ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
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Flawed dialogue on the definition of capitalism
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MICK McSHANE rubs shoulders with Mod legend Steve Craddock and joins in with the joyous Glasgow choir
DENNIS BROE sifts out the ideological bias of the newest TV series offerings, and picks out what to see, and what to avoid
Capitalism: A Conversation in Critical Theory
by Nancy Fraser and Rahel Jaeggi
(Polity, £17.99)
OVERLY abstract and with few historical illustrations of its generalisations, Nancy Fraser and Rahel Jaeggi nevertheless raise points of interest as they debate the definition of capitalism.
Taking a page or so in turn, they accept the basic Marxist assumptions of private ownership of the means of production, a free labour market and capital accumulation premised on the expansion of capital, with the system geared towards making profit instead of satisfying needs.
They see maintenance of the flow of wage labour into the factory for profit-making in production of commodities as dependent on, and subsidised by, unwaged labour in the household — such unpaid labour is necessary for “productive” labour.
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