Politics of Global Capitalism

The study of capitalism focuses on economic structures, effects, networks and flows linking capital to markets, private property and exchange. This course offers a different set of perspectives and methodologies by approaching capitalism not as a separate 'economic' domain but as located in politics, variations and historicity. We will look at capitalist forms of social control and political power, techno-feudalism, capitalist origins in slavery and colonialism, alongside capital's co-constitution of gendered division of labour, racial hierarchies and inscription of capital in contemporary law. The course covers both theory and emerging research spanning Global North and South. The running theme throughout this course is to embed capital in politics, society, culture and the economy, and simultaneously interrogate possibilities for anti-capitalist resistance(s). Students will attain both methodological and theoretical insights on contemporary global systems of arranging intersecting economic and political power.