B4812 - Critical Theories of Contemporary Capitalism (1) (LM)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

Through the critical review of classical theories of capitalism, students will be able to discuss both fixed and invariant elements in the development of modern capitalism and what makes peculiar its contemporary forms. They will acquire specific awareness of some of the most important concepts in present intellectual and political debate, such as globalization, financialization, etc.

Contenuti

The course will start with a historical and theoretical framing of the question regarding the peculiarity of contemporary capitalism, briefly considering some of the most influential classical approaches to the study of capitalism. It will subsequently focus on more recent debates and will examine several proposals to conceptually grasp the specific capitalist formation that began to take shape in the early 1970s. On the basis of this discussion, the course will focus on the current conjuncture of turmoil and war at the world level, testing the very possibility to speak of a “global capitalism.” Against the background of a discussion of Empire, a book published by Michael Hardt and Toni Negri in 2000, and “world system theory” (most notably the work of Giovanni Arrighi), particular attention will be devoted to the reorganization of global spaces from a political as well as from an economic angle with a critical focus on the notion of world market. Such important issues as the relation between capital and war, capitalism and territorialism, imperialism, hegemonic transition, multipolarity will be critically examined from the viewpoint of a necessary reframing of internationalism on the basis of current social struggles.

Testi/Bibliografia

The course will take the following book as starting point:

Mezzadra, Sandro and Brett Neilson, The Rest and the West. Capital and Power in a Multipolar World. London - New York: Verso, 2024.

Texts that will be discussed in class include:

Agnew, John. Hidden Geopolitics. Governance in a Globalized World, Lanham and London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2023.

Altenried, Moritz. The Digital Factory. The Human Labor of Automation, Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2022.

Arrighi, Giovanni and Beverly Silver, Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1999.

Arrighi, Giovanni. Adam Smith in Beijing. Lineages of the Twenty-First Century. London – New York: Verso, 2007.

Arboleda, Martín. Planetary Mine: Territories of Extraction under Late Capitalism. London - New York: Verso, 2020.

Bohrer, Ashley J. Marxism and Intersectionality. Race, Gender, Class, and Sexuality Under Contemporary Capitalism. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2019.

Bratton, Benjamin H. The Stack. On Software and Sovereignty. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2015.

Campling, Liam and Alejandro Colás. Capitalism and the Sea. London – New York: Verso, 2021.

Cowen, Deborah. The Deadly Life of Logistics. Mapping Violence in Global Trade. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.

Crary, Jonathan. 24/7. Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep, London – Brooklyn: Verso, 2013.

Delfanti, Alessandro. The Warehouse. Workers and Robots at Amazon. London: Pluto, 2021.

Easterling, Keller. Extrastatecraft. The Power of Infrastructure Space. London – Brooklyn: Verso, 2014.

Fraser, Nancy. ‘Behind Marx’s Hidden Abode. For an Expanded Conception of Capitalism’, New Left Review 86 (2014), pp. 55-72.

Fraser, Nancy and Rahel Jaeggi. Capitalism: A Conversation in Critical Theory, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2018.

Fuchs, Christian. Digital Labor and Karl Marx. London: Routledge, 2014.

Hardt, Michael and Antonio Negri, Empire, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.

Hardt, Michael and Toni Negri, Assembly. Oxford – New York, Oxford University Press, 2017.

Harvey, David. The New Imperialism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Harvey, David. A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005.

Huws, Ursula. Labor in the Global Digital Economy. The Cybertariat Comes of Age. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2014.

Huws, Ursula. Reinventing the Welfare State. Digital Platforms and Public Policies, London: Pluto Press, 2020.

Lovink, Geert. Sad by Design. On Platform Nihilism. London: Pluto Press, 2019.

Lowe, Lisa. The Intimacies of Four Continents, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015.

Marazzi, Christian, The Violence of Financial Capitalism. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2010.

Mezzadra, Sandro. ‘What’s at stake in the Mobility of Labour? Borders, Migration, Contemporary Capitalism.’ Migration, Mobility, & displacement 2 (2015), 1: 30-43.

Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. Feminism Without Borders. Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity, Durham – London: Duke University Press, 2003.

