Barry Smart

A political economy of new times? Critical reflections on the network society and the ethos of informational capitalism

Situating Manuel Castellss three-volume work, The Information Age, within a broad tradition of classical social theory that has sought to come to terms with the emergence of new forms of social, economic and cultural life, critical consideration is given to a series of concerns, including questions of analytic perspective and in particular the relevance of the work of Marx; the concept of the network society; the movement from production to consumption as the primary medium through which individuals are engaged within contemporary society; and issues of identity and community. In contrast to Castellss identification of an ethical foundation or spirit of informationalism, it is argued that an aesthetics of consumption is central to modern society in its informational capitalist phase and that as society has become more exposed to the consequences of informationalism and the associated globalization of capital, the prospect of living in an ethically responsible manner has diminished significantly.

Another ‘Great Transformation’ or Common Ruin?

In the aftermath of the 1930s Great Depression, and as the Second World War was drawing to a close, Karl Polanyi concluded a critical analysis of market capitalism on an optimistic — and with the benefit of hindsight we can add premature — note, remarking that the ‘primacy of society’ over the economic system had been ‘secured’. Eighty years later, amidst the unresolved turmoil of another comparable global capitalist economic crisis and accumulating signs of a growing environmental crisis, both a direct legacy of the operation of the ‘market economy’, the remedy advocated by governments and policy-makers is effectively a return to ‘business as usual’. Notwithstanding various manifestations of public expression of dissatisfaction with the consequences of global ‘free-market’ capitalism, which include increasing inequality, poverty, unemployment, depletion of scarce natural resources, environmental destruction, pollution and waste, the default policy setting remains to restore global economic growth, to generate further increases in production and cultivate ever-rising rates of consumption, even if the risk is ‘common ruin’. However, there are a number of realistic, progressive and radical alternatives proposed by critical analysts, including a political program for ‘de-growth’ , a reinvention of communism and detailed policy proposals outlining the measures necessary to promote a transition to a ‘post-capitalist’ society with a sustainable economy.

An Economic Turn Galbraith and Classical Sociology

While the late 19th-century analytic context in which classical sociology emerged was constituted in substantial part by a discourse of political economy, the subsequent development of the discipline has been characterized by a growing analytic distance between sociology and economics. With increasing specialization in the field of knowledge in the course of the 20th century there was a neglect of social institutions in orthodox economic analysis and a parallel relative neglect of economic phenomena within sociological analysis. The latter condition has been exacerbated by the ‘cultural turn’ in social thought that took place towards the close of the century, ironically a period marked by the growing prominence of economic matters in social and political life. This paper presents an argument for a return to the analytic concern with economic life that lies at the heart of classical sociology, for an ‘economic turn’ in contemporary sociological thought. This is achieved through a discussion of the work of J.K. Galbraith on economics and the transformation of capitalism; private affluence and public provision; and the consequences of a culture of contentment, work that suggests an affinity with the analytic preoccupations of the classical sociologists. The paper demonstrates the sociological relevance of the social and institutional analyses of J.K. Galbraith.

Fiscal crisis and creative destruction: critical reflections on Schumpeter’s contemporary relevance

Two matters addressed in the analyses of Joseph Schumpeter, namely fiscal crises to which modern ‘tax states’ are vulnerable and processes of ‘creative destruction’ intrinsic to modern capitalism, have grown steadily in significance since the mid-twentieth century. Schumpeter anticipated a continuing growth in demand for public services and forms of social provision and drew on aspects of Rudolf Goldscheid’s innovative designation of a critical new field of inquiry, ‘fiscal sociology’, to discuss fiscal limits to the state’s capacity to respond to needs and demands for social provision. The fiscal crisis symptoms identified by Schumpeter are argued to be bound up with much broader and more substantial underlying economic processes and tendencies exposed by Marx, in particular with social and economic costs arising from the necessity for continual rounds of ‘creative destruction’ which constitute an intrinsic feature of all phases in the development of the capitalist mode of production and have become even more prominent in ‘late’ globalized capitalism. The paper concludes by comparing Schumpeter’s unidirectional view of the state–capital relationship with views outlined by other social and economic analysts for whom the contradiction between capitalist economy and the public household or common good is paramount.

Nonhuman animal suffering: critical pedagogy and practical animal ethics

Each year millions of nonhuman animals are exposed to suffering in universities as they are routinely (ab)used in teaching and research in the natural sciences. Drawing on the work of Giroux and Derrida, this paper makes the case for a critical pedagogy of nonhuman animal suffering. The paper discusses critical pedagogy as an underrepresented form of teaching in universities, considers suffering as a concept and explores the pedagogy of suffering. The discussion focuses on the use of nonhuman animal subjects in universities, in particular in teaching, scientific research, and associated experiments. The paper concludes that a critical pedagogy of nonhuman animal suffering has the capacity to contribute to the constitution of a practical animal ethics conducive to the constitution of a radically different form of social life able to promote a more just and non-speciesist future in which nonhuman animals are not used as resources in scientific research in universities.

