Shirking, the act of avoiding the demands of one’s job, is generally seen as unethical. Drawing on empirical evidence from the sociology of work, I develop a normative conception of shirking as a form of worker resistance against illegitimate managerial power. In doing so, I present a new approach to the political theory of the firm, which is more adversarial and agent-centered than available alternatives. It is more adversarial as it recognizes the political value of counterproductive and disruptive behavior in (...) capitalist firms. It is more agent-centered because it theorizes the firm from the perspective of workers, asking what pro tanto reasons they have to shirk. I show that shirking under the structural domination of capitalism has diagnostic, agential, and epistemic values. The paper contributes to the wider methodological ambition to tailor political theorizing to the positionality of social actors by shifting attention from the institutional design of the firm to the methods of worker resistance. (shrink)

Social scientists have paid insufficient attention to the role of law in constituting the economic institutions of capitalism. Part of this neglect emanates from inadequate conceptions of the nature of law itself. Spontaneous conceptions of law and property rights that downplay the role of the state are criticized here, because they typically assume relatively small numbers of agents and underplay the complexity and uncertainty in developed capitalist systems. In developed capitalist economies, law is sustained through interaction between private (...) agents, courts and the legislative apparatus. Law is also a key institution for overcoming contracting uncertainties. It is furthermore a part of the power structure of society, and a major means by which power is exercised. This argument is illustrated by considering institutions such as property and the firm. Complex systems of law have played a crucial role in capitalist development and are also vital for developing economies. (shrink)

Some of the world's most powerful corporations practise what Shoshana Zuboff (2015; 2019) calls ‘surveillance capitalism’. The core of their business is harvesting, analysing and selling data about the people who use their products. In Zuboff's view, the first corporation to engage in surveillance capitalism was Google, followed by Facebook; recently, firms such as Microsoft and Amazon have pivoted towards such a model. In this paper, I suggest that Karl Marx's analysis of the relations between industrial capitalists and workers (...) is closely analogous to the relations between surveillance capitalists and users. Furthermore, three problematic aspects of industrial capitalism that Marx describes – alienation, exploitation and accumulation – are also aspects, in new forms, of surveillance capitalism. I draw heavily on Zuboff's work to make these parallels. However, my Marx-inspired account of surveillance capitalism differs from hers over the nature of the exchange between users and surveillance capitalists. For Zuboff, this is akin either to robbery or the gathering of raw materials; on the Marx-inspired account it is a voluntary sale. This difference has important implications for the question of how to resist surveillance capitalism. -/- Joint winner of the 2020 Philosophy essay prize. (shrink)

When this book was first published in 1990, there were massive economic changes in the East and significant economic challenges to the West. This critical analysis of democratic theory discusses the principles and forces that push both socialist and capitalist economies toward a common ground of workplace democratization. This book is a comprehensive approach to the theory and practice of the "Democratic firm" – from philosophical first principles to legal theory and finally to some of the details of financial (...) structure. The argument for economic democracy supports private property, free markets and entrepreneurship for instance, but fundamentally it replaces the employer/employee relationship with democratic membership in the firm. For students, teachers, policy makers and others interested in the application of democracy to the workplace, this book will serve as a manifesto and a standard reference on the topic. (shrink)

In this Article, I propose a novel law and economics explanation of a deeply puzzling aspect of business organization in market economies. Why are virtually all firms organized as capital-managed and -owned (capitalist) enterprises rather than as labor-managed and -owned cooperatives? Over 150 years ago, J.S. Mill predicted that efficiency and other advantages would eventually make worker cooperatives predominant over capitalist firms. Mill was right about the advantages but wrong about the results. The standard explanation is (...) that capitalist enterprise is more efficient. Empirical research, however, overwhelmingly contradicts this. But employees almost never even attempt to organize worker cooperatives. I critique the explanations of the three leading analysts of the subject (N. Scott Arnold, Henry Hansmann, and Gregory Dow), all of whom offer are different transactions cost accounts, as logically defective and empirically inadequate. I then propose an explanation that has been oddly neglected in the literature, that the rarity of cooperatives is explained by the collective action problem identified by writers such as Mancur Olson. Labor management is a public good that generates the n-person prisoner’s dilemma which gives rational actors the incentive to create it in suboptimal (or no) amounts. I support this by reference to the empirical facts about the origin of existing cooperatives and show that this explanation requires no strong version of a questionable rational choice theory. This explanation is supplemented by the mere exposure or familiarity effect derived from social and cognitive psychology, which turns on the fact that labor managed firms are rare, in part because of the public goods problem, thus unfamiliar, which makes them less attractive and thus more likely to be rare. My account points advocates of labor management towards solutions such as institutional changes in incentives, which, however, themselves involve public goods issues. (shrink)

This short conference paper serves as a distillation of a keynote address delivered at the the Second National Conference on Management and Higher Education Trends & Strategies for Management & Administration hosted by Bangkok-based Stamford International University (Thailand) on November 1, 2014. Innovation is discussed as the heart of entrepreneurial processes occurring in today's capitalist economic systems, including transition economies like China and Vietnam, which underscores economic competitiveness of firms and economies. But the innovation effort and process also (...) face dilemma of "entrepreneurial curse of innovation". Advantages and disadvantages are weighed for a more balanced view, especially in the context of outnumbering SMEs and given existence of pitfalls and traps along the innovation path of development. Toward the end, the value of the market is once again stressed amid the concern of subjective assumption and illusion about availability of market opportunities in the mind of innovators, which may contrast totally with the dismal outcome the actual market realities may show ex post. (shrink)

The article introduces the concept of "surveillance-capitalist biopolitics" to problematize the recent expansion of "data extractivism" in health care and health research. As we show, this trend has accelerated during the ongoing Covid pandemic and points to a normalization and institutionalization of self-tracking practices, which, drawing on the "quantified self", points to the emergence of a "quantified collective". Referring to Foucault and Zuboff, and by analyzing key examples of the leading "Big Tech" companies (e.g., Alphabet and Apple), we argue (...) that contemporary forms of digital biopolitics are privatized, opaque, flexible, and not limited to the state. Instead, especially through the integration of wearable technologies, the biopolitical regulation of bodies is increasingly mediated by private tech companies. These companies rely on a questionable narrative of participation, responsibility, and care despite owning, and ultimately controlling, access to intimate health data and the proprietary algorithms mediating this data. The article shows that the proliferation of "surveillance-capitalist biopolitics" ultimately strengthens not only market power but also the epistemic and infrastructural power of the dataowning and gadget-producing firms. Finally, against an exclusively repressive and negative reading of biopolitics, and to effectively counter the forms of power emerging from surveillance-capitalist biopolitics, we propose four dimensions that are central to its democratizationnamely privacy/individual sovereignty, democratic deliberation, pluralism, and epistemic equality. -/- DOI: 10.1007/s41358-021-00309-9. (shrink)

