Sydney Ideas Key Thinkers Lecture Series：悉尼思想关键思想家的系列讲座.pptVIP

Sydney Ideas Key Thinkers Lecture Series;Introduction;The Challenge: Where do you begin?;Bases for evaluation;Structure of Presentation;Essentials of his life;Analytical Essentials (I) : Social Philosophy;Marx’s Essentials (II): Historical Materialism;Example: Brenner on role of the peasantry – causality contingent ;Marx’s great project Distinctiveness of capitalism: world of commodities Three distinct dynamics of capitalism: trade cycle [Capital Vol I] growth dynamics [Capital Vol II] falling rate of profit [Capital Vol III];Markets long predate capitalism but primarily for use values C M C Under capitalism markets predominate Overwhelming for exchange value M C M’;Profits;Understanding how output, income and expenditure rise (Capital Vol II) Two Sector example: capital goods and consumption goods (ie Departments I+II) → Key issue: flow of capital, labour and surplus ?investment, wages and profits : provided capital and labour replenished + profits ploughed back in necessary ratios = steady state growth possible ;→ But challenges are real : differential rates of productivity growth between sectors : consumption patterns don’t automatically adjust : surplus can be misallocated = Potential for crisis of ‘structural adjustment’ ;Capitalists ↑ investments to ↑ profit by ↓employment - BUT: if surplus does not rise, profits fall “Wages must not rise faster than growth in productivity” = Crisis in profitability is always potentially there;This is a tendency, not a certainty. Counter trends include: New inventions ? cheaper goods + ↑ demand (Marx) Mergers acquisitions ? concentrations of capital and scale economies (Marx) Wages fall below subsistence level (Earned income tax Credits) Foreign trade: export capital, import raw materials and consumer goods (“Globalisation”) = Crises can be avoided ;1. Concentration of means of production ? abolish private property 2. Labour constantly reorganised: co-operation, re-divisio