The Beginning of History

Value Struggles and Global Capital

Massimo De Angelis

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781783716586
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Political Philosophy

Francis Fukuyama may declare the 'end of history', and neoliberal capital embraces this belief. However, the diverse struggles for commons and dignity around the planet reveal a different reality: that of the beginning of history. The clash between these two perspectives is the subject matter of this book. This book analyses the frontline of this struggle. On one side, a social force called capital pursues endless growth and monetary value. On the other side, other social forces strive to rearrange the web of life on their own terms. This book engages with alternative modes of co-production recently posed by the alter-globalisation movement, and it examines what these movements are up against. This account explores groundbreaking new critical political economic theory and its role in bringing about radical social change.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Preface
• 1. The Beginning of History
• Part I: Orientations: Co-Production of Livelihoods as Contested Terrain
• Part II: Global Loops: Some Explorations On the Contemporary Work Machine
• Part III: Context, Contest and Text: Discourses and Their Clashing Practices
• Part IV: ‘By Asking Questions We Walk’: the Problematics of Decoupling
• Notes
• References
• Other Web Resources
• Index