Francesco Boldizzoni
Foretelling the End of Capitalism
This book seeks to explain the persistence of capitalism despite all the trouble it has created. For several years now, every crisis—even crises not directly caused by capitalism, such as that of Covid-19—has been accompanied by a plethora of recriminations: capitalism is unsustainable, it cannot go on like this. It makes our societies intolerably unequal, fuels racism, destroys the environment, and so on. Everything will have to change. Thus, expectations of structural change arise which, as soon as the crisis is over, are invariably frustrated.
To make sense of why capitalism is still with us, I perform two separate yet related operations. The first is to review unfulfilled prophecies about its end that have been repeated over the past two centuries. Surprisingly enough, they came not only from the left but also from the right. I endeavor to contextualize them historically but also to identify their mistakes. The idea is that from these mistakes something can be learned, certainly about the limitations of our understanding, but more importantly about capitalism itself. Half of the book can therefore be regarded as a work of history, of intellectual history in the broadest sense.
The second operation is to outline a theory of capitalism and the forces that sustain it. Besides what keeps capitalism alive, a good theory should also explain its origin and, possibly, give us some indication as to where it is or isn’t headed. This part of the work, which is more theoretical in nature, culminates in the final chapter, “How Capitalism Survives.”
I wrote Foretelling the End of Capitalism in such a way that it could be accessible to any intelligent reader, regardless of their background. It’s a book deliberately devoid of jargon, where even important concepts are put into a narrative. This isn’t a work of economics, a discipline that—at least in its present form—has little to say about capitalism, but nor does one have to be a sociologist or philosopher to make the most of it. Any person interested in the subject should be able to read this book, be they dentists or kindergarten teachers. Capitalism touches the lives of us all.
Editor: Judi Pajo
Foretelling the End of Capitalism
Francesco Boldizzoni Foretelling the End of Capitalism: Intellectual Misadventures since Karl Marx Harvard University Press 336 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches ISBN 978 0674919327
Available here →September 16, 2020
20200916-boldizzoni-francesco-on-book-foretelling-end-capitalism-1-1-1
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Francesco Boldizzoni
Francesco Boldizzoni is Professor of Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has contributed to several fields across the social sciences, including political theory, political economy, and modern history. In addition to Foretelling the End of Capitalism (Harvard University Press, 2020), which is featured in his Rorotoko interview, he is the author of The Poverty of Clio: Resurrecting Economic History (Princeton University Press, 2011), Means and Ends: The Idea of Capital in the West, 1500-1970 (Macmillan, 2008), and over two dozen of articles and book chapters.
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Capitalism has outlived two centuries of predicted deaths because it is rooted in the hierarchical, individualistic structure of Western societies.
Against SC · At every major turning point in Soviet history there was a real alternative, an actual leader who was defeated. On: Large historical outcomes are contingent choices rather than the working-out of deep causes
Against SB · Where to draw the line between gambling and investment is a moral and political question, not a technical one. On: The past supplies usable guidance for present decisions
Against GF · No amount of humane handling justifies using animals at all, and veganism is the floor. On: Incremental reform inside an existing system is the effective route to change
Against PW · The Thirty Years War was neither inevitable nor a religious conflict. On: Large historical outcomes are contingent choices rather than the working-out of deep causes
Alongside SB · Modern assassination is a state phenomenon, because the reaction of states is what gives political murder its charge. On: Large historical outcomes are contingent choices rather than the working-out of deep causes
Alongside JS · The judgment of history is a fantasy, and history renders no verdict at all, only a record of contention. On: The past supplies usable guidance for present decisions
Alongside JJ · The civil RICO intervention in the Teamsters worked, and government intervention for union democracy makes a stronger union. On: Incremental reform inside an existing system is the effective route to change
Alongside IH · Humans head toward ever more stuff because when things fail the fix is more things, and that cannot be reversed. On: Large historical outcomes are contingent choices rather than the working-out of deep causes
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