At the centenary of Frank H. Knight’s Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, we explore the continuing relevance of Knightian uncertainty to the theory and practice of entrepreneurship. There are three challenges facing such assessment. First, RUP is complex and difficult to interpret. The key but neglected element of RUP is that Knight’s account is not solely about risk and uncertainty as states of nature, but about how an agent’s beliefs about uncertain outcomes and confidence in those beliefs guide their choices. Second, (...) RUP is Knight’s only effort in this area. His subsequent career led elsewhere, so he did not engage with subsequent interpretations of this work. Third, much of the current literature emphasizes that decisions must be different under the two states of nature with a consequent misunderstanding of entrepreneurial agency. This paper addresses each challenge in sequence. First, we explicate Knight’s approach and explain why that approach is murky. Second, as a complement to Knight’s interpretation, we examine Frank P. Ramsey’s approach to subjective probabilities to help clarify Knight’s murky approach. What links Knight and Ramsey is a shared pragmatism about entrepreneurial agency under uncertainty that depends upon the beliefs about, and confidence in, their judgments of possible outcomes. This Knight-Ramsey approach does not require actor’s behaviors to be determined by the class of uncertain environment they face. We focus on the response by the entrepreneur to the existence of uncertainty in all its forms. We argue that this reductive account provides a foundation to examine common problems in management, including managerial hubris, the interaction between entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, and the need for experimentation in advance of new product and venture launches. Third, we critique current literature that favors epistemic purism about the ontology of risk and uncertainty and ignores Knight-Ramsey pragmatism in meeting uncertainty, such as using formal and informal institutions for uncertainty mitigation. Our account locates Frank Knight’s subtleties in entrepreneurial behavior firmly in the literature on entrepreneurial agency a century later. (shrink)

Our best social scientific theories try to tell us something about the social world. But is talk of a “social world” a metaphor that we ought not take too seriously? In particular, do the denizens of the social world—cultural values like the Protestant work ethic, firms like ExxonMobil, norms like standards of dress and behavior, institutions like the legal system, teams like FC Barcelona, conventions like marriages—exist? The question is not merely academic. Social scientists use these different social entities (...) to explain social phenomena such as the rise of capitalism, the decline in oil prices, or the effect of unions on the sports labor market. But how could these explanations possibly work if social entities don’t exist? (shrink)

It is expected that industrial heritage actually tells the story of the emerging capitalism highlighting the dynamic social relationship between the “workers” and the owners of the “production means”. In current times of economic crisis, it may even involve a painful past with lost social, civil, gender and/or class struggles, a depressing present with abandoned, fragmented, degraded landscapes and ravaged factories, and a hopeless future for the former workers of the local (not only) society; or just a conquerable ground for (...) controversial investments. This is certainly an emotionally charged subject matter, with multiple readings and interpretations. However, this view is only partial when facing landscape during its historical evolution process. A diachronic study, thus, embraces all resources that probably gave rise to a variety of human activities; all of them embody heritage values -“subjectively” or “objectively” perceived- their evaluation, though, is a matter of an on-going process of the civil society. Greece's landscape accommodates a diversity of diachronic productive practices that may overlap historical periods, technological evolutions and social transformations. Pre-, early and industrial exploitation of resources does not remain firm but vary according to time and the needs of each society. The comparative scale of certain resource exploitation is highlighted as the key for the assessment methodology in close relation to the specific frame of a local landscape and a historical period. Even though archaeological evidence may possibly reveal and document continuity in a range of sustainable productive processes without conflicts, great controversies emerge when new investments are “offered” as an antidote to economic crisis -not harmonized to the local scale, traumatizing thus the “spirit” of the landscape. Suggestions for incompatible productive use and investment planning imply irreversible and irreparable effects on the environment, society and economy of a region and are only faced through social awareness. Case studies of passive and/or active involvement of local communities, in synthesizing and enhance landscape’s “spirit”, its diachronic industrial heritage and the embedded tangible and intangible values, will support a pragmatic -not a suspended- step towards a sustainable future. Quoting Neil Cossons (TICCIH Congress 2012) “Industrial imperialism ensures its position and protects its future not by the conquest of distant lands as by the securing of its sources of raw materials ... The modern world is as much under the control of the major industrial powers as it ever was during the colonial era”; if such a case can the industrial heritage sector remain apolitical? (shrink)

The law of political economy is a contentious ideological field characterised by antagonistic relations between scholarly positions which tend to be either affirmative or critical of capitalism. Going beyond this schism, two particular features appear as central to the law of political economy: the first one is the way it epistemologically seeks to handle the distinction between holism and differentiation, i.e., the extent to which it sees society as a singular whole which is larger than its parts, or, rather, as (...) a mere collection of parts. Different types of legal and political economy scholarship have given different types of answers to this question. The second feature of the law of political economy is the way in which it conceives of the relation between hierarchical and spontaneous dimensions of society, i.e., between firms and the market, or between public institutions and public opinion. The two distinctions can, however, be overcome through a third-way, emphasising the strategic role of law in mediating between holism and differentiation and hierarchy and spontaneity. This is demonstrated through a historical re-construction of the evolution of corporatist, neo-corporatist, and governance-based institutional set-ups of political economy. (shrink)

The post-Marxist stance against class politics unearths significant political demands often neglected by Marxism. However, in Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s approach, this step forward is followed by two steps back. They deny that class struggle against capitalist exploitation has any political significance for the masses or any essential link with the socialist-democratic project. But they do so at the cost of misrepresenting Marxian theory and underestimating the global phenomenon of labour exploitation. This faux pas is due to two (...) misconceptions at the core of the Laclau-Mouffean critique: an ambiguity in the use they make of the economic concept of surplus, and an incorrect identification of working-class and productive workers. With Laclau and Mouffe, I share the firm conviction in the necessity of a post-Marxian theory. Nevertheless, post-Marxism will be just as robust as our Marxist bedrocks. (shrink)

