Capitalist Sorcery: Breaking the Spell - Softcover

Pignarre, P.; Stengers, I.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0230237630 ISBN 13: 9780230237636

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021

Synopsis

If denunciation were effective, capitalism would have disappeared a long time ago. But denunciation is never enough. Capitalism is a system that reinvents itself permanently, through the creation of infernal alternatives, alternatives which take us all hostage: 'if we don't cut the deficit, we'll never regain our competitiveness'.

In other traditions than that of the moderns, this sort of paralysis would be described as sorcery. Capitalist Sorcery takes this idea seriously – literally - and explores the consequences of our vulnerability to a system which daily recruits the minions that it needs to cast its spells.

Proposing a pragmatic reading of Marx, a reading which seeks to ward off the thoughtlessness encouraged by the theme of progress and the resignation that arises from accepting that capitalism is the 'only game in town', the authors look at how we can protect ourselves from the logic which - from financial collapse through GM foods to oil spills and climate catastrophe - runs scared of the cry 'another world is possible'.

About this title

Review:

'Stengers and Pignarre launch call to invention, against the spell of the infernal alternatives that bind us to the capitalist 'realist' logic of choosing between the lesser of unliveable evils. To counter this capture, they propose a political 'magic' capable of creating new possibilities. But do not be misled: the 'magic' is all in the technique, and the technique is all in relation. Capitalist Sorcery is a veritable toolbox for an anticapitalist politics of collective empowerment, essential reading for all those interested in movement politics post-Seattle.' - Brian Massumi, Communication Department, University of Montreal, Canada.
 
'...a detailed and thought-provoking pragmatics of resistance...' - Culture Machine

Book Description:

An original and rigourous construction of an anticapitalist pragmatics organized round an analysis of capitalism as a system of sorcery

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2021
• ISBN 10: 0230237630
• ISBN 13: 9780230237636
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 183