Research Article
BibTex RIS Cite

Class struggle in times of crisis: conceptualising agency of resistance

Year 2015, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 19 - 31, 11.05.2015

Abstract

Class struggle in times of crisis: conceptualizing agency of resistance. While movements of
resistance against neo-liberal globalization have increasingly become subject of analysis, there
is little agreement on how to conceptualize such agency. The purpose of this paper is to
contribute to a conceptualization of resistance in order to understand better the possibilities of
success, but also obstacles to more decisive action against global capitalism.

The paper will first discuss why it is important to draw on historical materialism in this respect
in order to comprehend the historical specificity of capitalism. In a second step, it is argued
that divisions along ethnicity and gender can be incorporated into analyses of class struggle,
before suggesting four concrete ways of how to conceptualize expanded forms of class
struggle including (1) Robert Cox’s focus on non-established, informal labor; (2) Harry
Cleaver’s emphasis on the ‘social factory’; (3) Kees van der Pijl’s analysis of the extension of
exploitation into the sphere of social reproduction; and (4) Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s
grounding of analysis in the experience of the most exploited female workers in the Global
South.

References

  • Abramovitz, M. (2002) ‘Still under Attack: Women and Welfare Reform’, in Nancy Holmstrom (ed.), The Socialist Feminist Project: A contemporary reader in theory and politics: 216-27. New York: Monthly Review Press.
  • Bakker, I. and S. Gill (eds) (2003) Power, Production and Social Reproduction: Human In/security in the Global Political Economy. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
  • Barker, Colin (2013) ‘Class Struggle and Social Movements’, in in Colin Barker, Laurence Cox, John Krinsky and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (eds.) Marxism and Social Movements. Leiden-Boston, Brill: 41- 61.
  • Barker, Colin, Laurence Cox, John Krinsky and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (2013) ‘Marxism and Social Movements: An Introduction’, in Colin Barker, Laurence Cox, John Krinsky and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (eds.) Marxism and Social Movements. Leiden-Boston, Brill: 1-37.
  • Bieler, A. and Morton, A.D. (2001) ‘The Gordian Knot of Agency-Structure in International Relations: A neo-Gramscian Perspective’, European Journal of International Relations, 7(1): 5-35.
  • Bond, Patrick, Ashwin Desai and Trevor Ngwane (2013) ‘Uneven and Combined Marxism within South Africa’s Urban Social Movements’, in Colin Barker, Laurence Cox, John Krinsky and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (eds.) Marxism and Social Movements. Leiden-Boston, Brill: 233-55.
  • Bonner, C. & D. Spooner (2011) ‘Organizing in the Informal Economy: A Challenge for Trade Unions’, International Politics and Society, 2: 87-105.
  • Burnham, P. (1995) ‘State and Market in International Political Economy: Towards a Marxian Alternative’, Studies in Marxism, 2: 135-59.
  • Cleaver, H. (2000) Reading Capital Politically (second edition). Leeds: Anti/Theses.
  • Cox, R.W. (1981) ‘Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory’, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 10(2): 126-55.
  • Cox, R.W. (1992) ‘Global perestroika’, in R. Miliband and L. Panitch (eds) The Socialist Register: New World Order? London: Merlin Press: 26-43.
  • Gallin, D. (2001) Propositions on Trade Unions and Informal Employment in Times of Globalisation, in P. Waterman & J. Wills (eds) Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalisms. Oxford, Blackwell: 227-45. Gallin, D. (2012) ‘Informal economy workers and the international trade union movement: an overview’, paper presented at the Critical Labour Studies 8th Symposium, University of Salford/UK; 18 – 19 February 2012.
  • de Goede, Marieke (2003) Beyond Economism in International Political Economy’. Review of International Studies 29(1): 79-97.
  • Greenwood, I. and McBride, J. (2009) ‘Conclusion’. In Jo McBride and Ian Greenwood (eds.) Community Unionism: A Comparative Analysis of Concepts and Contexts. Basingstoke, Palgrave: 210-20.
