The present global crisis opens the door for theoretical alternatives. The two main paradigms of capital accumulation – the neoclassical utility theory of value and the Marxist labour theory of value – are in disarray. Many leading neoclassicists now concede that their "world is broken" and that their utilitarian "pillars of faith" have collapsed. Marxists have been content to see these confessions, but they remain unable to offer a convincing alternative based on labour values. These failures call for a new theoretical, methodological and empirical framework for rethinking capitalist valuation and accumulation – a framework based not on utility or labour time, but on power.
We are calling for paper presentations to be organized in several related panels under the general heading of "Capital as Power." The papers can be theoretical, methodological or empirical, and they can examine any aspect of capital as power. The panels will be included as part of the upcoming "Rethinking Marxism" Conference, to be held on November 5-8, 2009, at the University of Amherst Massachusetts.
http://rethinkingmarxism.org/conf/index.php/gala/NewMarxianTimes
If you wish to present a paper on one of these panels, please write to Jonathan Nitzan (nitzan at yorku.ca). The conference registration deadline is August 1, 2009. In order to set up our panels in a timely fashion, we request your proposal (title and a 200 word abstract) to be sent in to Nitzan by June 1, 2009.
Best wishes,
Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan
-- Jonathan Nitzan Political Science York University 4700 Keele St. Toronto, Ontario, M3J-1P3 Canada Voice: (416) 736-2100, ext. 88822 Fax: (416) 736-5686 Email: nitzan at yorku.ca Website: http://bnarchives.net