Even in a regulated and competitive market economy the behavior of firms leaves much to be desired. Looking beyond the invisible hand of the market and the iron hand of the law, this chapter outlines and assesses arguments for the intangible hand of civil society. The central mechanisms in our model depend on the importance of social esteem and self-esteem. Such esteem depends on assessments of true intentions and dispositions for costly pro-social actions. Instrumental or reputation-shaping pro-social actions matter (...) little in the economy of esteem. What is required is a common belief that conformity to certain costly standards benefits all; and that conformity is observable and elicits social approval (and vice versa). We acknowledge and review why in the realm of competitive commercial organizations, the challenges may be considerable for the intangible hand model to take hold. Moralizing (or professionalizing) the firm’s agents, inducting the voice of affected parties in the deliberation of firms, public (if strategically delayed) disclosure of internal deliberations, and public commitments by senior leaders all offer promise in enacting an economy of esteem in the world of competitive commercial firms. (shrink)

Capitalism is defined as the economic structure in which decisions over production are largely made by or on behalf of individuals in virtue of their private property ownership, subject to the incentives and constraints of market competition. In this paper, I will argue that considerations of long-term welfare, such as those developed by Greaves and MacAskill (2021), support anticapitalism in a weak sense (reducing the extent to which the economy is capitalistic) and perhaps support anticapitalism in a stronger sense (establishing (...) an alternative economic structure in which capitalism is not predominant). I hope to encourage longtermists to give anticapitalism serious consideration, and to encourage anticapitalists to pursue criticisms of capitalism’s efficiency as well as its injustices. (shrink)

The paper discusses the structure, applications, and plausibility of the much-used parallel-case argument for workplace democracy. The argument rests on an analogy between firms and states according to which the justification of democracy in the state implies its justification in the workplace. The contribution of the paper is threefold. First, the argument is illustrated by applying it to two usual objections to workplace democracy, namely, that employees lack the expertise required to run a firm and that only capital suppliers (...) should have a say over the governance of the firm. Second, the structure of the argument is unfolded. Third, two salient similarities between firms and states regarding their internal and external effects and the standing of their members are addressed in order to asses the potential and limits of the argument, as well as three relevant differences regarding the voluntariness of their membership, the narrowness of their goals, and the stiffness of the competition they face. After considering these similarities and differences, the paper contends that the the parallel-case argument provides a sound reason in favor of democracy in the workplace—a reason, however, that needs to be importantly qualified and that is only pro tanto. (shrink)

The capitalist system has undergone several transformations (mutations in the language of Karl Marx) during the last centuries. This article examines the main characteristics of the three great revolutions of capitalism: industrial, financial and digital. Each revolution is analyzed with the main paradigms that seek to explain these different mutations of capitalism. In the last part of the article the emphasis is placed on the consequences of the Digital Revolution and the GEN-AI on the economic theories taught for decades (...) by economists. (shrink)

Workplace democracy is often advocated on two intertwined views. The first is that the authority relation of employee to firm is akin to that of subject to state, such that reasons favoring democracy in the state may likewise apply to the firm. The second is that, when democratic controls are absent in the workplace, employees are liable to objectionable forms of subordination by their bosses, who may then issue arbitrary directives on matters ranging from pay to the allocation of overtime (...) and to relocation and promotion. Daniel Jacob and Christian Neuhäuser have recently submitted these views to careful criticism. They argue that the parallel between firms and states is unwarranted. For, unlike managerial authority, state authority is final. The state grants firms their legal status and subjects their authority to its regulations, which citizens in democracies already control. And they also argue that suitable workplace regulation alongside meaningful exit options may suffice to prevent, with no need for democratization, objectionable forms of workplace subjection. Neither view offers, they resolve, compelling reasons to believe that justice requires that firms be democratic. I here inspect these criticisms in turn, and offer reasons for skepticism. (shrink)

This essay argues that the concept of ‘racial capitalism’ can help us understand the connections between seemingly disparate parts of Voltaire’s extensive corpus of work. It contends that even though the Enlightenment’s racial politics abounded with contradictions and ambivalences, Voltaire stood out from his contemporaries. While the connections between his polygenism – the theory that humans of different races were created separately – and material investments in colonial commerce have long been debated by radical historians, this essay suggests that Voltaire’s (...) views about race’s relationship to labour were transformed by France’s colonial losses during the Seven Years’ War. (shrink)

Today, dramatically increasing economic inequality, imminent climatological calamity, and a global pandemic now place the timeless debate over capitalism into stark relief. Though many seek to pin the blame on capitalism’s excesses, they would do well to recall the historical record of socialism’s deficiencies, namely, stifling innovation, lumbering inefficiency, and stagnation. Fortunately, our moral psychology affords a middle way between these two extremes. For while economic incentives have a tendency to let our civic and prosocial impulses atrophy from disuse, these (...) can also be rekindled when we are faced with highly compelling reasons to think and act for the greater good of all concerned. The coronavirus pandemic now unfolding might well offer us an opportunity to instill a culture of heightened moral self-awareness spurring a more virtuous form of capitalism. (shrink)

Laruelle's version of Marxism is termed "non-Marxism" whereby the "non-" is stated to stand for bracketing out Marxism's "philosophical sufficiency" and seeking to radicalise Marxism. It stands for the Laruellian non-philosophical variant of Marxism. It is precisely the non-philosophical use of Marx that has enabled the analysis at hand, demonstrating that at the heart of patriarchy and capitalism stands philosophical reason and its treatment of the Animal (both human and non-human). Women are de-realised even as use value and what is (...) exchanged in patriarchy is abstraction or the commodified femininity, which serves the multiplication of the surplus value or rather the pure value of masculinity. Just as the “C” in the M-C-M formula can be expunged as it is a mere relay for the endless repetition of the M-M automaton, so, to paraphrase Marx, because not an atom of matter enters the composition of woman as commodity, the material woman can be excluded from the equation P(hallus)-P(hallus). The less physicality in the pure value of femininity the more perfect the finite automaton of patriarchy. The fetishised femininity, as any form of commodity, is reified abstraction. The token of femininity is exchanged only in order for masculinity to engender itself. Masculinity (or the pure value of the Phallus), speculative reason, and rationalism are endowed with the same contempt for the physical, narcissistic circularity of thought and disgust for the woman outside the signifying automaton of fetishisation. (shrink)

