Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Anti-Capitalism (Simon Tormey)

Even if you don't consider yourself an anti-capitalist, or a person with anti-capitalist tendencies, this is the book to read if you're looking for an analysis of recent unofficial politics, or if you're simply wondering what anti-capitalism is.


Tormey takes the reader through a brief history of capitalism before launching into the good stuff. By the good stuff I mean a discussion about the changing forms of political participation, and what Tormey refers to as a "movement of movements." Apparently anti-capitalism is not an organic whole, but rather a collection of  reformist and radical groups and ideologies which have unofficially united around a criticism of neoliberalism and what the Tormey refers to as finanicalization--a term referring to the increased importance of stock markets and the financial sector in our economies.

All the dominant political opponents to neoliberalism are discussed here, including Marxism and Anarchism, as well as environmental and globalization perspectives. A lot of information is offered, but Tormey does a descent job of summarizing it throughout the chapters.

The book's interpretation of modern politics suggests that people are avoiding so called-vertical or official politics in favour of unofficial politics. People create protests instead of parties. People, "seek to draw attention of the deficiencies of politics," showing little appetite for power." People "are motivated less by the prospect of taking over the apparatus of governance than by querying, challenging, mocking those who run it (154).

Pick up "Anti-Capitalism" next time you're in shop or library. It's one of the most insightful political science books I've read in a while.


No comments:

Post a Comment