>Ken Hanly wrote:
> >I read through this but I fail to see anything that I can identify
> with >Marxism. I only recall capitalism mentioned once. Capitalism
> does not >seem to enter as a unit of analysis.
mentioned once?? In the _Modern World System_ and _The Capitalist World
Economy_ capitalism is mentioned in *every* SINGLE identifiable page,
probably like hundred times, in the whole book, although not
specifically mentioned in this *small* introductory piece. how many
times do you mention *capitalism* in your posts, Ken?
> >The concept of class is not mentioned as far as I could see. There is
> >no use of the base, superstructure distinction, no mention of class
> >conflict or class struggle or organising for revolutionary change.
there are two chapters in the _Capitalist World economy_ that
specifically deal with class, among other things (race, slavery, rural
economy, etc..): 1) American slavery and the capitalist world economy
2) CLASS FORMATION IN THE CAPITALIST WORLD ECONOMY. In the below parag,
note the emphasis on the importance of _dialectics_ and _class
analysis_.
" SOCIAL CLASS AS A CONCEPT WAS INVENTED WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE
CAPITALIST WORLD ECONOMY AND IT IS PROBABLY MOST USEFUL IF WE USE IT AS
HISTORICALLY SPECIFIC TO THIS KIND OF WORLD SYSTEM. CLASS ANALYSIS LOSES
ITS POWER OF EXPLANATION WHENEVER IT MOVES TOWARDS FORMAL MODELS AND
AWAY FROM DIALECTICAL DYNAMICS.
"THERE IS A SHORT RUN LOGIC IN THE FORMATION OF CLASS. IT IS THE GRADUAL
PERCEPTION OF COMMON INTEREST (THAT IS SMILAR RELATIONSHIP S TO THE
OWNEERSHIP AND THE CONTROL OF THE MEANS OF PRODUCTON, AND SMILAR SOURCES
OF REVENUE) AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOME ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES TO
ADVANCE THESE INTERESTS IS AN INDESPENSABLE ASPECT OF BARGAINING"
"THUS CLASSES ARE FORMED,-- BUT THEY ARE THEN REFORMED. THIS IS WHAT
MAO MEANT WHEN HE SAID PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA "THE CLASS STRUGGLE
IS BY NO MEANS OVER"
"THIS CONTINIOUS RE-ERUPTION OF THE CLASS STRUGGLE AFTER EACH POLITICAL
RESOLUTION IS IN MY VIEW IS NOT A CYCLICAL PROCESS, HOWEVER, BUT
PRECISELY A DIALECTICAL ONE. FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CLASS, HOWEVER
TRANSIENT THE PHENOMENON, TRANSFORMS THE WORLD SYSTEM"
> >Nothing on dialectics, about socialism and so on and on.
actually, he wrote a book called _Anti-systemic Movements_ with Hopkins
and Balibar.
> >World System Marxism seems like Analytical Marxism, Marxism in >name
> only.
>
World System Marxism overcomes two limitations of Analytical Marxism in
5 *weak* areas 1) methodolological individualism 2) ahistoricism 3)
centrality of nation state 4) non-hierachical vision of capitalism and
exchange 5) neo-classical treatment of historical stages through which
capitalism is approximated as the ideal (modernization theory). The
*specificty* of IW's analysis is that he *extends*, by analogy, Marx's
analysis of class exploitaiton between capitalist and worker to analysis
of the relationship between *core* and *periphery*, reorienting
(globalizing) the centrality of class towards *capitalism as a world
system*. So capitalism emerges as a transnational phenomenon with
transnational classes at the core of the analysis, not a nation state a
phenomenon confined to the charecteristics of X, Y, Z country. There
is no Turkish capitalism, for example, there is a semi-peripheral status
and this status more or less defines where you are positioned within the
world system; economic and political wise.
Commentary on his book:
"In the capitalist world economy, IW FOCUSES ON THE TWO CENTRAL
CONFLICTS OF CAPITALISM, BOURGEOIS VERSUS PROLETERIAN AND CORE VERSUS
PERIPHERY IN AN ATTEMPT TO DESCRIBE BOTH THE CYCLICAL RHTYMS AND THE
SECULAR TRANSFORMATIONS OF CAPITALISM, CONCIEVED AS A SINGULAR WORLD
SYSTEM. THE ESSAYS INCLUDE DISCUSSIONS OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF CLASS AND
ETHNONATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS, CLARIFICATION OF THE MEANING OF TRANSITION
FROM FEUDALISM TO CAPITALISM, THE UTULITY OF THE CONCEPT OF THE
SEMI-PERIPHERAL STATE, AND THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE SOCIALIST STATES TO
THE CAPITALIST WORLD ECONMY"
Mine
> CHeers, Ken Hanly
>
> Mine Aysen Doyran wrote:
>
>> http://fbc.binghamton.edu/iwwsa-r&.htm
>
--
Mine Aysen Doyran
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
SUNY at Albany
Nelson A. Rockefeller College
135 Western Ave.; Milne 102
Albany, NY 12222
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