Customer Reviews

Enigma of Capital

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

David Harvey ably and rather succinctly runs down the structural problem with capitalism as we know it. He focuses on the different ways Capital has had to evolve to continue its "3% Compound Growth" year after year. The results in the real world aren't pretty, but as Harvey covers them in his book, they are elegantly done. I have read several books that have focused on the most recent crisis in the capitalistic system and Harvey's tome is one that covers the specifics fairly well but is at its best looking at the global structural problem that is not specific to a time and place.

I was particularly impressed with the final chapter, as anyone with such a cogent criticism must be able to imagine a better world. Harvey answers the eternal question "What is to be done?" with a pragmatic and undogmatic response that recognizes the variability that necessitate a multi-pronged approach to moving to a post-capitalistic world that looks to the future and not the past. I am still pessimistic about the short term future, but it is hard to have too much pessimism when there are talented individuals like David Harvey out in the world teaching and writing - I just hope more people start listening.

David Harvey is probably both the best known and most prolific author on popular topics in Marxist economics today, and this is one of his best books so far. Working always from his perspective as an economic geographer, in "The Enigma of Capital" he uses the occasion of the current financial crisis to provide a lengthy and highly accessible popular overview of the theory of capital. He analyzes what capital is, where it came from, how it accumulates, how it relates to markets, what the role is of ground rent and localization in its movement (both metaphorical and real), and finally combines all this into a highly compelling political economic narrative. What is especially virtuous about this book, even compared with some of Harvey's excellent earlier works, is his ability to explain the general thrust of Marxist political economy in a manner that is easily understood by the wider newspaper-reading public and without using virtually any of the specific technical terminology of Marxism, as well as avoiding any of the explicit political content that is specific to Marxism (other than a very skeptical attitude towards capitalism as such). This is no mean feat given the complicated nature of capital and the different levels of analysis it seems to require to be fully understood. Harvey of course adds to the fairly traditional Marxist picture so narrated his own particular emphasis on place and space as essential mediating elements in capital's circulation, both economically and politically. I think this is a useful and important addition, in particular with an eye to the local impact of political economy becoming 'real' in this way - one need but look at Newcastle or Detroit and see what this means.

The book focuses on analyzing capitalism as it presents itself now - there is not much political commentary in terms of opposition to capitalism, except for some general comments at the end. This avoids, as too many Marxist economic books do, the question of realistic alternatives. It also does not pay particular attention to the 'prehistory' of capital. But both of these are very irrelevant objections, as the virtue of this book is not to be yet another rehash of things that have been done very well by others already. Its virtue is in integrating the analysis of space, crisis, and capital into a work for a general public that is hostile to Marxist terminology and skeptical about economists in general (both probably with good reason). For that reason alone, this book comes with warm recommendation - even more when combined with his other recent major works, "The Limits to Capital" (The Limits to Capital (New and updated edition)) which works at a more in-depth theoretical level, and his companion to Marx's Capital (A Companion to Marx's Capital).

"At times of crisis, the irrationality of capitalism becomes plain for all to see," Harvey writes at the beginning of the last chapter in The Enigma of Capital. He describes this irrationality with characteristic wisdom and analytic clarity. This book is an entertaining explanation of the current economic crisis and its significance in history. Harvey's forty-year career has been spent teaching and writing about Marx, but he is not so much a "Marxist" as a scholar of Marx; he analyzes capitalism using the tools and the perspectives that Marx provided, while also recognizing their limits and building on them in order to move forward the kind of rigorous critique of capitalism that is absolutely essential right now.

I've read many of Harvey's works before. The man has written celebrated works on social philosophy, urban geography, international relations, literary criticism, history and heterodox economics. Virtually all of his past works have something interesting to say, and he occupies a well-earned place as one of the most cited scholars in the modern world. Depending on what field of knowledge or academic literature you're interested in, Harvey probably has one book in particular for you!

However, if you want to become acquainted with Harvey's Marxian work as a whole, this book is the best place to start. Basically, this book is a general introduction to the Marxian perspective on global economics, social change, political hegemony, and democracy by way of Harvey. Interestingly, there have been many attempts over the past decade to create such introductions, ranging from Chris Harman's Zombie Capitalism: Global Crisis and the Relevance of Marx to Terry Eagleton's Why Marx Was Right the new edition of 'Marx's Capital': Fifth Edition by Ben Fine and Alfredo Saad-Filho, the Anti-capitalism a Marxist Introduction essay collection edited by Alfredo Saad-Filho, and the recent and excellent The Invisible Handcuffs of Capitalism: How Market Tyranny Stifles the Economy by Stunting Workers by Michael Perelman. Overall, I'd say that "The Enigma of Capitalism" is tied with Perelman's recent book as the best of these introductions. So, by reading this book, you'll be giving yourself an excellent introduction to both Harvey and Marxist thought in general.