Nietzsche’s psychological theory of the drives calls into question two common assumptions of ideology critique: 1) that ideology is fetishistic, substituting false satisfactions for true ones, and 2) that ideology is falsification; it conceals exploitation. In contrast, a Nietzschean approach begins from the truth of ideology: that capitalism produces an authentic contentment that makes the concealment of exploitation unnecessary. And it critiques ideology from the same standpoint: capitalism produces pleasures too efficiently, an overproduction of desire that is impossible to sustain (...) indefinitely. Nietzsche’s concept of the drives (Trieben) is grounded in his theory of the will to power. In contrast to Freud’s view that drives aim at satiation, pleasure through stimulus reduction, in Nietzsche’s view, they aim primarily at the “feeling of power” and the “happiness of high tension.” Nietzsche sees the desire for satiation as a symptom of weakness, a secondary, contingent aim that is incompatible with the fundamental drive to sustain and heighten the feeling of tension that accompanies strong desire. While the Freudian subject desires satisfaction, the Nietzschean subject is paradoxically frustrated by satisfaction, finding happiness in desire sustained by resistance and tension. If individuals desire desire as such, then exploitation and immiseration are not necessarily incompatible with their happiness. Consequently, we must reject the view that ideology is fetishistic: capitalism does not depend on an ersatz satisfaction in the commodity, a transferal of value from quality to quantity, use value to exchange value. Capitalism authentically satisfies desire precisely through its exploitative economic structure. The independence and unpredictability of the value of commodities and the immiseration of laborers produces discontents that enhance rather than frustrate desire. By continually introducing new, initially inaccessible commodities, then overcoming their inaccessibility through overproduction, capitalism sustains and intensifies desires. It promotes happiness not by satisfying wants but generating them, feeding the desire for desire, for the intensity of feeling that the brief pleasures of satiation would destroy. The commodity is not, then, a fetish, not a false satisfaction or aim, but a means, a prop that supports and sustains satisfaction as continued desire. Consequently, we must also reject the view that ideology is falsification: capitalism’s efficient production of happiness obviates the need to conceal its nature. Individuals tolerate capitalism not out of ignorance of exploitation but indifference to it; they prefer real happiness to a merely possible justice that might come at its expense. The critique of ideology must begin by acknowledging its truth. Rather than deny the real satisfactions of capitalism, it must demonstrate that they are unsustainable. (shrink)

a little theory of capitalism, our most sacred way of being.

. The author has compared the world-view attitudes of oligarchy and capitalism on the basis of analysis of Ludwig von Mises’ writings. The results of such comparison allow us to maintain that there is neither market economy nor competition, and so nor capitalism in Ukraine. The world-view basis of capitalism is the philosophy of liberalism, which has such principles as equality, freedom, inviolability of private property, cooperation in favor of profits of the whole society. On the contrary, oligarchy based on (...) the strong desire of infinitive enrichment and exploitation hasn’t any philosophical basis. (shrink)

As civil liberties are shredded and powerful corporate and political force engage in a range of legal illegalities, the state itself becomes a model for corruption and violence. Violence has become not only the foundation of corporate sovereignty, it has also become the ideological scaffolding of common sense. Under casino capitalism, the state has become the enemy of justice and offers a prototype for types of misguided rebellion that mimic the lawlessness enshrined by corporate sovereignty and the repressive state apparatuses. (...) Under such circumstances, the force of action does not reside in deliberation, compassion, justice, equality and freedom. The state of exception has become the rule serving to legitimate illegality and normalizing violence and force as the only mediating dynamic worth utilizing to solve problems. In addition, subjectivity itself has become both hyper-masculinized, transformed, and subordinated to the celebration of an aggressive, violent and hyper-competitive war machine. Evidence of the hardening of the culture and the ongoing visibility of a pathological form of hyper-masculinity abounds in polices that amount to a permanent war on the poor, women, immigrants, workers, public servants, Muslims, poor minorities and those adults marginalized by class and race. Casino capitalism's paranoiac and increasingly repressive institutional and ideological apparatuses live in fear of dissent, critical rationality and the possibility of collective struggles moved by the desire for justice and a radical democracy. This is precisely where questions about education and resistance connect to broader debates about producing critical agents capable of acting as engaged and responsible citizens in a substantive democracy. Neoliberalism, as a dominant ideology, changed not only ways of thinking, but, consequently, practices. Evidently, a process of transformation like the one imposed by the hegemony of neoliberal ideology does not take place without resistance-conscious or not-and here it is the role of the State (and its ideological apparatus) in the subjection of individuals. For Fisher, there is no element that shows that the public actually embraced neoliberal doctrines with enthusiasm. For Mark Fisher, capitalist realism is \\\"an expression of class decomposition, and a consequence of class disintegration\\\". The phenomenon resulting from this discontent that finds few ways to express itself that are not individual is named by Mark Fisher as the \\\"privatization of stress\\\", which easily converts into depression and other psychological suffering. Although both its neoliberal and neoconservative components are opposed to bureaucracy in favour of privatised decentralisation, in practice capitalist realism involves the normalisation of bureaucracy and the creation of additional and unnecessary labour. Although pyramidal hierarchies are flattened, the increase and establishment of constant communication through technology has led to people at the same level surveilling each other. (shrink)

We challenge the prevalent opinion that consumption does not seem to matter as much as production and defy the fetishism of industrial work. We explore the implications of the premise that under conditions of cognitive capitalism consumption dictates what production does, when and how. We explain that in a post-industrial global society and economy fashion, branding, instant gratification of desires, and ephemeral consumer tastes govern production and consumption. The London riots of August 2011 send us a warning that consumption and (...) cognitive capitalism are asphyxiating in the structures and norms of industrial capitalism that are still in place. (shrink)

Degeneration and decrepitude of today's capitalism and capitalist system.

