Tag Archives: class

Erik Olin Wright has contributed to making utopias real

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Oleg Komlik

“Gramsci once described the struggle for social justice as requiring ‘pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.’ I believe in the world today we need an optimism of the intellect as well: an optimism grounded in our understanding of … Continue reading →

Posted in Oleg Komlik | Tagged class, Erik Olin Wright, Marxism, Public Intellectuals | 4 Comments

Elite Men and Inequality in the Hedge Fund Industry

Posted on November 9, 2018 by Oleg Komlik

by Megan Tobias Neely* “I’m sorry, but so and so’s brother needed to get hired. Shit happens,” Karen recounted, with resignation, a time her boss denied her a promotion. Karen is a white woman who works at a hedge fund, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Community members posts, Papers | Tagged class, elite, finance, gender, inequality, race, social networks | Leave a comment

Gramsci on the State, the Proprietorial Class, and the Sovereign Laws of Capitalism

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Oleg Komlik

“In the sphere of general capitalist activity, even the worker operates on the plane of free competition, is a citizen-individual. But the starting conditions of the struggle are not equal for all, at the same time: the existence of private … Continue reading →

Posted in Oleg Komlik | Tagged Antonio Gramsci, capitalism, class, power, state | 2 Comments

Reading on Karl Marx’s 200th anniversary

Posted on May 5, 2018 by Oleg Komlik

There’s nothing like marking Karl Marx’s bicentenary reading these “Red” newspapers! 😉 And, read “Karl Marx@200: Debating Capitalism and Perspectives for the Future of Radical Theory“, an interesting Communication, Capitalism & Critique (open-access) special issue, featuring thought- and action-provoking articles by David … Continue reading →

Posted in Oleg Komlik, Papers | Tagged class, Karl Marx, Marxism, media, theory | 2 Comments

Stephen Hawking: Technology drives ever-increasing inequality

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Oleg Komlik

On 6 October 2015, a great theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking conducted a special Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session. Out of the thousands of submitted issues, Hawking selected those he wished to reply, mainly discussing aspects of artificial intelligence. In conclusion, Hawking … Continue reading →

Posted in Oleg Komlik | Tagged class, inequality, technology | 4 Comments

Being the 1%, or What It Means to Be Entitled

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Oleg Komlik

by Rachel Sherman* Most contemporary research on economic inequality focuses on the causes, contours, and consequences of unequal distributions of resources. But how they do such distributions become legitimate? Why do people accept them, and even take them for granted? Why … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Community members posts | Tagged class, consumption, elites, inequality, money, morality, privilege, wealth | 3 Comments

What is Money?

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Oleg Komlik

“Money is not a “mere voucher for unspecified utilities”, which could be altered at will without any fundamental effect on the character of the price system as a struggle of man against man. “Money” is, rather, primarily a weapon in … Continue reading →

Posted in Oleg Komlik | Tagged class, Max Weber, money, power, price determination, sociology of money | Leave a comment

Why is there no labor party in the United States? Look at Canada to find out

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Oleg Komlik

In 1906, a German distinguished (somewhat neglected) economist and sociologist Werner Sombart published Why is there no Socialism in the United States? – a book which will become a famous work on American exceptionalism to this day (along with a pioneering and penetrative Democracy in America, by Alexis de … Continue reading →

Posted in Papers | Tagged agriculture, Canada, class, comparative political economy, institutional change, labor, policy, politics, Representation (politics), social movements, socialism, Unions, United States | 1 Comment

Ethnographies of austerity

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Oleg Komlik

Austerity is not about numbers, economic data or amorphous macro-scale policies; Austerity is about people. Middle and working-class people, they are the ones who bear the brunt of oppressive neoliberalism and carry the depressing burdens of austerity in their everyday life: increasing unemployment, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged austerity, ‪culture, class, debt, ethnography, globalization, neoliberalism, policy, state | 2 Comments

Class struggle — Karl Marx would be proud of this guy

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

On a whiteboard at the college entrance “Tell us what class are you struggling with and why? The Bourgeoise b/c they control the modes of production“ Although it should be “means of production”, I think this person has already learned … Continue reading →

Posted in Theory in Pictures | Tagged academia, class, Karl Marx, Marxism | Leave a comment

Capital as power and class struggle explained by… Adam Smith?!

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

In any given society, there is no freedom of contract between capitalist and worker, whose interests are essentially opposite. The power of a landlord, a manufacturer, a merchant resides in his wealth, explaining the inherent subjection of laborers, which lack almost any … Continue reading →

Posted in Oleg Komlik | Tagged Adam Smith, capital, capitalism, class, labor, power | 3 Comments

Credit makes you free! Neoliberalism, politics of debt and the subjugation of the working poor

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

Under the rubric of ‘financial inclusion’, lending to the poor – in both the global North and global South – has become a highly lucrative and rapidly expanding industry since the 1990s. A key inquiry of Susanne Soederberg’s penetrating and … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged class, credit, debt, Economic Sociology, financialization, governance, institutions, Mexico, neoliberalism, poverty, power, state, United States | 4 Comments

International Political Economy scholars miss THE question of the 21st century: the rise of a global labor class living in poverty

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

In the recent years, more and more International Political Economy (IPE) scholars are dissatisfied with the current state of this field of research and desire to identify the ‘Big Questions’ of the 21st century. In this (open access) article, Benjamin … Continue reading →

Posted in Papers | Tagged academia, capital, capitalism, class, development, global political economy, globalization, labor, Marxism, social sciences | 1 Comment

Ulrich Beck has died. His powerful concept of ‘Risk Society’ is relevant as never before

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

Renowned sociologist and social thinker Ulrich Beck has died. Ulrich Beck (Munich University and LSE) has become one of the world’s most famous intellectuals and most quoted social scientists in recent decades. Beck’s book Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity (1986/1992) is … Continue reading →