I'll avoid going into the details of this book, but here's how you could summarize the content: Harvey uses the recent financial crisis to illustrate the structural contradictions of capitalism, capitalism's negative cultural effects, the evolutionary nature of capitalism, the insurmountable (from within capitalism itself) social problems that capitalism thrusts upon humanity, and the way that Marxism provides a conceptual scheme to understand and confront these problems. If this sounds overly technical, fear not- it's probably my fault. Harvey himself does a great job of connecting his theoretical understanding of capitalism to the actual concrete social and cultural problems the modern world faces. In doing so, he demonstrates Marxism's superiority to orthodox economics' stodgy obsession with creating perfect mathematical models while ignoring the sociological and ecological effects capitalism has on both mother earth and the greater mass of humanity. Harvey's ability to present both theory and practical observations makes him much more lucid than most political commentators of this sort.

Some commentators are so steeped in the "practical" to the point where they can't see the ideological impetus behind ecological and social problems. Meanwhile, other commentators seem to conceive of society's ills as nothing more than some sort of theoretical inefficiency, without taking into account the economic causal factors behind social and ecological ills. Harvey's approach, and the Marxist approach when done right, shows that you can't describe concrete problems without using theory, and you can't develop a meaningful theory without careful analysis of concrete problems. This should be a highly recommended read for intellectually curious and socially conscious readers.

One would think that with the economic crisis of 2007, the publication of fresh left-wing critiques of the current state of capitalism would have been on the rise. A quick search on Amazon will tell you otherwise, as most leftist critiques fail to address the major problems of the system in a persuasive way. They seem to me to be merely re-publishing old views under new names, and one would rather re-read his Marx, Keynes, or Schumpeter instead of books that simply recycle their ideas. Thankfully, David Harvey has produced a clear and original analysis on the economic crisis and capitalism in general, which can become a solid basis for a new left-wing critique of the system, as well as a guide for the direction of future political action.

Harvey begins by addressing the way the system was rescued from the crisis of the 1970s, and then moves on to examine how this has produced the condition on which the later crises developed, expanded, and accumulated to the great financial crisis of 2007. He examines the growth of the financial markets since the rise of neoliberalism, both in relation to the stagnation of wages and the fall in investment and profiteering in the productive economy during the same period. His analysis focuses on the increase of debt-financed demand in the place of effective demand to cover the lost demand from the stagnation of wages, and the increased risk taking of firms that began profiteering from their activity in the financial markets rather than the productive economy.

But in the typical Marxist tradition, Harvey begins with a specific event, and expands the critique to the whole capitalist system. He starts by explaining that capitalism is a process, based upon the idea of the accumulation of capital, and the expansion of the system into new markets and so on. Capitalism as a process constantly re-creates itself and further expands, breaking the boundaries to its movement. This expansion allows for the increase in the availability of the factors of production, and allows the exploitation of them. This process, however, is the source of the problem for Harvey. He sees crises as inherited in the system due to its internal contradictions. Its economic, social and ecological implications are enormous and cannot allow a system based on a constant increase in growth to continue forever. In this perspective, the foundations of our economic activity need to be changed in order to improve the current and future conditions of humanity. Of course, his analysis is much richer than simply this, but one has to read the book to really grasp his view.

Although often described as a Marxist, Harvey's book does not force to the reader a despotic Marxist interpretation of capitalism. It seems that Harvey selects only the bits and pieces found in Marx's works that are still useful for purposeful analysis, and avoids the use of problematic concepts that other Marxist scholars often make use of. Thus, ideas such as the base-superstructure analogy, economic determinism, or the labor theory of value are thankfully not found in this book. Harvey certainly adds his own touch on Marxist theory throughout the book, especially at the point when he takes a footnote found in Marx's Capital, and expands it into a developed, structured argument in itself.

The reason, however, that I give this book four stars and not five, is that it offers no real alternative, or a straight direction for action. Harvey suggests that the left, together with other anti-capitalist groups should unite and co-operate in order to achieve a change in the system, instead of allowing it to reproduce itself. But such a statement is general at best, and clearly shows the weakness of the new radical left in producing a specific and detailed alternative to capitalism.

Another point I did not like is the use of Maoist China as an example of a way of producing low infant mortality in absence of capitalism. Harvey is surely not an apologist of the Communist regimes of the 20th century. He simply tried to force an example in which a non-capitalist society managed to lower its infant mortality, but seeing how Mao's China also produced the greatest famine recorded in history, I believe that the example was truly inappropriate, and contradicts the point.

Other than that, this is the book to get if you are looking for a left-wing perspective on the economic crisis as well as a fresh critique of capitalism.

As far as I know, this is the first and only book that deconstructs the global financial crisis of 2008 in terms that Karl Marx presented to the world in Capital, his classic 1867 critique of political economy. David Harvey is Distinguished Professor of Anthropolgy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and author of several books that look at global capitalism, this being probably the easiest for a layman such as myself to appreciate.

For the Capitalist mode of production to work, capital must flow and grow. When compound growth is less than an optimal 3% per annum,there is crisis, and recurrent crises is at the heart of the capitalist mode of production. The perpetual growth that is needed is sustained only by dispossessing others of what they have -- privatizing everything, to the benefit only of the wealthiest one percent of the population. Exposing the enigma of capital is a first step toward knowing what to do about it, and who is to do it.

