Actions taken by the United States and other countries during the Great Recession focused on restoring the viability of major financial institutions while guaranteeing debt and stimulating growth. Once the markets stabilized, the United States enacted regulatory reforms that ultimately left basic economic structures unchanged. At the same time, the political class pursued austerity measures to curb the growing national debt. Drawing on the economic theories of Keynes and Minsky and applying them to the modern evolution of American banking and finance, William K. Tabb offers a chilling prediction about future crises and the structural factors inhibiting true reform. Tabb follows the rise of banking practices and financial motives in America over the past thirty years and the simultaneous growth of a shadow industry of hedge funds, private equity firms, and financial innovations such as derivatives. He marks the shift from an American economy based primarily on the production of goods and nonfinancial services to one characterized by financialization, then shows how these developments, perspectives, and approaches not only contributed to the recent financial crisis but also prevented the enactment of effective regulatory reform. He incisively analyzes the damage that increasing unsustainable debt and excessive risk-taking has done to our financial system and expands his critique to a discussion of world systems and globalization. Revealing the willful blind spots of mainstream finance theory, Tabb moves beyond an economic model reliant on debt expansion and dangerous levels of leverage, proposing instead a social structure of accumulation that places economic justice over profit and, more practically, institutes an inclusive, sustainable model for growth.

The main theme of this book is that, within contemporary capitalist societies a materialist outlook informed by science has triumphed creating the lack of a spiritual dimension to give meaning and purpose to the activities that are necessary for a capitalist society to function effectively. Capitalist societies are in trouble and need to be restructured to provide for the material needs of all the people who work within the system, not just the one percent, but because of the lack of a spiritual connection with each other and with nature this is not likely to happen. It has been said that society and the organizations within treat one another as objects to be manipulated in the interests of promoting economic growth and treat nature as an object to be exploited for the same purpose. This way of treating each other, and nature, is consistent with the way a capitalist system has worked in the past and was supposed to enable it to function efficiently to provide a fulfilling and enriched life for all its adherents through growth of the economy. However, as capitalist societies have become dysfunctional they will need a different kind of orientation to continue in existence. Restructuring Capitalism: Materialism and Spiritualism in Business argues that what is needed is a new sense of a spiritualization of the self and its relation to others and to the establishment of a spiritual connection with nature in order for capitalism to be restructured to work for everyone and for the society as a whole.

The main theme of this book is that, within contemporary capitalist societies a materialist outlook informed by science has triumphed creating the lack of a spiritual dimension to give meaning and purpose to the activities that are necessary for a capitalist society to function effectively. Capitalist societies are in trouble and need to be restructured to provide for the material needs of all the people who work within the system, not just the one percent, but because of the lack of a spiritual connection with each other and with nature this is not likely to happen. It has been said that society and the organizations within treat one another as objects to be manipulated in the interests of promoting economic growth and treat nature as an object to be exploited for the same purpose. This way of treating each other, and nature, is consistent with the way a capitalist system has worked in the past and was supposed to enable it to function efficiently to provide a fulfilling and enriched life for all its adherents through growth of the economy. However, as capitalist societies have become dysfunctional they will need a different kind of orientation to continue in existence. Restructuring Capitalism: Materialism and Spiritualism in Business argues that what is needed is a new sense of a spiritualization of the self and its relation to others and to the establishment of a spiritual connection with nature in order for capitalism to be restructured to work for everyone and for the society as a whole.

The book focuses on the processes of urban restructuring, power relations and the political economy of touristic authenticity. Through an in-depth analysis of Marrakesh, Morroco, the book proposes a comprehensive analytic framework. It highlights the issues of (post)coloniality, ideology, heritage-commodification, subjectivity and counter-conduct in the shadow of global capitalism. It explores how power relations and political ecomomy have shaped the city of Marrakesh over the past few decades, formulating new subjectivities. It reveals how urban policy’s sole purpose is to boost tourism in the city, bringing into question the long-term resilience and success of tourism as an economic activity and a policy choice. This book considers how the well-being of city residents is submitted to such policies, conforming to certain forms of appropriation – of land, culture and memory. The example of Morocco helps us understand a phenomenon affecting many other cities internationally. This book will be valuable to academics and practitioners across disciplines, including geography, political science, urban planning and architecture.

