Capital and Language: From the New Economy to the War Economy (Semiotext(e) / Foreign Agents) [Paperback]

Christian Marazzi (Author), Gregory Conti (Translator), Michael Hardt (Introduction)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1584350679 | ISBN-13: 978-1584350675 | Publication Date: September 12, 2008

A major theorist in the Italian postfordist movement offers a radical new understanding of the current international economic situation.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The Swiss-Italian economist Christian Marazzi is one of the core theorists of the Italian postfordist movement, along with Antonio Negri, Paolo Virno, and Bifo (Franco Berardi). But although his work is often cited by scholars (particularly by those in the field of "Cognitive Capitalism"), his writing has never appeared in English. This translation of his most recent work, Capital and Language (published in Italian in 2002), finally makes Marazzi's work available to an English-speaking audience. Capital and Language takes as its starting point the fact that the extreme volatility of financial markets is generally attributed to the discrepancy between the "real economy" (that of material goods produced and sold) and the more speculative monetary-financial economy. But this distinction has long ceased to apply in the postfordist New Economy, in which both spheres are structurally affected by language and communication. In Capital and Language Marazzi argues that the changes in financial markets and the transformation of labor into immaterial labor (that is, its reliance on abstract knowledge, general intellect, and social cooperation) are just two sides of the same coin. Capital and Language focuses on the causes behind the international economic and financial depression of 2001, and on the primary instrument that the U.S. government has since been using to face them: war. Marazzi points to capitalism's fourth stage (after mercantilism, industrialism, and the postfordist culmination of the New Economy): the "War Economy" that is already upon us. Marazzi offers a radical new understanding of the current international economic stage and crucial post-Marxist guidance for confronting capitalism in its newest form. Capital and Language also provides a warning call to a Left still nostalgic for a Fordist construct--a time before factory turned into office (and office into home), and before labor became linguistic.

Christian Marazzi is the coeditor (with Sylvère Lotringer) of Autonomia: Post-Political Politics (published by Semiotext(e) in a new edition in 2007), and the author of The Place for Socks (forthcoming from Semiotext(e).

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Semiotext(e) (September 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584350679
• ISBN-13: 978-1584350675
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #848,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Scalpel for Dissecting Class Decomposition, November 15, 2008

By 

S. Shukaitis "linguistic functionary" (London) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Capital and Language: From the New Economy to the War Economy (Semiotext(e) / Foreign Agents) (Paperback)

This book is fantastic. It's about time that the greater interest shown in workerist / autonomous Marxist thought and politics has translated into publishing some of Christian Marazzi's work in English. If Toni Negri's work provides one with a giant hammer for smashing through the mystifications of class reality, Marazzi conversely provides a set of finely sharpened blades and scalpels for the dissection of processes of class decomposition. Of particular interest and usefulness is his exploration of fiscal crisis of New York City during the 1970s, and how that proved to be a turning point is the disciplining of the working class as pension funds were invested into stock markets (thus workers came to have an interest in the workings of financial markets that were both benefitting and working against them). It is unfortunate this book was not published several years earlier, as the fact that Marazzi is analyzing an earlier financial crisis (namely the one relating to the new economy bubble) might suggest to one that this book is old hat (it is strange, for instance, to be reading commentaries and analysis involving a number of companies that only recently have ceased to exist), but this is not the case. The dynamics of financialization and class composition that Marazzi are all the more present, even if having changed exaggerated since he wrote this book, within the conjunction of factors leading to the current crisis. Definitely worth a read. Looking forward to more of his work being translated and published.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An attempt to make a simple hypothesis genius, March 28, 2011

By 

Peter C. Baker (Malvern, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Capital and Language: From the New Economy to the War Economy (Semiotext(e) / Foreign Agents) (Paperback)

Arcane,cumbersome, unnecessarily wordy------ page after page of what could have been succinctly stated in 5 pages. Poorly translated!
If you have trouble sleeping buy this.