The Political Economy of Post-Capitalism

It has become clear that instead of constituting the end of history or ending in its supplanting by socialism, capitalism has been outpaced by history and transmuted into something else. In this book, Westra explores the literature on the current state of capitalism ranging from questions of financial system and technological change through evidence of shifting class contours to a far more predatory constellation dubbed neofeudalism. In seeking to expose the dire consequences for humanity of capitalist unravelling, this book remedies the lacunae and disparateness of current writings which leave fundamental questions of what precisely capitalism is or was and the historical delimitations of capitalism unanswered. Westra not only critically analyzes the arguments over capitalisms passing under key rubrics of financialization, globalization, intangible assets and social class, unveiling interconnections among perspectives, but grounds determinations over the existence of capitalism in a novel synthetic definition of it. Thus, while capitalism has always been an exploitative, asymmetric wealth distributive, alienating, class divisive, crises ridden society, Westra explains how, supported by neoliberal state policies, the economic transmutations the book treats undermine what coherence capitalism maintained for human economic affairs to the existential detriment of society. This book will be of interest to academics and students across fields of economics, political economy, economic history, political science and sociology as well as to progressive policymakers and social activists.