Interrogating the New Economy is a collection of original essays investigating the New Economy and how changes ascribed to it have impacted labour relations, access to work, and, more generally, the social and cultural experiences of work in Canada. Based on years of participatory research, sector-specific studies, and quantitative and qualitative data collection, the work accounts for the ways in which the contemporary workplace has changed but also the extent to which older forms of work organization still remain. The collection begins with an overview of the key social and economic transformations that define the New Economy. It then illustrates these transformations through examples, including essays on wine tourism, the regeneration of mining communities, the place of student workers, and changes in the public service workplace. It also addresses unions and their responses to the restructuring of work, as well as other forms of resistance.

"This collection surveys major areas of neoliberal policy restructuring by various levels of Canadian government. Unlike other academic studies it also considers theoretical and practical issues connected with movements of resistance against the neo-liberal agenda. Part one situates these developments theoretically in the context of globalizing capitalism and the changing role of the state, the labour market, policy formation and federalism. Section two examines six major areas of policy restructuring, ranging from health care and education to human rights and communication policy. The final section considers the strengths and weaknesses of current political strategies of resistance and the new challenges imposed by global capitalist restructuring. This volume provides both a vital assessment of the social consequences of neoliberal restructuring and a provocative contribution to the debate over the renewal of the left in Canada."--pub. desc.

In this thought-provoking new book, Anthony Smith analyses key debates between historians and social scientists on the role of nations and nationalism in history. In a wide-ranging analysis of the work of historians, sociologists, political scientists and others, he argues that there are three key issues which have shaped debates in this field: first, the nature and origin of nations and nationalism; second, the antiquity or modernity of nations and nationalism; and third, the role of nations and nationalism in historical, and especially recent, social change. Anthony Smith provides an incisive critique of the debate between modernists, perennialists and primordialists over the origins, development and contemporary significance of nations and nationalism. Drawing on a wide range of examples from antiquity and the medieval epoch, as well as the modern world, he develops a distinctive ethnosymbolic account of nations and nationalism. This important book by one of the world’s leading authorities on nationalism and ethnicity will be of particular interest to students and scholars in history, sociology and politics.

How have global markets and global manufacturing changed the balance of social, economic and political power? With this volume Ross and Trachte challenge existing political-economic theory. In concise terms they show how traditional theories of monopoly capitalism and world systems are not well-suited to analyze the emergence of global capitalism. This book, in a series of case studies of U.S. metropolitan areas, examines the dramatic transformation of the world economy in the last two decades. The book's last section examines political strategy and the political theory implied by the heightened power of capital.

The financial and economic collapse that began in the United States in 2008 and spread to the rest of the world continues to burden the global economy. David Kotz, who was one of the few academic economists to predict it, argues that the ongoing economic crisis is not simply the aftermath of financial panic and an unusually severe recession but instead is a structural crisis of neoliberal, or free-market, capitalism. Consequently, continuing stagnation cannot be resolved by policy measures alone. It requires major institutional restructuring. "Kotz's book will reward careful study by everyone interested in the question of stages in the history of capitalism." --Edwin Dickens, Science & Society "Whereas others] suggest that the downfall of the postwar system in Europe and the United States is the result of the triumph of ideas, Kotz argues persuasively that it is actually the result of the exercise of power by those who benefit from the capitalist economic organization of society. The analysis and evidence he brings to bear in support of the role of power exercised by business and political leaders is a most valuable aspect of this book--one among many important contributions to our knowledge that makes it worthwhile." --Michael Meeropol, Challenge

Restructuring Architectural Theory addresses the impact of contemporary critical theory, from poststructuralism to deconstruction and beyond, on architecture. This unique collection of essays will be invaluable to students and scholars as well as to architects and art historians for the range of issues it covers and the depth of analysis it provides.