Capitalism and Confinement

Capitalism thrives on motion—but its power is built on the confinement of land, labor, and life.

Capitalism might appear as a system of movement: goods, capital, and people move around the world more than ever before. But capitalism’s voracious expansion violently imposes confinement at every turn as border walls, prisons, police, and property lines prevent us from moving. Even the wage, the state, and social reproduction constrict the lives we are able to pursue. Capitalism and Confinement ...