Beyond Capitalism: Designing a New Economic System for Humanity -/- Introduction -/- For centuries, capitalism has been the dominant economic system, driving technological innovation, wealth creation, and global trade. However, its flaws—extreme inequality, environmental destruction, and economic instability—have made many question whether it is still the best model for humanity. Instead of reforming capitalism, perhaps the time has come to replace it entirely with a new system that better aligns with modern challenges, human well-being, and sustainability. -/- This essay explores (...) a new economic model that moves beyond capitalism and socialism, aiming for a system that is fair, sustainable, and technologically advanced. -/- Why Capitalism Must Be Replaced -/- Capitalism’s fundamental flaws make it unsustainable in the long run: -/- 1. Wealth Inequality and Economic Injustice -/- The richest 1% own more than half of the world’s wealth, while billions struggle in poverty. -/- The capitalist system prioritizes profits over people, leading to worker exploitation and economic instability. -/- 2. Environmental Collapse -/- Capitalism’s endless growth model is destroying the planet through deforestation, pollution, and climate change. -/- Corporations prioritize short-term profits over long-term sustainability. -/- 3. Automation and AI Disrupting Jobs -/- Millions of jobs are being replaced by artificial intelligence and automation. -/- The capitalist system does not account for a future where human labor is no longer essential. -/- 4. Psychological and Social Problems -/- Consumerism creates stress, anxiety, and social isolation by equating happiness with material wealth. -/- The fear of financial instability keeps people trapped in low-quality jobs and debt cycles. -/- Given these issues, capitalism is no longer fit for the future. A completely new economic system must be built—one that values sustainability, equality, and technology-driven efficiency. -/- Introducing a New Economic System: The Post-Capitalist Model -/- A new economic model must prioritize human well-being, technological efficiency, and ecological balance over profit. Below is a blueprint for a post-capitalist society. -/- 1. A Resource-Based Economy (RBE) -/- A Resource-Based Economy (RBE) is an economic model where all goods and services are freely available based on need, rather than money or trade. -/- Technology and AI manage resources efficiently, eliminating the need for money. -/- Automation handles labor, allowing people to pursue education, research, and creativity. -/- No private ownership of land or resources, only shared community access based on sustainability. -/- 2. Universal Basic Infrastructure (UBI 2.0) -/- Instead of just giving people money (UBI), a new system would provide universal basic needs, including: -/- Free housing, healthcare, education, food, and clean energy for all. -/- Advanced AI-driven logistics to distribute goods and services efficiently. -/- 3. Decentralized AI Governance -/- Rather than governments being controlled by corporations or corrupt politicians, AI and collective intelligence could ensure fair and transparent decision-making. -/- AI algorithms could optimize resource distribution, prevent waste, and eliminate financial corruption. -/- Direct democratic participation, where people vote on policies using secure blockchain systems. -/- 4. Sustainable, Circular Economy -/- Zero waste policies, where everything is recycled, reused, or repurposed. -/- Focus on degrowth—reducing unnecessary production while increasing quality of life. -/- Energy-efficient smart cities, where transportation, housing, and food production are automated. -/- 5. Post-Work Society: Emphasizing Purpose Over Jobs -/- In a post-capitalist economy, people would not be forced to work meaningless jobs just to survive. Instead: -/- People could focus on science, philosophy, arts, personal growth, and social well-being. -/- Education would be lifelong and freely available. -/- AI and robots would handle most labor, leaving humans free to explore their full potential. -/- How This System Would Solve Capitalism’s Problems -/- Challenges in Transitioning to a Post-Capitalist Economy -/- While this system solves capitalism’s biggest problems, transitioning away from capitalism would face major challenges: -/- 1. Resistance from the Wealthy Elite -/- Billionaires and corporations control most of the world’s resources and political systems. -/- They would fight to maintain power, delaying or sabotaging systemic change. -/- 2. Psychological and Cultural Shifts -/- People have been conditioned to associate money with survival and success. -/- A new system would require re-educating society on cooperation, sustainability, and shared abundance. -/- 3. Technology and Infrastructure Development -/- Large-scale AI, automation, and sustainable energy infrastructure would need global investment. -/- Governments and private companies must be convinced to prioritize long-term sustainability over short-term profit. -/- The Path Forward: Steps to Build a Post-Capitalist World -/- While the transition will not happen overnight, we can begin moving toward a post-capitalist future by taking the following steps: -/- 1. Implement Universal Basic Income (UBI) Now -/- Governments can start by providing a safety net while transitioning to a money-free economy. -/- Countries like Finland and Canada are already experimenting with UBI programs. -/- 2. Expand AI and Automation for Public Good -/- AI should be used to reduce labor burdens, not to enrich corporations. -/- Governments should invest in open-source AI that benefits all of society. -/- 3. Develop Smart Cities and Circular Economies -/- Cities should be designed for zero waste, renewable energy, and efficient transportation. -/- Governments must ban planned obsolescence and require full recycling of consumer products. -/- 4. Decentralize Power Using Blockchain and Direct Democracy -/- Blockchain voting systems can eliminate election fraud and political corruption. -/- AI-assisted governance can help make fair, data-driven policy decisions. -/- 5. Redefine Education and Human Purpose -/- Schools should move away from job training and focus on creativity, science, philosophy, and social intelligence. -/- Societies should emphasize happiness, purpose, and sustainability over financial success. -/- Conclusion: A New Civilization Beyond Capitalism -/- Capitalism was a necessary stage in human evolution, but it has outlived its usefulness. The future demands a system that is more intelligent, just, and sustainable—one where: ✅ No one is forced to work just to survive. ✅ Resources are managed intelligently, not wasted for profit. ✅ Technology is used for human well-being, not corporate greed. ✅ The planet is protected, not exploited. -/- This is not utopian fantasy—it is a logical step forward in human evolution. By combining AI, automation, decentralized governance, and sustainability, we can create a post-capitalist society where everyone thrives. -/- The question Is no longer “Should we replace capitalism?” The question is: “How soon can we build a better system before capitalism destroys us all?” -/- . (shrink)

We investigate the firms’ specific attributes that determine the difference in speed of adjustment (SOA) towards the cash holdings target in the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. We examine whether Scandinavian firms maintain an optimal level of cash holdings and determine if the active cash holdings management is associated with the firms’ higher SOA and lower adjustment costs. Our findings substantiate that a higher level of off-target cost induces professional managers to rebalance their cash level towards (...) the optimal balance of cash holdings. Our results reveal that Scandinavian firms accelerate SOA towards cash targets primarily for the precautionary motive. Moreover, our results show that SOA is heterogeneous across Scandinavian firms based on adjustment cost and deviate cash holdings towards the target mainly with the support of internal financing. Furthermore, our empirical findings show that the SOA of Norwegian firms is significantly higher than the Danish and Swedish firms. (shrink)

Political theorists have recently sought to replace the liberal, contractual theory of the firm with a political view that models the authority relation of employee to firm, and its appropriate regulation, on that of subject to state. This view is liable to serious difficulties, however, given existing discontinuities between corporate and civil authority as to their coerciveness, entry and exit conditions, scope, legal standing, and efficiency constraints. I here inspect these, and argue that, albeit in some cases significant, such discontinuities (...) fail to undermine the firm/state analogy, either because they are not significant enough to do so or because the particular trait on which they hinge is not decisive for how authority, in the state and in the firm, should be regulated to be legitimate. A pro tanto requirement exists, I thus argue, that corporate authority be held to regulatory norms comparable to those legitimate states abide by, including civil liberties, rule-of-law constraints, and accountability to subjects. (shrink)

