Category Archives: Political Economy

The Poverty of Theory Debate

Thompson, E.P. 1978. “Poverty of Theory or An Orrery of Errors” Anderson, Perry. 1980. Arguments Within English Marxism. London: Verso. Is there any polemic more biting in its wit, rigor and distaste than E.P. Thompson’s (EP) “Poverty of Theory”? Today, … Continue reading

Posted in Critique, Historical Materialism, Marxism, Political Economy, Power, The State | 2 Comments

Spaces of Capital

Harvey, David. 2001. Spaces of Capital: Towards a Critical Geography. New York: Routledge. [Chapters from Part II]. Geography of Capitalist Accumulation (1975) In this first chapter, we can see Harvey beginning to develop much of what later becomes central aspects … Continue reading

Posted in David Harvey, GWF Hegel, Historical Materialism, Karl Marx, Marxism, Political Economy, Primitive Accumulation, Spatiality, The State | 3 Comments

The Spatial Fix Revisited

Harvey defines his notion of the “spatial fix” in terms of the junky that needs a “fix,” but that fix is entirely fleeting and never satiates the junky’s need for smack, or in this case capitalist expansion. The resolution is … Continue reading

Posted in David Harvey, Historical Materialism, Marxism, Political Economy, Spatiality | 2 Comments

Uneven Development

Smith, Neil. 1990. Uneven Development: Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press. The basic argument and premise of the book is that “the uneven development of capitalism can be best conceived as resulting from … Continue reading

Posted in Marxism, Political Economy, Spatiality | 2 Comments

Spaces of Global Capitalism

Harvey, David. 2006. Spaces of Global Capitalism. London: Verso. Harvey’s book is a collection of two lectures and an essay. The first lecture is mainly about how neoliberalism was constituted as a class project, and how it played out in … Continue reading

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Security, Territory, Population

Foucault, Michel. 2007. Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1977-1978. Foucault says he’s following the genesis of a political knowledge that put “population” at the center of its concerns. He uses “government” as the guiding thread of … Continue reading

Posted in City, Governmentality, Michel Foucault, Political Economy, Power, Spatiality, The State, Violence | 5 Comments

The Production of Space

After having just finished Capital (Vol. I), Henri Lefebvre’s The Production of Space makes so much more sense than the first time a read it. (Though hugely insightful, it’s still a total slog to read.) The reasons behind my understanding … Continue reading

Posted in Dialectics, Hegemony, Henri Lefebvre, Karl Marx, Marxism, Political Economy, Power, Spatiality, The State | 5 Comments

Violence of Abstraction

Sayer, Derek. 1987. The Violence of Abstraction. Oxford: Blackwell. Sayer is clearly having a big argument with Althusserians and others who side with conceptual approaches that speak of levels and/or superstructures and base. His first goal is to convince us … Continue reading

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The German Ideology

Some thoughts on the German Ideology and Marx’s “Method.” What most struck me about The German Ideology and the comments regarding On the Jewish Question is how much Marx’s interest in political economy was at least partly provoked by questions … Continue reading

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Notes on “The German Ideology”

Marx is moving away from questions of rights and philosophy to the study of political economy and capitalism. The book has both a political and a philosophical dimension. First, Marx and Engels are railing against German Idealism’s view that consciousness … Continue reading

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