The working class in "globalised" capitalism

Submitted by martin on 16 July, 2003 - 1:22

A Marxist discussion group getting under way in Brisbane.

Theme: the working class in "globalised" capitalism

Time: Monday evenings, 8pm to 10pm.

Place: not yet fixed, but should be central.

Dates: 21 July to 15 September 2003 inclusive.

Issues: Capitalism has changed over the last 20 or 25 years, and the working class has changed too. In the planned nine weeks of discussion we hope to clarify our ideas on these changes and on what political conclusions need to be drawn.
Our framework for doing this will be a chapter-by-chapter discussion of the book "The End Of Organised Capitalism", written by Scott Lash and John Urry, and published in 1987, relatively early in many of the processes of change salient today.
One of their central claims - that capitalism was shifting from a complex of national economies, organised by national states and national associations of employers, into a world-market economy - is by now indisputable.
But what light do those further 16 years shed on their detailed argument?
While stressing that their thesis was "radically different" from that of "post-industrial society"; that they were "far from sympathetic with the 'farewell to the proletariat' line of argument"; and that "working class struggles may increase in disorganised capitalism", Lash and Urry also argued that the shift to "disorganised" capitalism was reducing the "class capacities of the proletariat" and spawning a large growth of the "professional and managerial strata, or service class".
Were they right? Will those processes continue? How does the left today measure up to the needs and challenges of the new working class of today?

21 July - Introduction (pages 1 to 16)
28 July - Chapters 2 and 3: the rise of organised capitalism
4 August - Chapter 4: spatial restructuring 1
11 August - Chapter 5: spatial restructuring 2
18 August - Chapter 6: the "service class"
25 August - Chapter 7: industry, finance and politics
1 September - Chapter 8: changing structure of trade unionism
8 September - Chapter 9: culture
15 September - Conclusions. The structure of the working class today. How is "disorganised" capitalism organised?

Interested? For photocopies of the reading material, or any other queries, contact Martin on 07 3278 4282, 0414 315 417, or 0416 238 840; or at martin@workersliberty.org.

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