Kapitalismus und Moderne

Abstract

Schlagwörter: Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, Kapitalismus, Moderne, Weltgesellschaft, nachholende Entwicklung, internationale Arbeitsteilung, uneinheitliche Entwicklung, Lohnarbeit, Sklaverei, Subsistenzproduktion

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Capitalism and Modernity.

Abstract

This article gives a brief outline of the main features of the capitalist mode of production. Referring to Marx’s Critique of Political Economy and Max Weber, the importance of capitalist control, the (re-) organisation of  production, and the expansive nature of capital are stressed, as well as the pervasive social transformations triggered by capitalism. Based on an  understanding of capitalism as systematically both local and global, the  process of this expansion and some experiences of late development are  mapped as a means of grounding the varieties of capitalism around the  globe in the relentless dynamic of capital to expand its realm. It is argued that from this, as well as from the observation that a whole range of production relations, including waged labour, subsistence production and  slavery, are subsumed under capitalism, flows the constitutive  heterogeneity of capitalist societies. The closing section sketches a  conceptual strategy to come to terms with this complexity. A possible solution is a rethinking of the concept of „modernity“ to a social formation that encompasses a range of different modes of production and „modes of  development“. In particular, this rethinking also accommodates  non-capitalist social forms that are not leftovers of former times, but have risen as both complementary and competing societal systems within the context of modernity.

Keywords: Critique of political economy, capitalism, modernity, world society, late development, international division of labour, uneven development, wage labour, slavery, subsistence production