From the legal point of view, "person" is not co-extensive with "human being." Nor is it synonymous with "rational being" or "responsible subject." Much of the confusion surrounding the issue of the firm’s legal personality is due to the tendency to address the matter with only these, all too often conflated, definitions of personhood in mind. On the contrary, when the term "person" is defined in line with its original meaning as "mask" worn in the legal drama, it is easy (...) to see that it is only the capacity to attract legal relations that defines the legal person. This definition, that avoids the undesirable emotional associations and equivocations that often plague the debate, is important for a legally-grounded view of the firm. (shrink)

When an employee’s off-duty conduct generates mass social media outrage, managers commonly respond by firing the employee. This, I argue, can be a mistake. The thesis I defend is the following: the fact that a firing would occur in a mass social media outrage context brought about by the employee’s off-duty conduct generates a strong ethical reason weighing against the act. In particular, it contributes to the firing constituting an inappropriate act of blame. Scholars who caution against firing an employee (...) for off-duty conduct have thus far focused primarily on due process related issues or legal concerns pertaining to free speech, lifestyle discrimination, and employment at-will. However, these concerns amount to only a partial, and contingent, diagnosis of what is at issue. I argue that even when due process considerations are met, firings in these contexts can be unjustified. Moreover, even if a business is not concerned with the unethical conduct per se, but is rather strictly concerned with PR, the argument I advance nevertheless provides one important ethical reason that counts against firings in mass social media outrage contexts. Given that managers are often under significant pressure to respond swiftly in cases where an employee is at the center of mass social media outrage, it is especially important that scholars begin to clarify the normative issues. This article builds on the burgeoning philosophical literature on the ethics of blame and provides a novel account of a distinctive ethical concern that arises with firings in mass social media outrage contexts. (shrink)

Why Capitalism Cannot Create More Successful Entrepreneurs to Balance Stable Job Creation Amid Increasing Population Growth -/- Introduction -/- Capitalism is often praised for fostering entrepreneurship, economic growth, and job creation. However, its inherent flaws—such as wealth concentration, monopolization, financial barriers, and wage suppression—prevent it from producing enough successful entrepreneurs to balance job creation with increasing population growth. As the global population expands, capitalism alone fails to generate sufficient employment opportunities, leading to economic instability, poverty, and inequality. -/- To address (...) these challenges, a balanced approach involving government intervention, socialist-inspired policies, population regulation, and a coordinated effort between private and public sector job creation is necessary. By ensuring economic stability, providing social safety nets, and aligning workforce growth with sustainable employment opportunities, societies can mitigate capitalism’s failures while maintaining its productive aspects. -/- 1. The Fundamental Flaws of Capitalism in Job Creation -/- While capitalism promotes competition and innovation, it also creates significant economic imbalances: -/- Wealth Concentration and Inequality: Over time, wealth accumulates among a few individuals and corporations, reducing opportunities for new entrepreneurs and limiting social mobility. -/- Monopolization: Large corporations dominate markets, pushing out small businesses and reducing job diversity. -/- Financial Barriers to Entrepreneurship: The cost of starting and sustaining a business is high, making it difficult for new entrepreneurs to compete. -/- Short-Term Profit Maximization: Companies prioritize short-term gains, often outsourcing jobs or automating processes to cut costs, rather than investing in long-term job creation. -/- Cyclical Economic Crises: Capitalist economies experience frequent recessions, leading to mass layoffs, business failures, and financial insecurity. -/- These issues make capitalism insufficient in creating enough businesses and stable jobs to match population growth. -/- 2. The Difficulty of Starting a Business and Its Impact on Job Creation -/- Despite the belief that anyone can succeed through hard work, starting a business remains a significant challenge due to: -/- High Initial Costs: Rent, inventory, equipment, and salaries require substantial capital. -/- Limited Access to Credit: Most banks and investors require collateral or proven profitability, which new entrepreneurs lack. -/- Complex Regulations: Navigating legal and tax systems is expensive and time-consuming. -/- Intense Market Competition: Large corporations benefit from economies of scale, making survival difficult for small businesses. -/- Due to these challenges, most aspiring entrepreneurs fail or remain in precarious financial positions, reducing their ability to contribute to long-term job creation. -/- 3. The Effect of Low Wages on Consumer Buying Power and Job Stability -/- One of capitalism’s biggest contradictions is its reliance on low wages to maximize corporate profits while simultaneously needing strong consumer demand to sustain business growth. -/- Reduced Consumer Demand: When workers earn low wages, they have less money to spend, weakening economic growth. -/- Increased Debt and Financial Instability: Many workers rely on credit for basic needs, making them financially vulnerable. -/- Job Insecurity and Precarious Work: Companies cut costs by hiring temporary workers or outsourcing jobs, leading to job instability. -/- By failing to pay workers a living wage, capitalism limits its own potential for sustainable economic growth, reinforcing inequality and restricting business expansion. -/- 4. Balancing Job Creation Between the Private and Public Sectors -/- To counteract capitalism’s job creation failures, a balanced approach that combines private sector entrepreneurship and government-led job creation is essential. -/- A. Private Sector Job Creation -/- The private sector should remain a driving force of economic innovation and employment, but it must be regulated to prevent exploitative practices. Governments can support private-sector job creation by: -/- Providing Financial Assistance to Startups: Low-interest loans and grants can help small businesses grow. -/- Ensuring Fair Competition: Antitrust laws prevent monopolies from dominating industries. -/- Raising Minimum Wages: Ensuring fair wages strengthens consumer spending and business stability. -/- Encouraging Ethical Business Models: Worker cooperatives and profit-sharing models can create sustainable, fair workplaces. -/- B. Government-Led Job Creation -/- Governments must step in where the private sector fails to provide sufficient employment opportunities. Public-sector job creation should focus on: -/- Infrastructure Development: Roads, bridges, schools, and renewable energy projects generate long-term employment. -/- Public Services Expansion: More jobs in healthcare, education, and social services create stable employment. -/- Green Economy Investments: Sustainable industries like clean energy and environmental conservation create new career paths. -/- Universal Job Guarantee Programs: Governments can offer public jobs in times of economic downturns to prevent mass unemployment. -/- By combining private-sector dynamism with public-sector stability, societies can ensure that job creation keeps pace with population growth. -/- 5. The Role of Population Regulation in Economic Stability -/- One of the critical yet often overlooked aspects of economic sustainability is aligning population growth with job availability. Unregulated population expansion can lead to: -/- Unemployment and Underemployment: More people entering the job market than available jobs create economic strain. -/- Increased Poverty and Social Unrest: Large unemployed populations lead to instability and higher crime rates. -/- Strain on Public Services: Overpopulation overwhelms healthcare, education, and infrastructure systems. -/- A. Family Planning and Education -/- Governments must implement policies that encourage responsible population growth through: -/- Access to Contraception and Family Planning Services: Ensuring reproductive health choices empower families to plan their future. -/- Educational Campaigns on Sustainable Population Growth: Teaching the economic impact of overpopulation helps societies make informed decisions. -/- Encouraging Gender Equality and Women’s Employment: Empowering women in the workforce naturally leads to lower birth rates and a more balanced economy. -/- B. Workforce and Immigration Planning -/- Instead of uncontrolled population growth, governments should focus on workforce planning to ensure that job creation aligns with demographic trends: -/- Targeted Immigration Policies: Encouraging skilled immigration in sectors with labor shortages helps maintain economic stability. -/- Retraining and Reskilling Programs: Adapting the workforce to emerging industries prevents large-scale unemployment. -/- Regional Job Distribution: Encouraging businesses to develop outside of major cities can balance employment opportunities across regions. -/- By coordinating population regulation with job market needs, economies can achieve sustainable development and avoid crisis-driven employment gaps. -/- 6. The Importance of Government and Central Bank Policies -/- To stabilize capitalism’s weaknesses, government and central bank intervention using socialist principles is essential. These policies include: -/- Progressive Taxation: Redistributing wealth to fund public services and entrepreneurship programs. -/- Public Investment in Education and Vocational Training: Preparing the workforce for new economic demands. -/- Job-Creation Programs: Investing in sectors that provide stable, long-term employment. -/- Monetary Policies that Promote Sustainable Growth: Controlling inflation, interest rates, and wage growth to prevent economic instability. -/- A coordinated economic strategy ensures that capitalism’s benefits are widely distributed, rather than concentrated among a wealthy elite. -/- 7. Conclusion: A Mixed Economic Model for Sustainable Job Growth -/- Capitalism, by itself, fails to create enough successful entrepreneurs and jobs to match population growth due to its systemic flaws. Wealth concentration, monopolization, financial barriers, and low wages prevent new businesses from thriving and workers from earning enough to sustain economic demand. -/- To correct these imbalances, a mixed economic model—combining capitalist entrepreneurship with government intervention, population regulation, and central bank policies—is necessary. By balancing private-sector innovation with public-sector job creation and aligning workforce growth with sustainable employment opportunities, societies can ensure economic stability, reduce inequality, and promote long-term prosperity. -/- Only through holistic economic planning can nations achieve stable job creation, entrepreneurship growth, and population balance, creating a future where economic progress benefits everyone, not just a privileged few. -/- . (shrink)