  • Hall, S. (1996) ‘The problem of ideology: Marxism without guarantees’. In David Morley and K.-H. Chen (eds), Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies. London, Routledge: 25-46.
  • Harvey, D. (1985) ‘The Geopolitics of Capitalism’, in D. Gregory and J. Urry (eds), Social Relations and Spatial Structures. London, Macmillan: 128–63.
  • Harvey, David (1996) Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
  • Harvey, D. (2006) The Limits to Capital (new and fully updated edition). London: Verso.
  • Holloway, J. and Picciotto, S. (1977) ‘Capital, Crisis and the State’, Capital & Class 2: 76-101.
  • Holmstrom, N. (2002) ‘Introduction’, in Nancy Holmstrom (ed.), The Socialist Feminist Project: A contemporary reader in theory and politics. New York, Monthly Review Press: 1-12.
  • Ledwith, S. (2006) ‘The Future as Female? Gender, Diversity and Global Labour Solidarity’, in C. Phelan (ed.), The Future of Organised Labour: Global Perspectives. Oxford et al: Peter Lang: 91-134. Luxemburg, R. (1913/2003) The Accumulation of Capital (translated by. Agnes Schwarzschild). London: Routledge.
  • Marx, Karl (1852) The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte; http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/index.htm; accessed 25/02/2014.
  • Mohanty, C.T. (2002) ‘Women Workers and Capitalist Scripts: Idologies of domination, common interests, and the politics of solidarity’, in N. Holmstrom (ed.), The Socialist Feminist Project: A contemporary reader in theory and politics. New York, Monthly Review Press: 160-80.
  • Mohanty, C.T. (2003) Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity. Durham/London: Duke University Press.
  • Nilsen, A.G. (2009) ‘“The authors and the actors of their own drama”: Towards a Marxist theory of social movements’, Capital & Class 99: 109-39.
  • Nilsen, Alf Gunvald and Laurence Cox (2013) ‘What Would a Marxist Theory of Social Movements Look Like?’, in Colin Barker, Laurence Cox, John Krinsky and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (eds.) Marxism and Social Movements. Leiden-Boston, Brill: 63-81.
  • van der Pijl, K. (1998) Transnational Classes and International Relations. London: Routledge.
  • Robinson, W.I. (2004) A Theory of Global Capitalism: Production, Class, and State in a Transnational World. Baltimore-London: John Hopkins University Press.
  • Rosenberg, J. (2006) ‘Why is there no International Historical Sociology?’, European Journal of International Relations 12(3): 307-40.
  • Sahoo, S. (2012) ‘Organizing informal women workers for green livelihoods: the Self Employed Women’s Association in Gujarat’, in S. Mosoetsa and M. Williams (eds.) Labour in the global South: Challenges and alternatives for workers. Geneva, ILO: 181-99.
  • Smith, N. (2000) ‘What happened to class?’, Environment and Planning A 32: 1011-32.
  • Standing, G. (2011) The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class London: Bloomsbury Academic.
  • Stewart, P. et al (2009) ‘Introduction’, in J. McBride and I. Greenwood (eds), Community Unionism: A Comparative Analysis of Concepts and Contexts. Basingstoke, Palgrave: 13-20.
  • Tattersall, Amanda (2009) ‘Using their Sword of Justice: The NSW Teachers Federation and its Campaigns for Public Education between 2001 and 2004’, in J. McBride and I. Greenwood (eds), Community Unionism: A Comparative Analysis of Concepts and Contexts. Basingstoke, Palgrave: 161-86.
  • Thompson, E. P. (1968) The Making of the English Working Class. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
  • Thompson, E. P. (1978) ‘Eighteenth-Century English Society: Class Struggle Without Class?’, Social History 3(2): 133-65.
  • Trotsky, L. (1906/2007) ‘Results and Prospects’. In L. Trotsky, The Permanent Revolution and Results and Prospects, intro. Michael Löwy. London, Socialist Resistance: 24-100.
  • Wahl, A. (2011) The Rise and Fall of the Welfare State. London: Pluto Press.
  • Wood, E.M (1995) Democracy Against Capitalism: renewing historical materialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Wood, E.M. (2002) ‘Capitalism, and Human Emancipation: Race, Gender, and Democracy’. In N. Holmstrom (ed.), The Socialist Feminist Project: A contemporary reader in theory and politics. New York: Monthly Review Press: 277-92.
  • Wright, E.O. (2006) ‘Compass Points: Towards a Socialist Alternative’, New Left Review 41: 93-124.
Year 2015, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 19 - 31, 11.05.2015