Military-industrial complexities, university research and neoliberal economy

The article provides an analysis of the militarization of scientific research and the scale and consequences of military and defence-related research on university campuses in the United States and United Kingdom. It achieves this through an analysis of the historical background to the complex forms of articulation which have developed between the military, industry and university research. Particular consideration is given to developments in the United States from 1940, including concerns expressed about the impact of an expanding military-industrial complex on the conduct of research in universities. Drawing on critical social and historical research, the article analyses the relationship between universities and colleges and the institution of the military in the United States and the United Kingdom, the symbiotic relationship between neoliberalism and militarism, and, in addition, the consequences for the conduct of research in the natural sciences and the social sciences within universities.

Made in America: the unsustainable all-consuming global free-market "Utopia"

Economic policy narratives have tended to place emphasis on the necessity of pursuing economic growth, achieving year-on-year increases in production, increases in the value of the goods and services produced by commercial corporations and the economies of nation-states, a necessary corollary of which is that rates of consumption, in turn, have to rise to absorb growth in production. The strong implication conveyed in economic policy narratives is that ‘growth is good’, that ‘more’ is necessarily better. But the idea that economic growth is necessarily beneficial is questionable. Economic growth may have the potential to produce material and moral benefits insofar as the production of more goods and services, ceteris paribus, may lead to an increase in material standards of living, promote an increase in opportunities, enhance tolerance, improve social mobility, and perhaps even raise the prospect of greater commitment to democracy (Friedman, 2006). But much depends on what is produced, the terms and conditions under which things are produced, how commodities and services are socially distributed, and, increasingly, what impact production and consumption have on the environment (Starke, 2004).

Good for business, good without reservation? Veblen’s critique of business enterprise and pecuniary culture

Thorstein Veblen’s work undoubtedly has a place within the field of institutional economics but he has been a relatively marginal figure within the discipline of sociology. If Veblen is discussed at all within contemporary sociology, it is almost without exception in relation to his first major work The Theory of the Leisure Class and his principal contribution to our understanding of modern social life is considered to flow from observations on consumer conduct and associated practices and predispositions. While The Theory of the Leisure Class is a significant work, it by no means exhausts the contemporary relevance of Veblen’s oeuvre. It is argued in this article that in a series of subsequent interconnected studies which embed economic matters in their social and political context, Veblen proceeded to develop a powerful critical analysis of business enterprise and pecuniary culture, one that bears comparison with aspects of Karl Marx’s work. Veblen’s early twentieth-century critical political economy, his references to social and economic dilemmas and tensions as well as his identification of the potential scope for change or ‘reconstruction’ arising from substantial conflicts of interest between ‘the established order of business’ preoccupied with maximising profit and ‘the underlying population who work for a living’ are of considerable contemporary significance, as is his recognition that what is good for business is not good without reservation, not necessarily good for the community or ‘the common man’.

Economics, Politics and Sociology On the Contribution of Galbraith's Unconventional Wisdom to the Discourse of Classical Sociology

Classical sociology is generally equated with analyses of late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century thinkers whose writings ranged seamlessly across what, subsequently, would become differentiated fields of inquiry. One twentieth-century analyst whose texts replicate aspects of the works of the classical sociologists is J.K. Galbraith, a figure whose disciplinary home is conventionally considered to be economics, but whose writings transcend disciplinary boundaries to explore the articulation of economic, social and political phenomena. Galbraiths studies, addressing such matters as increasing inequality and growing economic insecurity; the cultivation and management of consumer demand; the imbalance between private consumption and public provision; and the growth in military and defence expenditure, continue to be of contemporary relevance and warrant a prominent place within sociology.

Suffering Existence: Nonhuman Animals and Ethics

This chapter explores critically ethical concerns arising from forms of suffering to which domesticated nonhuman animals are subjected in scientific instruction and research and within the industrial-factory-farm-food complex, as well as other contexts. Consideration is given to the views of Arthur Schopenhauer on suffering, Rene Descartes’s designation of ontological differences between human and non-human animals, and Donna Haraway’s reconfiguration of the relationship between human and nonhuman animals in scientific laboratory settings. Proceeding from a discussion of David Benatar’s “antinatalist” views the focus of analysis is on the forms of suffering imposed on domesticated nonhuman animals by humans. In response to ethical concerns raised about the suffering inflicted on nonhuman animals in the course of scientific research, scientists have sought a “solution” in the form of genetically engineered nonhuman animals whose responses to painful stimuli are presented as modulated to reduce pain. This reductive conceptualization of suffering reduces the complexity of suffering to physical sensation alone and does not engage with the ethical issues involved. Drawing on the work of Emmanuel Levinas and Albert Schweitzer the chapter concludes that an ethical solution to the complex issues explored lies in refraining from exposing nonhuman animals to pain and suffering.