Capital as Power. A Study of Order and Creorder

Capital as Power. A Study of Order and Creorder.
Nitzan, Jonathan and Bichler, Shimshon (2009). RIPE Series in Global Political Economy. Routledge. (Book; English).

Full Text Available As:
[img]
Preview
Cover Image
20090526_nb_cap_cover_front.jpg

Download (77kB) | Preview
[img]
Preview
PDF (Full Text)
20090522_nb_casp_full_indexed.pdf

Download (2MB) | Preview
[img] Other (EPUB Full Text)
20200800_bn_casp.epub.epub

Download (4MB)
[img] HTML (Full Text)
20200800_bn_casp_html_link.htm

Download (4kB)
[img] HTML (Table of Content)
20090526_nb_cap_toc_web.htm

Download (88kB)
[img] HTML (Buy the Book / Request a Review Copy)
20090526_nb_cap_buy_review_web.htm

Download (12kB)
[img] Other
index.html
Restricted to Archive staff only

Download (78kB)

Abstract or Brief Description

FROM THE BACK COVER

Conventional theories of capitalism are mired in a deep crisis: after centuries of debate, they are still unable to tell us what capital is. Liberals and Marxists both think of capital as an 'economic' entity that they count in universal units of ‘utils’ or 'abstract labour', respectively. But these units are totally fictitious. Nobody has ever been able to observe or measure them, and for a good reason: they don’t exist. Since liberalism and Marxism depend on these non-existing units, their theories hang in suspension. They cannot explain the process that matters most – the accumulation of capital.

This book offers a radical alternative. According to the authors, capital is not a narrow economic entity, but a symbolic quantification of power. It has little to do with utility or abstract labour, and it extends far beyond machines and production lines. Capital, the authors claim, represents the organized power of dominant capital groups to reshape – or creorder – their society.

Written in simple language, accessible to lay readers and experts alike, the book develops a novel political economy. It takes the reader through the history, assumptions and limitations of mainstream economics and its associated theories of politics. It examines the evolution of Marxist thinking on accumulation and the state. And it articulates an innovative theory of 'capital as power' and a new history of the 'capitalist mode of power'.

Language

English

Publication Type

Book

Keywords

absentee ownership accumulation benchmark bond bourgeoisie breadth business enterprise capital class corporation cosmology credit creorder crisis debt deflation depth differential dissonance vs. resonance dominant capital duality elementary particles equilibrium exploitation feudalism fictitious capital finance globalization goodwill government green-field hologram hype industry inflation institutionalism labour theory of value liberty markup mergers and acquisitions mode of power mode of production neoclassical economics neo-Marxism nomos normal rate of return oppression political economy politics vs. economics price productive vs. unproductive labour productivity profit real vs. nominal risk sabotage securities skilled vs. unskilled labour socially necessary abstract labour space stagnation stagflation state of capital stocks surplus value tangible vs. intangible assets technology uncertainty utility utils

Subject

BN Theory
BN Data & Statistics
BN State & Government
BN Cooperation & Collective Action
BN Industrial Organization
BN Civil Society
BN Institutions
BN Macro
BN War & Peace
BN Conflict & Violence
BN Science & Technology
BN History
BN Methodology
BN Agency
BN Comparative
BN Resistance
BN Capital & Accumulation
BN Class
BN Labour
BN Growth
BN Civilization & Social Systems
BN Hegemony
BN International & Global
BN Power
BN Culture
BN Business Enterprise
BN Region - North America
BN Value & Price
BN Crisis
BN Production
BN Myth
BN Money & Finance
BN Ideology
BN Distribution
BN Religion
BN Space
BN Micro
BN Policy

Depositing User

Jonathan Nitzan

Date Deposited

29 Nov 2010

Last Modified

03 Oct 2021 22:15

URL:

https://bnarchives.yorku.ca/id/eprint/259

Commentary/Response Threads

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item