Abstract

References

  • Abramovitz, M. (2002) ‘Still under Attack: Women and Welfare Reform’, in Nancy Holmstrom (ed.), The Socialist Feminist Project: A contemporary reader in theory and politics: 216-27. New York: Monthly Review Press.
  • Bakker, I. and S. Gill (eds) (2003) Power, Production and Social Reproduction: Human In/security in the Global Political Economy. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
  • Barker, Colin (2013) ‘Class Struggle and Social Movements’, in in Colin Barker, Laurence Cox, John Krinsky and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (eds.) Marxism and Social Movements. Leiden-Boston, Brill: 41- 61.
  • Barker, Colin, Laurence Cox, John Krinsky and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (2013) ‘Marxism and Social Movements: An Introduction’, in Colin Barker, Laurence Cox, John Krinsky and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (eds.) Marxism and Social Movements. Leiden-Boston, Brill: 1-37.
  • Bieler, A. and Morton, A.D. (2001) ‘The Gordian Knot of Agency-Structure in International Relations: A neo-Gramscian Perspective’, European Journal of International Relations, 7(1): 5-35.
  • Bond, Patrick, Ashwin Desai and Trevor Ngwane (2013) ‘Uneven and Combined Marxism within South Africa’s Urban Social Movements’, in Colin Barker, Laurence Cox, John Krinsky and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (eds.) Marxism and Social Movements. Leiden-Boston, Brill: 233-55.
  • Bonner, C. & D. Spooner (2011) ‘Organizing in the Informal Economy: A Challenge for Trade Unions’, International Politics and Society, 2: 87-105.
  • Burnham, P. (1995) ‘State and Market in International Political Economy: Towards a Marxian Alternative’, Studies in Marxism, 2: 135-59.
  • Cleaver, H. (2000) Reading Capital Politically (second edition). Leeds: Anti/Theses.
  • Cox, R.W. (1981) ‘Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory’, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 10(2): 126-55.
  • Cox, R.W. (1992) ‘Global perestroika’, in R. Miliband and L. Panitch (eds) The Socialist Register: New World Order? London: Merlin Press: 26-43.
  • Gallin, D. (2001) Propositions on Trade Unions and Informal Employment in Times of Globalisation, in P. Waterman & J. Wills (eds) Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalisms. Oxford, Blackwell: 227-45. Gallin, D. (2012) ‘Informal economy workers and the international trade union movement: an overview’, paper presented at the Critical Labour Studies 8th Symposium, University of Salford/UK; 18 – 19 February 2012.
  • de Goede, Marieke (2003) Beyond Economism in International Political Economy’. Review of International Studies 29(1): 79-97.
  • Greenwood, I. and McBride, J. (2009) ‘Conclusion’. In Jo McBride and Ian Greenwood (eds.) Community Unionism: A Comparative Analysis of Concepts and Contexts. Basingstoke, Palgrave: 210-20.
  • Hall, S. (1996) ‘The problem of ideology: Marxism without guarantees’. In David Morley and K.-H. Chen (eds), Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies. London, Routledge: 25-46.
  • Harvey, D. (1985) ‘The Geopolitics of Capitalism’, in D. Gregory and J. Urry (eds), Social Relations and Spatial Structures. London, Macmillan: 128–63.
  • Harvey, David (1996) Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
  • Harvey, D. (2006) The Limits to Capital (new and fully updated edition). London: Verso.
  • Holloway, J. and Picciotto, S. (1977) ‘Capital, Crisis and the State’, Capital & Class 2: 76-101.
  • Holmstrom, N. (2002) ‘Introduction’, in Nancy Holmstrom (ed.), The Socialist Feminist Project: A contemporary reader in theory and politics. New York, Monthly Review Press: 1-12.
  • Ledwith, S. (2006) ‘The Future as Female? Gender, Diversity and Global Labour Solidarity’, in C. Phelan (ed.), The Future of Organised Labour: Global Perspectives. Oxford et al: Peter Lang: 91-134. Luxemburg, R. (1913/2003) The Accumulation of Capital (translated by. Agnes Schwarzschild). London: Routledge.
  • Marx, Karl (1852) The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte; http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/index.htm; accessed 25/02/2014.
  • Mohanty, C.T. (2002) ‘Women Workers and Capitalist Scripts: Idologies of domination, common interests, and the politics of solidarity’, in N. Holmstrom (ed.), The Socialist Feminist Project: A contemporary reader in theory and politics. New York, Monthly Review Press: 160-80.
  • Mohanty, C.T. (2003) Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity. Durham/London: Duke University Press.
  • Nilsen, A.G. (2009) ‘“The authors and the actors of their own drama”: Towards a Marxist theory of social movements’, Capital & Class 99: 109-39.
  • Nilsen, Alf Gunvald and Laurence Cox (2013) ‘What Would a Marxist Theory of Social Movements Look Like?’, in Colin Barker, Laurence Cox, John Krinsky and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (eds.) Marxism and Social Movements. Leiden-Boston, Brill: 63-81.
  • van der Pijl, K. (1998) Transnational Classes and International Relations. London: Routledge.
  • Robinson, W.I. (2004) A Theory of Global Capitalism: Production, Class, and State in a Transnational World. Baltimore-London: John Hopkins University Press.
  • Rosenberg, J. (2006) ‘Why is there no International Historical Sociology?’, European Journal of International Relations 12(3): 307-40.
  • Sahoo, S. (2012) ‘Organizing informal women workers for green livelihoods: the Self Employed Women’s Association in Gujarat’, in S. Mosoetsa and M. Williams (eds.) Labour in the global South: Challenges and alternatives for workers. Geneva, ILO: 181-99.
  • Smith, N. (2000) ‘What happened to class?’, Environment and Planning A 32: 1011-32.
  • Standing, G. (2011) The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class London: Bloomsbury Academic.
  • Stewart, P. et al (2009) ‘Introduction’, in J. McBride and I. Greenwood (eds), Community Unionism: A Comparative Analysis of Concepts and Contexts. Basingstoke, Palgrave: 13-20.
  • Tattersall, Amanda (2009) ‘Using their Sword of Justice: The NSW Teachers Federation and its Campaigns for Public Education between 2001 and 2004’, in J. McBride and I. Greenwood (eds), Community Unionism: A Comparative Analysis of Concepts and Contexts. Basingstoke, Palgrave: 161-86.
  • Thompson, E. P. (1968) The Making of the English Working Class. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
  • Thompson, E. P. (1978) ‘Eighteenth-Century English Society: Class Struggle Without Class?’, Social History 3(2): 133-65.
  • Trotsky, L. (1906/2007) ‘Results and Prospects’. In L. Trotsky, The Permanent Revolution and Results and Prospects, intro. Michael Löwy. London, Socialist Resistance: 24-100.
  • Wahl, A. (2011) The Rise and Fall of the Welfare State. London: Pluto Press.
  • Wood, E.M (1995) Democracy Against Capitalism: renewing historical materialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Wood, E.M. (2002) ‘Capitalism, and Human Emancipation: Race, Gender, and Democracy’. In N. Holmstrom (ed.), The Socialist Feminist Project: A contemporary reader in theory and politics. New York: Monthly Review Press: 277-92.
  • Wright, E.O. (2006) ‘Compass Points: Towards a Socialist Alternative’, New Left Review 41: 93-124.
There are 41 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Andreas Bieler This is me