Harvey admits that there is no viable alternative to the capitalist mode of production. But he suggests that a loosely coordinated "Party of Indignation" might help to confront the perpetuation of endless compound growth and the dire state of social and natural relations that are the result. He sees five broad tendencies that could be coalesced to help force the question. First, there are certain Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) that espouse progressive ideas and causes. Then there are Grassroots Organization (GRO's), some of which have anarchist tendencies but have a high degree of political prominence. Third, there are traditional labor and left leaning political parties (all of which have taken hard hits in recent years). Fourth, there are the many social movements guided by the practical need to resist displacement and dispossession: through gentrification, industrial development, dismantling of social services, etc. And finally, there are the many emancipatory movements around issues of identity: women, children, gays, racial, ethnic, religious, etc., all looking for "an equal place in the sun."

These are the discontented, and Harvey would like them to become a "Party of the Indignant" to register "moral outrage at what exploitative compound growth is doing to all facets of life, human and otherwise, on planet earth." This book is not cheerful, and not very hopeful for the future. Harvey thinks that another world is possible but it will take a lot of work to make it happen.

Yesterday, I watched the film "Inside Job" -- highly recommended. Charles Ferguson's major point in the film is that high finance is a powerful force that has captured the regulatory apparatus in the United States with destructive consequences. I mention the film in the context of David Harvey's book to say that the power of financial capital deserves further academic critique. Considering that the Dodd-Frank bill did very little to alter the financial services industry status quo, we're going to see more speculation-based market disruption in the future. Read David Harvey to get a sense of what a thoughtful, and not oversimplified, critique of the current system might sound like. I highly recommend this book to anyone who can't stand easy answers and wants to grapple with the crisis-prone nature of capitalism.

OK, maybe it's just me, but I found this book very confusing and not very well laid out. The first bit, in which he outlines the current financial crisis is good and understandable. But when he starts explaining capital as a process then it all goes wrong. At one stage buried within a chapter he suddenly mentions the blocks to capital flow and announces that he will proceed to explain these blocks, but then as far as I can see he does it in a nebulous kind of way. Harvey should have made this the focal point of the book with chapters laid out etc etc. I had to reread all this bit to make sure I hadn't zoned out, but I hadn't. Again, I'm not stupid, so how come everyone else thinks this book is great? I'm not oppposed to Harvey per se, I think his other books are OK, I just don't think he can write very well.

This is a fantastic book, one of the best explanations of the economic crisis that actually looks at historical precedents. I only wish I could write a review that was as well written and thought out.

I had trouble with this book right from the first chapter in which Harvey describes all the major crisis periods of capitalism from the 19th Century onwards.Harvey brought us to the recent crisis and started using terms for new forms of banking without explaining what these meant.Presumably the average reader was supposed to know.The rest of the book followed on in a similarly descriptive manner but with no real fundamental explanation for these crisis other than that they were due to whatever broke the flow of capital.
Normally I would expect an author to start out with a general explanation of his views and his explanatory concets and how the author came to use these concepts.Then to demonstrate how these concepts are applicable,as expalnatory constructs, to relevant and contemporary areas.Harvey starts with a lot of descriptions of crisis but gives very few explanations for these.He draws on Marx but more to give a vague sideline comment or an observation by Marx regarding contemporary economic problems but no real explanation.
At the end of the book I was left wondering just what was his explanation for these reoccuring crisis.Was it due to the tendency of the rate of profit to fall and the short term problem engendering ways of compensating for this developed by what he calls the 'state finance nexus' (again a very vague and contradictory explanation is given for this nexus-I think he means the state and banking/finance systems but since he mentions the world bank and other international systems as being part of this nexus it isn't really consistent with the idea of the banking/finance sector integrating with particular nation states),perhaps he meant that the problem was caused by the the ever growing centralisation and concentration of capital as capitalism develops,or maybe his focus was on the inherent underconsumption and overproduction of a system built on the maximum extraction of surplus value based on the sale of commodities in order to further the accumulation of capital.I dont know,maybe he meant all or some of these things.
In the end Harvey,for me, isn't a great communicator.He's written a lot of books and got them published and people say he's a great writer, but for me he's not a good writer.I am aware of the wonderful reviews he has received and reading them it seems like they are describing an entirely differrent book to the one I read.The trouble is he doesn't seem to make the distinction between describing how something happens and why something happens,the difference between description and explanation.
I compare this book with another one called 'Zombie Capitalism' by Chris Harman.Both cover much the same ground but the difference is that Harman is very explicit about his Marxist framework right from the start.He demonstrates how Marx's ideas can be applied as an explanatory framework for the present crisis and other crisis that have become a defining feature of capitalism's history.Whether you agree with Harman or not,you know where he is coming from and he provides a definate explanation and way of understanding the present crisis.Not so with Harvey.All I got was mainly one long dreary description of the problems of capitalism after another without any real understanding as to why these problems occured,rather than the descriptions he provides of how they occured.
I hated this book,I found it be a tedious,largely a waste of my money and time.Had I relied soley on this book I would have no more of an understanding or comprehension of the present crisis than I did before starting it.I recommend the book to the trash can.