For those who despair when people say 'there is no alternative to capitalism', the following should be warmly welcome:
NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT
A Commodified World?
Mapping the limits of Capitalism
Colin C. Williams
Late capitalism is widely assumed to involve an inevitable shift towards more and more commodified economic relations under the market-driven search for corporate profit, while non-capitalist activities are disappearing. This book critiques this notion. It seeks to show that a combination of new ‘cultures of resistance’, choices being made by the more affluent in industrialised countries, and continuing economic pressures on the poor and marginalized all deeply constrain this tendency, if they do not threaten to reverse it.
The author finds that, even in the heartland of commoditization (the advanced economies), a non-commodified realm persists that is as large as the commodified sphere and growing relative to it. In coming to this conclusion, he surveys a wide body of empirical evidence relating to social trends and new patterns of economic activity – including changes in women’s participation, differences between wealthy and poor urban areas, and between urban and rural sectors. And he concludes that governments and communities ought to seek to intervene in what is happening by deliberately managing a de-coupling of production and consumption from the commodified realm in order to open up spaces of hope that offer alternative development paths.
This powerfully developed analysis of modern capitalism is bound to command widespread intellectual attention and controversy within the social sciences, as well as drawing attention to changes in economic activity at the grassroots of industrial societies.
Publication: October 2004
Publisher: Zed Books, London
To reserve a copy (and receive an up-date on price and availability), e-mail Rosemary Taylorson at Zed Books, 7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF, UK. E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Professor Colin C Williams
The Management Centre
University of Leicester
Leicester LE1 7RH
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)116 252 5387
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
|