Publication Date May 11, 2015
Published in Issue Year 2015 Volume: 7 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Bieler, A. (2015). Class struggle in times of crisis: conceptualising agency of resistance. Spectrum: Journal of Global Studies, 7(1), 19-31.
AMA Bieler A. Class struggle in times of crisis: conceptualising agency of resistance. Spectrum. May 2015;7(1):19-31.
Chicago Bieler, Andreas. “Class Struggle in Times of Crisis: Conceptualising Agency of Resistance”. Spectrum: Journal of Global Studies 7, no. 1 (May 2015): 19-31.
EndNote Bieler A (May 1, 2015) Class struggle in times of crisis: conceptualising agency of resistance. Spectrum: Journal of Global Studies 7 1 19–31.
IEEE A. Bieler, “Class struggle in times of crisis: conceptualising agency of resistance”, Spectrum, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 19–31, 2015.
ISNAD Bieler, Andreas. “Class Struggle in Times of Crisis: Conceptualising Agency of Resistance”. Spectrum: Journal of Global Studies 7/1 (May 2015), 19-31.
JAMA Bieler A. Class struggle in times of crisis: conceptualising agency of resistance. Spectrum. 2015;7:19–31.
MLA Bieler, Andreas. “Class Struggle in Times of Crisis: Conceptualising Agency of Resistance”. Spectrum: Journal of Global Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2015, pp. 19-31.
Vancouver Bieler A. Class struggle in times of crisis: conceptualising agency of resistance. Spectrum. 2015;7(1):19-31.