(in Polish) Capitalism and its crises

elective seminars
general courses

The goal of this seminar is to examine the role of crises in the historical dynamics of capitalist societies and to analyse the at least triple – political, economic, and ecological – crisis that unfolds in contemporary capitalism.

Capitalism as social and economic system seems to be permanently vulnerable to crisis. Moreover, many authors claim that it is precisely the feature defining capitalism: the lack of equilibrium is not so much an existential threat but rather an opportunity and impulse for further restructuration. Unsurprisingly, human life in capitalist societies also follows the unstable, risky and fluid path. At times, however, this volatile nature of capitalism articulates itself with striking ferocity. These are crucial moments of change which result in transformations so deep that they suggest the alternatives to capitalism itself. Such was the case of the Great Depression of 1929 or the Petrol Crisis of 1973 which both lead to deep readjustments of the capitalist paradigm.

The goal of this seminar is to examine closely this logic as it unfolds, particularly, in contemporary capitalism, marked by the at least triple – political, economic, and ecological – crisis. Is our situation exceptional? And if it is the case what is this unicity about? Is it about the ecological limits of growth imposed by the climate change? Is it about the erosion of liberal democracies confronted with authoritarian populism? Is it about the collapse of postcolonial geopolitical order putting in question the existing framework of globalisation? Is there an alternative to neoliberal version of capitalism? And, last but not least, are there any alternatives to capitalism itself looming on the horizon?

1. General questions:

- G. Arrighi et al., Dynamics of Global Crisis

- M. Berman, All That Is Solid Melts into Air

- L. Boltanski, E. Chiapello, The New Spirit of Capitalism

- G. Deleuze, F. Guattari, Anti-Oedipus

- D. Harvey, The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism

- R. Luxemburg, The Accumulation of Capital

- K. Marks, Capital

- K. Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time

- I. Wallerstein et al., Does Capitalism have a Future?

- I. Wallerstein, The Modern World-System (I-IV)

2.Specific questions:

- S. Amin, The Implosion of Contemporary Capitalism

- R. Bellofiore, ‘Two or three things I know about her’: Europe in the global crisis and heterodox economics

- M. Cooper, Life as Surplus: Biotechnology and Capitalism in the Neoliberal Era

- D. Graeber, Debt: The First 5,000 Years

- J. Hickel, Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World

- N. Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate

- M. Lazzarato, The Making of the Indebted Man

- S. Levy, In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives

- A. Mbembe, Necropolitics

- S. Mezzadra, Border as Method, or, the Multiplication of Labor

- J. Moore, Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and the Accumulation of Capital

- Ch. Mouffe, For a Left Populism

- M. Nussbaum, The monarchy of fear: A philosopher looks at our political crisis

- T. Piketty, Capital in the twenty-first century

- E. Traverso, The New Faces of Fascism: Populism and the Far Right

- S. Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

Acquired knowledge:

- students will be familiar with the most transformations of the global capitalism and the crises it faces

- students will be aware of the chosen norms that constitute and regulate social structures and institutions, and able to identify the sources of these norms, their nature and many ways they influence human behaviour

Acquired skills:

- Student is able to read in English and interpret philosophical and social-scientific texts

- Applies in a correct manner the philosophical vocabulary pertaining to the problematic of the course

Acquired social competence:

- students will be aware of the range of knowledge they acquired and understand the need for continual education

- students will be open to new ideas and ready to change their views in the light of available data and arguments

Grading will be based on presentations or essays. Presentations should elaborate the problematic discussed during particular meetings by deepening it and referring to additional sources. Essays should contain well thought out, coherent and informed elaborations of the chosen aspects of the course’s problematic.

Acceptable number of absences: 4