Capitalism on Edge: How Fighting Precarity Can Achieve Radical Change Without Crisis or Utopia

by Albena Azmanova, Amy Allen (Editor)

The wake of the financial crisis has inspired hopes for dramatic change and stirred visions of capitalism's terminal collapse. Yet capitalism is not on its deathbed, utopia is not in our future, and revolution is not in the cards. In Capitalism on Edge, Albena Azmanova demonstrates that radical progressive change is still attainable, but it must come from an unexpected direction.

Azmanova's new critique of capitalism focuses on the competitive pursuit of profit rather than on forms of ownership and patterns of wealth distribution. She contends that neoliberal capitalism has mutated into a new form--precarity capitalism--marked by the emergence of a precarious multitude. Widespread economic insecurity ails the 99 percent across differences in income, education, and professional occupation; it is the underlying cause of such diverse hardships as work-related stress and chronic unemployment. In response, Azmanova calls for forging a broad alliance of strange bedfellows whose discontent would challenge not only capitalism's unfair outcomes but also the drive for profit at its core. To achieve this synthesis, progressive forces need to go beyond the old ideological certitudes of, on the left, fighting inequality and, on the right, increasing competition. Azmanova details reforms that would enable a dramatic transformation of the current system without a revolutionary break. An iconoclastic critique of left orthodoxy, Capitalism on Edge confronts the intellectual and political impasses of our time to discern a new path of emancipation.

Genres: Economics

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 14, 2020

Reviews

[Javelin Hands]

I haven't finished this book. I find it challenging because of the academic, jargon laden writing. I have read about half to date (looking for the energy to continue) and the analysis she offers is very interesting. In particular, I found the parts of the book most useful where she breaks down the phases of capitalism, and how liberals in the US shifted rightward economically, and her realignment of the political poles.

One day maybe I will finish this. Her suggestion early on in the book is that we need another way forward besides capitalism or socialism (which I gleaned is because, like Hannah Arendt, Azmanova sees both as reducing humans to their economic potential - economic man - but also because neither are ecology sustainable according to her) and states that we don't need to have a concrete, formed plan ready to roll in order to justify toppling the current system.

Compelling....if only it were more accessible.

[Will Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the author presents some interesting points, the language is clumsy, bordering on unreadable, and the text at times feels like a badly organized undergrad essay trying to sound smarter than it actually is: conclusions being drawn and redrawn mid-chapter, sentences saying too little with too many words... I also feel that the whole critical theory aspect was unnecessary and unhelpful, and contributed to an overall appearance of pretentiousness, with terms being defined and redefined page after page.

[Roger Lanoue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting analysis of the evolution of capitalism; in particular the label «precarity capitalism» being developed as caracterizing the fact that not only the poor, but most people are in a state of tension and uncertainty due to global competitive production of profit. Which leads to the possibility of transforming the system at the edges.
The details of the path to get there are not necessarily convincing though.