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The Limits of Capitalized Power. A 2020 U.S. Update

Author

Listed:
  • Bichler, Shimshon
  • Nitzan, Jonathan

Abstract

Until the late 2000s, our work focused primarily on why capitalism should be understood as a mode of power. We argued that capital itself is a form of organized power and researched how capitalists sustain, defend and augment their capitalized power. We called our approach ‘capital as power’ – or CasP, for short. But that’s only one side of the picture. Power is never unbounded. It is always resisted, opposed and constrained by those on whom it is imposed. And so, in the early 2010s, we started to examine more closely the limits of capitalized power and of the capitalist mode of power more generally. We called this research ‘the asymptotes of power’. In this paper, we revisit and update some of our work on these asymptotes in the United States and think about what they might mean for the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2020. "The Limits of Capitalized Power. A 2020 U.S. Update," Working Papers on Capital as Power 2020/06, Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:capwps:202006
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francis, Joseph & Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2013. "The Buy-to-Build Indicator: New Estimates and Comment," EconStor Preprints 157838, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2023. "The Capital As Power Approach. An Invited-then-Rejected Interview with Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan," Review of Capital as Power, Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism, vol. 2(2), pages 96-174.
    3. Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon, 2009. "Capital as Power. A Study of Order and Creorder," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157973, March.
    4. Veblen, Thorstein, 1904. "Theory of Business Enterprise," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number veblen1904.
    5. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2014. "Nonlinearities of the Sabotage-Redistribution Process," EconStor Preprints 157856, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon, 2000. "Capital Accumulation: Breaking the Dualism of "Economics" and "Politics"," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 67-88.
    7. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2012. "The Asymptotes of Power," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue 60, pages 18-53.
    8. Martin, Ulf, 2019. "The Autocatalytic Sprawl of Pseudorational Mastery," Review of Capital as Power, Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism, vol. 1(4), pages 1-30.
    9. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2020. "Growing through Sabotage: Energizing Hierarchical Power," Review of Capital as Power, Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism, vol. 1(5), pages 1-78.
    10. Nitzan, Jonathan, 1992. "Inflation As Restructuring. A Theoretical and Empirical Account of the U.S. Experience," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157989, March.
    11. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan & Dutkiewicz, Piotr, 2013. "Capitalism as a Mode of Power: Piotr Dutkiewicz in Conversation with Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 326-354.
    12. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2015. "The Scientist and the Church," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157975, March.
    13. Francis, Joseph A., 2013. "The Buy-to-Build Indicator: New Estimates for Britain and the United States," Review of Capital as Power, Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism, vol. 1(1), pages 63-72.
    14. Fix, Blair & Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon, 2019. "Real GDP: The Flawed Metric at the Heart of Macroeconomics," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue 88, pages 51-59.
    15. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan & Di Muzio, Tim, 2012. "The 1%, Exploitation and Wealth: Tim Di Muzio interviews Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan," Review of Capital as Power, Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism, vol. 1(1), pages 1-22.
    16. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2020. "Can Capitalists Continue to Squeeze the Income Share of Employees?," EconStor Preprints 226523, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    17. Dan Fuller & Doris Geide-stevenson, 2003. "Consensus Among Economists: Revisited," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 369-387, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    capital accumulation; capital as power; income distribution; profit; sabotage; unemployment; United States;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination

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