Starting Date TBD

The purpose of this course is to give members a rigorous sense of what “capitalism” means in historical and theoretical terms. For instance, how did it begin and how might it end? With the exception of one prominent “neoliberal”, we will read and discuss some recent historical and theoretical works, focusing mainly on its most recent phase, which are meant to be accessible to non-expert readers and are compatible or sympathetic to a Marxian perspective. Our primary objective will be to understand the arguments and theories we will consider, and then we will try to see what conclusions they might entail for class politics. There are no prerequisites for participation, and this group is intended for absolute beginners, but some background with Marx or classical political economy couldn’t hurt.

1. Introduction. 

• “Political Aspects of Full Employment”, by Michal Kalecki (1942)
• “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits”, by Milton Freidman (NYT Magazine, September 13, 1970)
• “How Will Capitalism End?”, by Wolfgang Streeck (NLR 87, May/June 2014)
• [Optional] Jan Toporowski: “Old Populism and the New Ideas of Michał Kalecki”

2. Capitalism: A Short History, by Jürgen Kocka (PUP, 2016)

3. The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy, by Stephanie Kelton (Public Affairs, 2020)

4. The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy, by Mariana Mazzucato (Public Affairs 2018)

5. The Production of Money: How to Break the Power of the Banks, by Ann Pettifor (Verso, 2017)

6. “Preventing Digital Feudalism” (Oct 2, 2019), Mariana Mazzucato

“Techno-Feudalism Is Taking Over” (Jun 28, 2021), Yanis Varoufakis

“Capitalism is dead: long live Technofeudalism. We have all been turned into cloud-serfs” (September 25, 2023), Yanis Varoufakis

“Same As It Ever Was?” (06 MAY 2022), Jodi Dean

Optional/Recommended:

Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman (Chicago, 1962)

Capitalism: A Very Brief Introduction, 2nd Ed., by James Fulcher (OUP, 2021)

A Brief History of Neoliberalism, David Harvey, chapter 1 (OUP, 2005)

“A Short History of Neoliberalism”, Susan George (1999)

Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, Yanis Faroufakis (Melville House, 2023)

The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism, Clara Mattei (Chicago, 2022)

The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality, by Katharina Pistor (PUP, 2019)