In this paper I propose a framework to understand the transition in Foucault’s work from the disciplinary model to the governmentality model. Foucault’s work on power emerges within the general context of an expression of capitalist rationality and the nature of freedom and power within it. I argue that, thus understood, Foucault’s transition to the governmentality model can be seen simultaneously as a deepening recognition of what capitalism is and how it works, but also as a recognition of the (...) changing historical nature of the actually existing capitalisms and their specifically situated historical needs. I then argue that the disciplinary model should be understood as a contingent response to the demands of early capitalism, and argue that with the maturation of the capitalist enterprise many of those responses are no longer necessary. New realities require new responses; although this does not necessarily result in the abandonment of the earlier disciplinary model, it does require their reconfiguration according to the changed situation and the new imperatives following from it. (shrink)

The relation between the regimes of the accumulation of men and the accumulation of capital is problematised in the works of Michel Foucault. The paper challenges the prevailing wisdom that the relation between these regimes is contingent. The fundamental question of the conditions of the possibility of relation between the two regimes is raised. It is argued that both regimes are primordially related. Focusing on the Foucauldian analysis of the regime of the accumulation of men and its constituent elements an (...) effort is made to thematize the primordial relation between the two regimes. It is shown that freedom is the condition of the possibility of a primordial relation between the two regimes. It is explained why freedom plays such a fundamental role in making possible and sustaining a capitalist order. The dual role of freedom as a principle of diversity and a principle of management is stressed. It is argued that capitalism as an order is conditioned upon the production and reproduction of individuals and populations that are simultaneously useful and free. It is also the condition of such an order that docility is produced without hampering utility. Freedom makes possible the enhancement of utility without making it unmanageable. (shrink)

This paper provides an examination of some problems caused by the concentration of influence in the capital markets of developed countries. In particular, I argue that large asset managers exercise quasi-political power that is not democratically legitimate. In section two, I will examine the economic driver behind the size and power of the big asset managers: the passive investing revolution. I will discuss several respects in which this revolution has fundamentally changed capital markets, most notably by making a large share (...) of investors universal owners. In the third section, I argue for my central analytical conjecture: asset managers exercise quasi-political power. They use their influence to shape the rules of the game in public capital markets in order to implement social and environmental policies that have traditionally been the exclusive purview of states. “Asset manager capitalism” is a recent term coined to refer to the contemporary system of corporate governance that succeeded the Berle and Means corporation with its dispersed ownership; the argument of this section is that asset manager capitalism is also a new political-economic regime. In the fourth section I defend my central normative claim: asset manager capitalism is an untenable and illegitimate political-economic arrangement, for at least two reasons. First, the power of asset managers is not checked by any institutional constraints, and is not rendered legitimate by any democratic process. More fundamental than this procedural critique is an argument that the interests of asset managers could not be aligned with the public interest, given the fact that the distribution of capital is highly unequal. I conclude by discussing several proposals to reform asset manager capitalism. (shrink)

This two-part, semi-gothic literary essay seeks a provisional definition of “benevolent capital” and a working description of types of artistic and scholarly work that have no value for Capital as such. The paradox observed is that such works may actually appeal to a certain aspect of Capital, insofar as present-day capitalism has within it forms of pre-modern political economy that may actually save Capital from its mad rush toward self-immolation.

his chapter discusses some of the basic tenets of a critical realist social ontology. It defines capitalism, which Roy Jacques conspicuously fails to do. Jacques argues that the very point of explanatory critique is to facilitate useful action. For Geoffrey Hodgson, the epsilon scenario could be described as beyond capitalism. A form of employment contract remains, but it is a mere shell of its former capitalist self. In the work process, the degree of control by the employer over the (...) employee is minimal. Hodgson argues that 'impurity' necessarily characterizes all socioeconomic systems. However, any assessment of feasibility depends crucially upon an adequate theoretical analysis of concrete socio-economic systems. The chapter explains the nature of disaggregative analysis, which is predicated upon a realist ontology. Transcendentally the social world is composed of internal and external social relations; disaggregative analysis enables thought experiments about alternative social arrangements. The chapter addresses the nature of division of labour, knowledge and Hayek. (shrink)

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, by Shoshana Zuboff. London: Profile Books, 2019, 704 p.

