Mass and the Politics of Scale
10/04/23 • 23 min
[S5.5 E05] Anti-Capitalist Chronicles: Mass and the Politics of Scale
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Professor Harvey discusses the UAW strike and the transformation of the automobile industry. He argues that mere electrification of the automobile cannot solve the environmental crisis. The sheer scale at which capital is now working is radically different from that which existed in Marx's time. The growth incentive must be dismantled in such a way that allows us to meet our needs. But we have organized our societies around the automobile. We urgently have to start thinking about a political program which is actually going to stop this process of continuously doubling the economy's size every 15 years or so. By not considering the true scale of the problem we're not really thinking through the future consequences of our current actions because in many ways what we're doing is condemning the future by our present decisions.
David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is co-produced by Politics in Motion. Politics In Motion is a nonprofit organization founded in May 2023 by Prof. David Harvey and Prof. Miguel Robles-Durán, along with Dr. Chris Caruso, instructional technologist, and noted writer and art curator Laura Raicovich. Our anti-capitalist media platform offers piercing insights and thought-provoking analyses on political, social, spatial, cultural, environmental and economic issues through a range of engaging mediums, including YouTube streams, podcasts, and live events.
If you would like to support this project and see more of Prof. Harvey, visit us at:
https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
__________________________________________________________________________
David Harvey's lastest book "A Companion to Marx's Grundrisse" (Verso 2023):
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2930-a-companion-to-marx-s-grundrisse
__________________________________________________________________________
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Follow David Harvey:
Website: http://davidharvey.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/profdavidharvey
#uaw #strike #marxism
[S5.5 E05] Anti-Capitalist Chronicles: Mass and the Politics of Scale
Stay connected with the latest news from Politics in Motion. Join our mailing list today: https://www.politicsinmotion.org
Professor Harvey discusses the UAW strike and the transformation of the automobile industry. He argues that mere electrification of the automobile cannot solve the environmental crisis. The sheer scale at which capital is now working is radically different from that which existed in Marx's time. The growth incentive must be dismantled in such a way that allows us to meet our needs. But we have organized our societies around the automobile. We urgently have to start thinking about a political program which is actually going to stop this process of continuously doubling the economy's size every 15 years or so. By not considering the true scale of the problem we're not really thinking through the future consequences of our current actions because in many ways what we're doing is condemning the future by our present decisions.
David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is co-produced by Politics in Motion. Politics In Motion is a nonprofit organization founded in May 2023 by Prof. David Harvey and Prof. Miguel Robles-Durán, along with Dr. Chris Caruso, instructional technologist, and noted writer and art curator Laura Raicovich. Our anti-capitalist media platform offers piercing insights and thought-provoking analyses on political, social, spatial, cultural, environmental and economic issues through a range of engaging mediums, including YouTube streams, podcasts, and live events.
If you would like to support this project and see more of Prof. Harvey, visit us at:
https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
__________________________________________________________________________
David Harvey's lastest book "A Companion to Marx's Grundrisse" (Verso 2023):
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2930-a-companion-to-marx-s-grundrisse
__________________________________________________________________________
Follow Politics in Motion:
Website: https://www.politicsinmotion.org
Patreon: https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticsInMotion
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/politicsinmotion
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@politicsinmotion
Twitter: https://twitter.com/politicsnmotion
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Politics-in-Motion/100092557227878/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@politicsinmotion
Follow David Harvey:
Website: http://davidharvey.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/profdavidharvey
#uaw #strike #marxism
Previous Episode
The Return of McCarthyism (Part 2) — On The New York Times and other Liberal Media
[S5.5 E4] Anti-Capitalist Chronicles: The Return of McCarthyism (Part 2) — On The New York Times and other Liberal Media
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Professor Harvey discusses the media “red scare” on China and the current persecution of the socialist American philanthropist Roy Singham by The New York Times and Senator Marco Rubio. Roy Singham is the funder of several initiatives of the American left, including Code Pink and The Peoples Forum, an activist center in the middle of Manhattan where Professor David Harvey teaches Marx.
David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is co-produced by Politics in Motion. Politics In Motion is a nonprofit organization founded in May 2023 by Prof. David Harvey and Prof. Miguel Robles-Durán, along with Dr. Chris Caruso, instructional technologist, and noted writer and art curator Laura Raicovich. Our anti-capitalist media platform offers piercing insights and thought-provoking analyses on political, social, spatial, cultural, environmental and economic issues through a range of engaging mediums, including YouTube streams, podcasts, and live events.
If you would like to support this project and see more of Prof. Harvey, visit us at:
https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
__________________________________________________________________________
David Harvey's lastest book "A Companion to Marx's Grundrisse" (Verso 2023):
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2930-a-companion-to-marx-s-grundrisse
__________________________________________________________________________
Follow Politics in Motion:
Website: https://www.politicsinmotion.org
Patreon: https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticsInMotion
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/politicsinmotion
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@politicsinmotion
Twitter: https://twitter.com/politicsnmotion
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Politics-in-Motion/100092557227878/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@politicsinmotion
Follow David Harvey:
Website: http://davidharvey.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/profdavidharvey
#politics #redscare #mccarthyism
Next Episode
Where Does Profit Come From?
[S5.5 E06] Where Does Profit Come From?
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Professor Harvey takes us back to the very origins of Marx’s Capital by asking the questions, where does profit come from and what are the consequences of profit making? Harvey discusses how the debates between Ricardo and Malthus informed Marx’s answers to those questions. He then turns to Rosa Luxemburg’s insights into the role of imperialism’s predations on non-capitalist societies to expand accumulation. Finally, he brings the argument up to date by discussing the role of the credit system. As the internal capacity for consumerism and the imperialist capacity for consumerism become exhausted, the burden lies upon an expansion of the credit system to realize the value of ever-growing consumerism. Increasing financialization since the 1980s has created a different kind of logic to the dynamics of capital in which more and more of the onus is placed upon the growth of the credit system to keep the accumulation of capital expanding, which exposes the capitalist system to financial crises.
David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is co-produced by Politics in Motion. Politics In Motion is a nonprofit organization founded in May 2023 by Prof. David Harvey and Prof. Miguel Robles-Durán, along with Dr. Chris Caruso, instructional technologist, and noted writer and art curator Laura Raicovich. Our anti-capitalist media platform offers piercing insights and thought-provoking analyses on political, social, spatial, cultural, environmental and economic issues through a range of engaging mediums, including YouTube streams, podcasts, and live events.
If you would like to support this project and see more of Prof. Harvey, visit us at:
https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
__________________________________________________________________________
David Harvey's lastest book "A Companion to Marx's Grundrisse" (Verso 2023):
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2930-a-companion-to-marx-s-grundrisse
__________________________________________________________________________
Follow Politics in Motion:
Website: https://www.politicsinmotion.org
Patreon: https://patreon.com/PoliticsinMotion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticsInMotion
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/politicsinmotion
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@politicsinmotion
Twitter: https://twitter.com/politicsnmotion
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Politics-in-Motion/100092557227878/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@politicsinmotion
Follow David Harvey:
Website: http://davidharvey.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/profdavidharvey
#profit #imperialism #finance
David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles - Mass and the Politics of Scale
Transcript
David Harvey (00:00):
Welcome to the Anti-Capitalist Chronicles podcast, sponsored through Politics in Motion. And one of the issues that I want to take up is really a foundational issue for understanding where we are at right now because one of the things that I've been finding is that people take modes of analysis from some period in the past and present it as if somehow or is relevant in the present. At the same time, I find myself sort of defending the idea that just because Marx wr
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