Periodizing Capitalism and Capitalist Extinction

Description

This book offers the first systematic exposition and critique of the major approaches to periodizing capitalism, bringing to bear both deep rooted theoretical questions and meticulous empirical analysis to grapple with the seismic economic changes capitalism has experienced over the past 150 years. Westra asks why – despite the anarchic and crises tendencies captured in radical analyses – capitalism manages to reload in a structured stage that realizes a period of relatively stable accumulation. He further evaluates arguments over the economic forces bringing stages of capitalist development to a crashing end. Particular attention in the periodization literature is devoted to examining the economy of the post World War II golden age and what followed its unceremonious demise. The final chapters assess whether what is variously dubbed neoliberalism, globalization or financialization can be understood as a stage of capitalism or, rather, an era of capitalist disintegration and extinction. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction to Periodizing Capitalism (Richard Westra)....Pages 1-23 Capitalist Development and Theories of Imperialism (Richard Westra)....Pages 25-54 From Monopoly to “Late” Capitalism (Richard Westra)....Pages 55-81 Periodizing Really Existing Capitalism of the 1980s and 1990s (Richard Westra)....Pages 83-115 Regulation School, Social Structures of Accumulation, and Intermediate Theory (Richard Westra)....Pages 117-145 The Japanese Uno–Sekine Approach to Marxian Political Economy (Richard Westra)....Pages 147-177 Problematizing Capitalism in the Era of Globalization and Financialization (Richard Westra)....Pages 179-214 Landlordization of Capitalism and Extinction of an Economic Species (Richard Westra)....Pages 215-249 Concluding Words (Richard Westra)....Pages 251-259 Back Matter ....Pages 261-270