Ong, Aiwa. 2006. Neoliberalism as Exception. Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty, Durham, NC - London: Duke University Press, 2006.

Platform Urbanism and Its Discontents, ed. by H. Mooshammer and P. Mörtenböck, Rotterdam: nai010, 2021.

Rossiter, Ned. 2016. Software, Infrastructure, Labor. A Media Theory of Logistical Nightmares, New York – Oxon: Routledge, 2016.

Samaddar, Ranabir. 2015. ‘Zones, corridors, and postcolonial capitalism’, Postcolonial Studies, 18 (2015), 2: 208-221.

Sanyal, Kalyan. Rethinking Capitalist Development. Primitive Accumulation, Governmentality and Post-colonial Capitalism, London – New York – New Delhi: Routledge, 2007.

Sassen, Saskia. Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy. Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.

Scholz, Trebor. Platform Cooperativism. Challenging the Corporate Sharing Economy. 2016, available at http://www.rosalux-nyc.org/publications/#pdf_modal_7

Slobodian, Quinn, Crack-Up Capitalism. Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy, New York: Metropolitan Books, 2023.

Sonenscher, Michael, Capitalism. The Story Behind the Word, Oxford and Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2022.

Srnicek, Nick, Platform Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2017.

Streeck, Wolfgang, ‘E Pluribus Unum? Varieties and Commonalities of Capitalism’, MPIfG Discussion Paper 10/12, 2010.

Tooze, Adam. Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crisis Changed the World, New York: Viking, 2018.

Tooze, Adam. Shutdown. How Covid Shook the World’s Economy, Dublin, Allen Lane, 2021.

Tsing, Anna. ‘Supply Chains and the Human Condition’, Rethinking Marxism 21 (2009), 2: pp. 148-176.

Tsing, Anna. ‘On Nonscalability. The Living World Is Not Amenable to Precision-Nested Scales’. Common Knowledge 18 (2012):3, pp. 505-524.

Van Dijck, Jesé, Poell, Thomas, e de Waal, Martijn. The Platform Society. Public Values in a Connective World. Oxford – New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Woodcock, Jamie. The Fight Against Platform Capitalism: An Inquiry into the Global Struggles of the Gig Economy, London: University of Westmister Press, 2021.

Metodi didattici

Lectures and discussion in class. At the beginning of the course a syllabus will be distributed: for each week specific readings will be suggested, to be discussed in the third class of the week. Students are encouraged to present in class. Guest lecturers may be invited.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

If the course is a component of an Integrated Course (C.I.) in the student's syllabus, the examination of the two component courses of the C.I. must be taken on a single date and the final grade will be the arithmetic mean of the grades obtained in the two components.

Students attending classwork will write a short "response paper" on one of the topic addressed in class (1000 words) and a final paper (no more than 4000 words) on a topic agreed with the instructor. The bibliography for the final paper will be discussed with the instructor and will be based on the references listed in the reading list and/or additional texts proposed by students.The topics of the papers may be collectively discussed in class. Personal engagement and initiative in proposing and articulating themes for discussion will be appreciated and positively evaluated. The final paper will not be discussed during the exam day. The instructor will communicate to the students their grade via email one day before the exam date.

Students who do not attend classwork will have to take an oral exam. They are required to read two of the following books:

Mezzadra, Sandro and Brett Neilson,The Rest and the West. Capital and Power in a Multipolar World. London - New York: Verso, 2024.

Hardt, Michael and Antonio Negri, Empire, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.

Arrighi, Giovanni and Beverly Silver, Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1999.

Questions will be aimed at testing the student's ability in exposing with an appropriate language some of the topics discussed in the books, as well as his/her skills in making connections between different texts in order to build an argument.

In all cases, proper language, the ability to speak about the books' content, and to use information and examples articulating different texts with a critical approach will form part of the assessment.

More specifically, the assessment will examine the student’s:

• Proper knowledge of the subject
• Ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts
• Effective use of appropriate terminology
  

Exam sessions are scheduled for the following months of the academic year: May, June, July, September, December, January. February.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Readings will be made available on Virtuale. They may be complemented with other sources, such as videos and images.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Sandro Mezzadra