8th Nov 2011 6:30pm
M57, Grand Parade, University of Brighton
6.30pm, 8 November 2011
M57, Grand Parade
The recent financial crisis has witnessed the resurgence of anti-capitalist politics, and a wide ranging debate about either reform or overthrow of the existing system. This paper develops a critique of post-Marxist political philosophy, insisting that its failure to address the systemic and structural features of capitalism has rendered it speechless in the current crisis. In order to remedy this perceived failure I return to a close reading of key aspects of Marx’s Capital, in particular of his account of equivalence and the money form, and his account of property. I suggest that reading Marx through the lenses of Rancière’s and Laclau’s respective accounts of impropriety and equivalence points towards a radical political agenda which is already finding its voice in the streets of London and New York.
Dangerous Ideas challenges engaged intellectuals to critically assess the extraordinary changes of the past decade. It is an opportunity to explore what engaged critique means for a newly politicised student community, and for a society experiencing seismic shifts after the financial and military crises of the past decade.
