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The More-Than-Human Life of Capitalism: Assemblages, Affects and the Neoliberal Black Hole

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  • Nick J. Fox

    (Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK)

Abstract

This paper applies a more-than-human, relational, new materialist ontology to ask the Deleuzian question: what does capitalism actually do? The transactions identified in Marx’s Capital are re-analysed as more-than-human assemblages, constituted by affective flows involving both human and non-human matter. The paper then identifies further more-than-human affects that produce the fluctuations in prices and quantities of goods sold, described in classical economics as the ‘laws of supply and demand’. Analysis reveals these affects to be associated with the affective and relational capacities of commodities. The consequences of this more-than-human ontology of capitalism are explored by means of a short case study of the digital economy. This demonstrates how more-than-human affects are responsible for many of the negative consequences of a capitalist economy, including uncertainty, waste and social inequalities. The paper suggests that capitalism is progressively becoming a ‘black hole’ from which neither workers nor capitalist enterprises can escape, and draws conclusions that diverge radically from both neoliberal and Marxist analyses of capitalism.

Suggested Citation

  • Nick J. Fox, 2023. "The More-Than-Human Life of Capitalism: Assemblages, Affects and the Neoliberal Black Hole," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:12:y:2023:i:11:p:632-:d:1280974
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Francesca Foliano & Rebecca Riley, 2017. "International Trade and UK de-industrialisation," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 242(1), pages 3-13, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fox, Nick J., 2024. "Capitalism and the ‘commercial determinants of health’: A more-than-human micropolitics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).

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