Crises of Imagination, Crises of Power: Capitalism, Creativity and the Commons - Softcover

Max Haiven

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1780329520 ISBN 13: 9781780329529

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd, 2014

Synopsis

Today, when it seems like everything has been privatized, when austerity is too often seen as an economic or political problem that can be solved through better policy, and when the idea of moral values has been commandeered by the right, how can we re-imagine the forces used as weapons against community, solidarity, ecology and life itself?

In this stirring call to arms, Max Haiven argues that capitalism has colonized how we all imagine and express what is valuable. Looking at the decline of the public sphere, the corporatization of education, the privatization of creativity, and the power of finance capital in opposition to the power of the imagination and the growth of contemporary social movements, Haiven provides a powerful argument for creating an anti-capitalist commons. Capitalism is not in crisis, it is the crisis, and moving beyond it is the only key to survival.

Crucial reading for all those questioning the imposition of austerity and hoping for a fairer future beyond it.

About this title

Review:

'Fatalism and futility beware! We now have a handbook for the invention of a new commons. In 'Crises of Imagination, Crises of Power', Max Haiven explains how and why we need to struggle to take back creativity, imagination and our sense of collective purpose from those forces that seek to use it to their own ends. With the help of this book, another world really is possible.'
Imre Szeman, Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies, University of Alberta

'In this inspired and engaged book, Max Haiven provides us with what he calls a series of exercises of the imagination. Readers will emerge from these invigorating sessions, which rework the machineries of finance, labor and activism, equipped with a contemporary radicalism to face the demands of a full immersion in the possibilities and complexities of our moment.'
Randy Martin, New York University

'Against the bankruptcy of liberal politics, Max Haiven puts forward a renewed called for the elaboration of others values, lives, and ways of being together. This is a radicalism based, not upon pie the sky ideas, but on expanding the commons of a social reproduction not premised on capital's measure but it's own, extending and learning from practices already in motion. Crises of Imagination, Crises of Power helps bring us closer to the utopia that is within our grasp.' Stevphen Shukaitis, author of 'Imaginal Machines: Autonomy & Self-Organization in the Revolutions of Everyday Life'

'Haiven's provocative book does justice to a topic that has been too long neglected. He not only explains the constraints that are everywhere placed on our political imagination, but also makes a strong case for transcending them.' --Andrew Ross, author of 'Creditocracy and the Case for Debt Refusal'

About the Author:

Max Haiven is an assistant professor in the division of Art History and Critical Studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Canada. He is the author of many academic articles on themes including the financialization of society and culture, contemporary social movements, the radical imagination, and cultural and social theory. He is the co-author of The Radical Imagination: Social Movement Research in the Age of Austerity (Zed Books 2014)

About this edition

• Publisher: Zed Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1780329520
• ISBN 13: 9781780329529
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320