Capitalism and Globalization: Das Kapital in the Era of Technological Capital

Abstract

To reflect on the last process of globalization from a Marxist tradition demands that we sort through the elements in the classical analysis (dealing with the rise and reproduction of a world market) in order to determine which ones can still prove useful for attempting an explanation of our present conditions of existence, and which ones have become outdated. Marx’s main contribution Das Kapital offered convincing explanations for a world that was entering its imperialist phase: a world in which finance capital was emerging as a key determinant, in which states were consolidating into big colonial powers with an active working class guided by more than one revolutionary program. The collapse of the socialist project, the increasing volatility and complexity of the defining features of the working class, the reconfiguration of capitalism towards much more effective forms of capillary domination, the subsequent technological revolutions, and the consolidation of technological capital as the key element within the world market threaten to expose the old theory to the inclemency of history. Considering the key assumptions of this list: which elements remain useful tools for analysis and which ones belong to the history of political economy? This article tries to answer this question