapter 6 Capital, Abstract Labor, and Difference 130

6.1 The Problem Defined 131

6.2 Capitalism and Abstract Labor 133

6.3 From Socially Necessary Labor to Abstract Labor 137

6.4 Abstract Labor and Social Hierarchies 140

6.5 Capitalism and Social Hierarchies 143

6.6 The Real Engine of Democratization 145

6.7 Conclusion 150

Chapter 7 Culture, Interests, and Agency 152

7.1 Elementary Aspects as History from Below 155

7.2 The Peculiarities of the Indian Peasantry 157

7.3 Peasant Psychology in Elementary Aspects 162

7.4 Individual and Community in Late Colonial Bengal 166

7.5 Chatterjee's Contradictions 172

7.6 Conclusion 176

Chapter 8 Interests and the Other Universalism 178

8.1 The Conventional Analysis of Worker Consciousness 179

8.2 Chakrabarty's Alternative to the Conventional Analysis 181

8.3 Reasons and Interests 187

8.4 Interests and Culture 192

8.5 The Universal History of Class Struggle 200

8.6 The Other Universalism 202

8.7 Conclusion 206

Chapter 9 The (Non)Problem of Historicism 209

9.1 What Is at Stake 210

9.2 The Two Histories of Capital 213

9.3 The Problem of Historicism 220

9.4 Abstract Categories and the Real History of Capital 224

9.5 Historicism as a Non-Problem 238

9.6 Capitalism and Diversity Revisited 243

9.7 Conclusion 247

Chapter 10 The Nation Unmoored 249

10.1 The Two Dimensions of Anticolonial Nationalism 250

10.2 Nationalism and the Cunning of Reason 254

10.3 Nationalism and the Modernizing Imperative 262

10.4 The Missing Counterfactual 270

10.5 Modernization as Prison House? 275

10.6 The Disappearance of Modernizing Nationalism 277

10.7 Conclusion 280

Chapter 11 Conclusion: Subaltern Studies as Ideology 284

11.1 Obscuring Capitalism 286

11.2 Resurrecting Orientalism 288

11.3 How to Provincialize Europe 290

11.4 Envoi 293

Index 297

What People are Saying About This

Noam Chomsky

In this scrupulous and perceptive analysis, Vivek Chibber successfully shows that the ‘universalizing categories of Enlightenment thought’ emerge unscathed from the criticisms of postcolonial theorists. He shows further that—perhaps ironically—Subaltern Studies greatly underestimates the role of subaltern agency in bringing about the transformations that they attribute to the European bourgeoisie. Chibber’s analysis also provides a very valuable account of the actual historical sociology of modern European development, of Indian peasant mobilization and activism, and much else. It is a very significant contribution.

Joshua Cohen

Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital is a must-read book for students of comparative politics and social theory. Vivek Chibber presents a forceful challenge to the Subaltern Studies school and to postcolonial theory more broadly. Arguing with great clarity, Chibber raises fundamental objections to their ideas about capitalism, power, and agency, and presents an alternative account of these ideas. Most fundamentally, he rejects the fundamental division between ‘East and West’ associated with postcolonial theory and defends the ‘universalizing categories of Enlightenment thought.’ This is a major contribution that is bound to reshape debate on these important issues.

Amiya Kumar Bagchi

In this book, Vivek Chibber has carried out a thoroughgoing dissection of Subaltern Studies. Like a highly skilled anatomist, he lays bare the skeleton, the nervous system, the arteries and veins of this school ... In the process the reader is also exposed to the nitty-gritty of a materialist historiography.

Slavoj Zizek

With its focus on cultural identities and mixtures, postcolonial theory ignored the larger context of capitalist relations and thus limited its scope to Western academia where it excelled in the game of growing and profiting from the liberal guilt feeling. Chibber’s book simply sets the record straight, bringing postcolonialism down from cultural heights to where it belongs, into the very heart of global capitalist processes. The book we were all waiting for, a burst of fresh air dispelling the stale aroma of pseudo-radical academic establishment.

Achin Vanaik

In this outstanding work—a model of clarity in its architecture and argumentation—key theorists of the ‘Subaltern’ and of postcoloniality have met their most formidable interlocutor and critic yet. Chibber’s critique of postcolonial theory and the historical sociological studies associated with it is, at the same time, a vigorous and welcome defense of the enduring value of certain Enlightenment universals as an analytical framework to both understand and radically change the world we live in

Robert Brenner

Vivek Chibber has written a stunning critique of postcolonial theory as represented by the Subaltern Studies school. While eschewing all polemics, he shows that their project is undermined by their paradoxical acceptance of an essentially liberal-Whig interpretation of the bourgeois revolutions and capitalist development in the West, which provides the foundation for their fundamental assertion of the difference of the East. Through a series of painstaking empirical and conceptual studies Chibber proceeds to overturn the central pillars of the Subalternists’ framework, while sustaining the credibility of Enlightenment theories. It is a bravura performance that cannot help but shake up our intellectual and political landscape.

