scholarly journals Rentierism and the commons: A critical contribution to Brett Christophers’ Rentier Capitalism

2021 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2110622
Author(s):  
Emrah Karakilic

In recent years, we have seen an increasing number of publications that offer the term of rentierism to define the current economic system in the Global North. More recently, Brettt Christophers has produced a series of work that aims to account for the ascendancy of rentierism from a political-economy perspective, in which Marx is mostly neglected. This exchange article aims to bring the Marx and Marxist thought back into discussion to read rentierism politically. In particular, it inquiries into how rentierism relates to the nature of class relations by addressing an “open secret”, namely that rentierism rests essentially on the enclosure and expropriation of commons. It analyses rentierism as capital's counter-movement, enforcing its priorities and drives on spaces where alternative social systems emerge and develop. In the final part, a provocative conclusive remark is offered on Christophers’ “what is to be done?”.

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Altmann

Universities are, like all organizations, at the intersection of different functional subsystems. They are not only dedicated to research (science) and teaching (education) but are also place for communications that form part of politics, economics and so on. But, what happens to universities, and, more precisely, social sciences in university, if the social system they work in is not differentiated in the way the social sciences in the Global North are used to? What if there is no clear distinction between science and politics? Does academic autonomy lead in this situation to some kind of ‘university as a subsystem’, complete with its own code and autopoiesis? Or will the different subsystems de-differentiate increasingly, as predicted by Luhmann? This contribution will analyse social sciences in Ecuadorian universities as an example for organizations at the intersection of functional systems that are not fully differentiated. The development, the operative closure, the institutionalization and the self-production of a concrete discipline under constant pressure of other social systems will be analysed. The goal is a further insight into processes of differentiation in the Global South and the role of institutions in these processes. Part of this is the attempt to actualize and criticize Niklas Luhmann’s approach of systems theory to regions outside of the Global North. JEL: O300, Z130


Spiritualita ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sukron Romadhon

Spirituality and a new religious awakening, are seen by religious elites as a stage of religious directness in carrying out religious traditions and rituals. New civilizations can instead be a threat to conventional religious traditions and rituals. Without the willingness of religious elites to criticize and re-interpret conventional ritual traditions and patterns, the functions of the world's major religions could fade. The world's major religions are increasingly alienated from the objective world and awareness of the lives of the people and their people. It seems that there will be a new form of religion or a new religion that is completely different from the tradition of religious rituals that have been carried out by the major religions of the world. While the religious elite is still attached to classical religious interpretations. But on the other hand, the emergence of modern society, encouraging the argument of secularization is part of modernization. The values underlying socio-political and economic relations also appear to be beginning to enter an irregular stage, when viewed conventionally, the spiritulitas of global civilization, rather than lies in the format of values, traditional systems and structures or modern rationality. New civilizations in social systems and Science and Technology (SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY) began to be directed at a more intuitive spirituality stage. Then came the act of social piety that proved impartiality over the duafa wal mustad'afin, workers and the poor who were oppressed by the economic system. The emergence of the term left theology only wants to explain about righteousness and belief based on the ability to perform acts of liberation of the proletariat. This action is not only done after the reality of the proletariat appears, but creates a social and economic system that has impartiality towards the proletariat.Keywords: Spirituality, Secularization, Social Piety


2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 2297-2323 ◽  
Author(s):  
William K Carroll

Since the 1980s two separate literatures—one focused on global cities, the other on transnational corporate interlocking—have explored issues of hierarchy and networking within the global political economy. I present an analysis of how major cities and interlocking corporate directorates are articulated together into a global network. Findings indicate that the network is concentrated in the main world cities in a way that reinforces the northern transatlantic economic system. However, the structure of the network is more nationally focused, and more complex, than that predicted by global cities theorizations. To account for the structure, I present a multifactoral framework featuring sociohistorical processes as well as spatiotemporal constraints. In conclusion, I explore implications for sociological analysis of a ‘new network bourgeoisie’, invested with several kinds of corporate power and exercising agency both within and beyond the boardrooms of the world's major corporations.


1988 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 435
Author(s):  
Richard Schneirov ◽  
Shelton Stromquist ◽  
Michael Kazin

Author(s):  
Gökhan Bulut

This article is an attempt to reestablish the linkage of the political economy of communication with the field of social classes and class relations. Studies in the field of political economy of communication are mostly shaped within the scope of instrumentalist explanation: Social communication institutions such as communication and media are perceived as a very homogeneous structure and these institutions are directly considered as the apparatus of capital and capitalists. However, in this study, it is argued that in capitalist societies, communication, and media should be understood as a field and medium of class struggle loaded with contradictions. Another point is that the political economy of communication is mostly limited to media studies. However, in today's capitalist societies, the media is not the only structure and actor in which communication forms. In this study, communication practices in capitalist society are discussed in the context of class discussions and the relationship between class struggle, culture and communication is discussed.


Author(s):  
Manuel Iturralde

In both criminology and the sociology of punishment there has been a rebirth of the political economy of crime and punishment, where the relationship between these phenomena and levels of inequality within a given society is a key aspect, to assess the transformation and features of the crime control fields of contemporary societies and to relate them to different typologies. This chapter will discuss and problematize this perspective through the analysis of Latin American crime control fields. Considering the flaws of general typologies, usually coming from the global north, the chapter will stress the need for a more detailed comparative analysis of the penal state and the institutional structures, dynamics and dispositions present in every jurisdiction, in both the global north and south, that have a direct impact on penal policy and its outcomes.


Author(s):  
Ted Schrecker

This chapter begins with a conception of political economy that foregrounds unequal distributions of power and resources and the role of transnational actors and processes. Two specific case examples are described in some detail: (1) the structural adjustment conditionalities demanded by the international financial institutions roughly post-1980 and their impacts on health systems and social determinants of health and (2) the connections between trade and investment liberalization and health outcomes, with a focus on harmonization of intellectual property protection regimes, on food systems, and generically of the incorporation of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms in many bilateral and regional agreements. The chapter concludes by identifying two directions for future inquiry: the erosion of familiar distinctions between global North and South and the normative implications of the proliferation of cross border influences on health.


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