---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Julio Huato <juliohuato at gmail.com> Date: Jan 30, 5:35 pm Subject: S&S Call for Papers To: Marxist Debate http://groups.google.com/group/marxist-debate
Science & Society http://www.scienceandsociety.com/
CALL FOR PAPERS MARXISM AND CRISIS IN 21ST-CENTURY CAPITALISM
The recent collapse of financial markets, housing, commodity prices, and employment has shattered the myths of neoliberalism and market fundamentalism. But conventional accounts of the crisis, focused on the role of subprime mortgage lending, complex mortgage-backed securities, derivatives, "shadow" banking, deleveraging, and widespread fraud leaves the deeper structural issues of capital accumulation, class relations, and systemic evolution out of the picture. How should the current crisis be understood in light of Marxist theoretical conceptions of capitalist dynamics?
The current economic collapse has brought forth many questions. Is the ongoing crisis an event that is bringing about a new phase of capitalism? Will the crisis, and the responses to it, shift or disperse the geographic foci of capitalism? How do current theories of accumulation and the stages of capitalism hold up under recent events? How will the crisis affect the globalization of capitalist power; will it reinforce or damage it? What specific role will the state play in attempting to preserve capitalist accumulation? Is a new round of nationalization and decommodification on the agenda? If so, how extensive is this likely to be? What are the probable effects of the crisis, and of governmental responses to the crisis, on the working and living conditions of workers and on their political self- organization? How will women and minorities be affected? What is the future of relations among different sectors of the international working class, particularly between richer and poorer countries? As financial markets recoil, what direction will the economy take when a system that appeared to be invulnerable has failed? What will be the policy direction of the new rising economic powers, in particular the BRIC countries? What can be said about the current potential for revolutionary change? How will the recent attempts at social change in Latin America weather the international crisis? What are the consequences of the crisis for imperialism? Environmental crisis and capitalist accumulation are intertwined; in what new ways must existing theories of capitalist dynamics be altered to understand environmental degradation along with economic crisis?
Science & Society encourages a diversity of views, and we do not expect any sort of convergence to settled conclusions. We are, however, hoping to focus on fundamental aspects of capital accumulation and crises in 21st-century capitalism from a Marxist standpoint, rather than on current developments and reportage belonging in publications that appear more frequently. Papers should not exceed 4,500 words in length. We will ask contributors to comment on each other’s work, with eventual responses to the comments, in what will emerge as a dialog format. The deadline for the first-round papers is September 1, 2009.
The Guest Editors for the issue are Dr. Julio Huato (Department of Economics, St. Francis College), and Dr. Justin Holt (The Gallatin School, New York University), both of whom are members of the Science & Society Editorial Board. Potential contributors should contact, and contributions sent directly to, the Guest Editors at juliohuato at gmail.com, and jh129 at nyu.edu.