Editorial Reviews

"With its focus on cultural identities and mixtures, postcolonial theory ignored the larger context of capitalist relations and thus limited its scope to Western academia where it excelled in the game of growing and profiting from the liberal guilt feeling. Chibber's book simply sets the record straight, bringing postcolonialism down from cultural heights to where it belongs, into the very heart of global capitalist processes. The book we were all waiting for, a burst of fresh air dispelling the stale aroma of pseudo-radical academic establishment."--Slavoj Žižek

"In this scrupulous and perceptive analysis, Vivek Chibber successfully shows that the 'universalizing categories of Enlightenment thought' emerge unscathed from the criticisms of postcolonial theorists. He shows further that--perhaps ironically--Subaltern Studies greatly underestimates the role of subaltern agency in bringing about the transformations that they attribute to the European bourgeoisie. Chibber's analysis also provides a very valuable account of the actual historical sociology of modern European development, of Indian peasant mobilization and activism, and much else. It is a very significant contribution."--Noam Chomsky

"In this outstanding work--a model of clarity in its architecture and argumentation--key theorists of the 'Subaltern' and of postcoloniality have met their most formidable interlocutor and critic yet. Chibber's critique of postcolonial theory and the historical sociological studies associated with it is, at the same time, a vigorous and welcome defense of the enduring value of certain Enlightenment universals as an analytical framework to both understand and radically change the world we live in."--Achin Vanaik

"Vivek Chibber has written a stunning critique of postcolonial theory as represented by the Subaltern Studies school. While eschewing all polemics, he shows that their project is undermined by their paradoxical acceptance of an essentially liberal-Whig interpretation of the bourgeois revolutions and capitalist development in the West, which provides the foundation for their fundamental assertion of the difference of the East. Through a series of painstaking empirical and conceptual studies Chibber proceeds to overturn the central pillars of the Subalternists' framework, while sustaining the credibility of Enlightenment theories. It is a bravura performance that cannot help but shake up our intellectual and political landscape."--Robert Brenner

"Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital is a must-read book for students of comparative politics and social theory. Vivek Chibber presents a forceful challenge to the Subaltern Studies school and to postcolonial theory more broadly. Arguing with great clarity, Chibber raises fundamental objections to their ideas about capitalism, power, and agency, and presents an alternative account of these ideas. Most fundamentally, he rejects the fundamental division between 'East and West' associated with postcolonial theory and defends the 'universalizing categories of Enlightenment thought.' This is a major contribution that is bound to reshape debate on these important issues."--Joshua Cohen

"In this book, Vivek Chibber has carried out a thoroughgoing dissection of Subaltern Studies. Like a highly skilled anatomist, he lays bare the skeleton, the nervous system, the arteries and veins of this school ... In the process the reader is also exposed to the nitty-gritty of a materialist historiography."--Amiya Kumar Bagchi

From the Publisher

In this book, Vivek Chibber has carried out a thoroughgoing dissection of Subaltern Studies. Like a highly skilled anatomist, he lays bare the skeleton, the nervous system, the arteries and veins of this school ... In the process the reader is also exposed to the nitty-gritty of a materialist historiography.

Amiya Kumar Bagchi

Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital is a must-read book for students of comparative politics and social theory. Vivek Chibber presents a forceful challenge to the Subaltern Studies school and to postcolonial theory more broadly. Arguing with great clarity, Chibber raises fundamental objections to their ideas about capitalism, power, and agency, and presents an alternative account of these ideas. Most fundamentally, he rejects the fundamental division between ‘East and West’ associated with postcolonial theory and defends the ‘universalizing categories of Enlightenment thought.’ This is a major contribution that is bound to reshape debate on these important issues.

Joshua Cohen

Vivek Chibber has written a stunning critique of postcolonial theory as represented by the Subaltern Studies school. While eschewing all polemics, he shows that their project is undermined by their paradoxical acceptance of an essentially liberal-Whig interpretation of the bourgeois revolutions and capitalist development in the West, which provides the foundation for their fundamental assertion of the difference of the East. Through a series of painstaking empirical and conceptual studies Chibber proceeds to overturn the central pillars of the Subalternists’ framework, while sustaining the credibility of Enlightenment theories. It is a bravura performance that cannot help but shake up our intellectual and political landscape.

Robert Brenner

In this outstanding work—a model of clarity in its architecture and argumentation—key theorists of the ‘Subaltern’ and of postcoloniality have met their most formidable interlocutor and critic yet. Chibber’s critique of postcolonial theory and the historical sociological studies associated with it is, at the same time, a vigorous and welcome defense of the enduring value of certain Enlightenment universals as an analytical framework to both understand and radically change the world we live in

Achin Vanaik

In this scrupulous and perceptive analysis, Vivek Chibber successfully shows that the ‘universalizing categories of Enlightenment thought’ emerge unscathed from the criticisms of postcolonial theorists. He shows further that—perhaps ironically—Subaltern Studies greatly underestimates the role of subaltern agency in bringing about the transformations that they attribute to the European bourgeoisie. Chibber’s analysis also provides a very valuable account of the actual historical sociology of modern European development, of Indian peasant mobilization and activism, and much else. It is a very significant contribution.

Noam Chomsky

With its focus on cultural identities and mixtures, postcolonial theory ignored the larger context of capitalist relations and thus limited its scope to Western academia where it excelled in the game of growing and profiting from the liberal guilt feeling. Chibber’s book simply sets the record straight, bringing postcolonialism down from cultural heights to where it belongs, into the very heart of global capitalist processes. The book we were all waiting for, a burst of fresh air dispelling the stale aroma of pseudo-radical academic establishment.

Slavoj Zizek

A sustained analytical argument presented in writing that is crystal-clear and entirely free of jargon, with the historical narrative of ‘what was’ tautly balanced with counterfactual ‘what might have been.’

Robert Hunter Wade

We have every reason to be grateful for this path-breaking work.

Achin Vanaik - New Left Review

We have every reason to be grateful for this path-breaking work.”— Achin Vanaik

New Left Review