Through analysing different case studies in the Middle East, this section uses rooted cosmopolitanism as a theoretical lens to explore exported modernism and architecture between socialist and capitalist countries during the Cold War. This research analyses the circulation and local applications of urban development and modernisation paradigms in so-called ‘Third World’ countries. For assessing the socialist and capitalist-inspired modernisation processes in the Middle East, this chapter studies the cosmopolitan and trans-cultural architecture created by global and local influences. Comparing (...) two types of cosmopolitan architecture (socialist and capitalist) during the Cold War period in third-world contexts will help us to analyse and compare their relative rootedness and to learn from the interconnected, multifaceted, and multilayered planning transfers and architectural exportations. (shrink)

Capitalism has become able to appropriate economically and quantitatively our “qualitative field of life” and to destroy and create social relations based on debt mechanisms. In parallel, technologies such as blockchain are expected to disrupt business practices and social interactions as they are currently conceived. For Brian Massumi, blockchain is what we need to resist capitalism and escape its pervasiveness, as it can help us “reinvent” the concept of value within broader collective arrangements. In this article, the author argues against (...) this assumption; blockchain is still inadequate for effectively resisting the pernicious effects of capitalism, and decentralized technologies cannot replace the hard work of politics. (shrink)

In this paper, I examine John Rawls’ claim in the first edition of A Theory of Justice that Justice as Fairness cannot include considerations about the environment and non-human animals. The paper aims to resolve the tension in this statement, as the idea of a Rawlsian well-ordered society without concern for the rest of nature presents as a contradiction. Through a more charitable reading of Rawlsian theory that borrows from anti-capitalist and environmental justice frameworks, we can see how Rawlsian (...) justice connects tightly to these issues. I conclude that the Rawlsian well-ordered society must be committed to anti-capitalist environmental justice. (shrink)

For a long time, economic growth has been seen as the most promising source of funds to use toward reducing economic inequality, as well as a necessity if we are aiming at achieving full employment. But one of the most troubling aspects of the recent exponential rise in economic inequality is that this rise has occurred despite continued economic growth. Increases in national income have gone almost exclusively to the super-rich, while real wages for almost everybody else have stagnated or (...) even declined. And while the unemployment rate dropped significantly before the coronavirus pandemic hit, good, permanent, high-wage jobs with benefits had by then often been replaced by temporary, part-time, low-wage jobs without benefits, leaving even the employed feeling economically insecure. And now, of course, unemployment is again skyrocketing, and it is unclear how long it might take to come down. As a result, we have now arrived at a point of reckoning: can we continue to believe that liberal capitalism is the most promising combination of economic and political ideologies for securing a prosperous and just future? If not, what might replace it? Is the problem capitalism, or is it liberalism? Are we up against economic forces that we cannot influence or control, or is it our political will and the liberal values we endorse that are being tested? This paper looks at all these questions, and suggests how we might think about the prospects for a liberal future. (shrink)

In this study, we metaphysically discuss how societal values will change and what will happen to the world when superintelligence is safely realized. By providing a mathematical definition of superintelligence, we examine the phenomena derived from this thesis. If an intelligence explosion is triggered under safe management through advanced AI technologies such as large language models (LLMs), it is thought that a modern form of broken communism—where rights are bifurcated from the capitalist system—will first emerge. In that era, the (...) value of humans will ultimately eliminate external factors, and beings without superintelligence will converge into irreplaceable existences possessing only intrinsic value. The world will be divided into those who possess superintelligence and those who do not. For better or worse, global standardization will progress, and due to over-simulation accompanying the intelligence explosion, we may become unable to distinguish whether the reality we inhabit is original or a copy created through augmented reality. -/- Note: In the creation of this paper, we have undertaken all writing ourselves and have not used generative AI for text generation except for translation purposes. (shrink)

This paper will show how Capitalism can prosper up to determined limit and its reasons for crises. We also show a mathematical proof of why capitalism system isn't stable, and for survival, it's either necessary to achieve new markets or keep a more indebted society. For both cases the system won't be stable and this consequently involves to its end.

Outplacement dla firm - outplacement w warunkach wzrostu ryzyka i elastyczności organizacji .

Political economy has two major concepts of capital. In one, capital is defined as money. Adam Smith proposed the other, which considers capital as anything that has a role in the creation of wealth even if peripheral. It includes, for instance, machines, the biosphere (“nature capital” or “natural capital”), and even human beings (“human capital”). The concept of capitalism is generally derived from Smith's overinclusive concept of capital. This led to ambiguity and tautology. However, the pre-Smith concept of capital does (...) not require the concept of capitalism. By removing non-monetary elements from the concept of capital, this study reaches an alternative ‘monetary society in the biosphere’ concept, which avoids confusion regarding monetary and non-monetary flows. This new concept integrates the economic and societal production in the biosphere. Furthermore, it recognizes that various monetary flows can be detrimental to ecological crises. Abandoning the concept of capitalism can contribute to conceptual precision in addressing the political economy of societal, environmental, and green development phenomena. (shrink)

The Crisis of Capitalism and Post-Ideology.

When talking about how cinema is affected by late-stage capitalism we have to look at the overall meaning of the film. But on occasion, these films incorporate stylistic but also temporal context. In this paper, I will use a traditional and contemporary phenomenological approach not just on the temporality aspect but the over the condition of cinema in late-stage capitalism. I will use Children Of Men to open up the ideas of how time within itself such as Heideggerian terms. Such (...) as the single shot sequences can not only reveal to us how time can be disjointed from the comprehensive understanding of personal time. Also the use of narrative as a vehicle for disclosing and the emergence of the true nature of the world and the state that it is in. Not just Being-in-the-world but the actualization of how late-stage capitalism brings about this disconnection with time and ontological narrative. Within this tension I will unpack it so we can see how time is both suffering from reification in the terms that Georg Lukács establishes and how being present-at-hand create a natural tension were capitalism exploits our own disjointed time but film is able to capture it in a manner that is not only presentable but it relates even though all experiences are unique in this fragmented reality. (shrink)