Global Capitalism

The New Leviathan

By Robert J. S. Ross & Kent C. Trachte

Subjects: Economics, Political Science
Series: SUNY series in Radical Social and Political Theory
Paperback : 9780791403402, 318 pages, July 1990
Hardcover : 9780791403396, 318 pages, July 1990

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Table of contents

Figures

Tables

Acknowledgments

Part I

Chapter One: Introduction to the New Leviathan

The Irony of the New Leviathan
Discovering the New Leviathan: Global Capitalism
Domains of New Theory
Global Capitalism: An Informal Summary
Levels of theory and historical perspective
Methods for strategic analysis
Power, ideology and global capitalism
Overview

Part II: Toward a New Synthesis

Chapter Two: Tools for Analysis

Introduction: Capitalist Crisis and Social Theory
Overview of Section II
A Definition of Capitalism as a Mode of Production
Variants of the Capitalist Mode of Production
Global Capitalism as a Submode of Capitalism
The Strategic Relationships within Capitalism
Capital-to-labor
Capital-to-capital
Capital-to-[the]-state
Crisis Tendencies under Capitalism
The Tendency for the Rate of Profit to Decline
Elements of the Labor Theory of Value
Class struggle, the rising strength of labor and the rate of profit
The tendency for the organic composition of capital to rise
Realization failure and falling profits
Contrasts among the three crisis theories
The Concept of a Restructuring Crisiss

Chapter Three: The Birth and Death of Monopoly Capitalism

Introduction
The Capital-to-Capital Relation in the Theory of Monopoly Capitalism
The Capital-to-Labor Relation in the Theory of Monopoly Capitalism
The Capital-to-State Relation in the Theory of Monopoly Capitalism
Dynamics in the Theory of Monopoly Capitalism
The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism: An Assessment

Chapter Four: The Present as the Past: World Systems Theory

Introduction
World Systems Theory: Methodology, Concepts and Propositions
World Systems Theory: Changes and Cycles
World Systems Theory and Secular Trends
The World System since 1945
Capital-to-capital relations
Capital-to-labor relations
Capital-to-state relations
Summary
World System Theory: A Conclusion

Chapter Five: Global Capitalism

Introduction: The Theme Is Power
The Capital-to-Labor Relation under Global Capitalism
The Capital-to-Capital Relation under Global Capitalism
The Capital-to-State Relation under Global Capitalism
Summary: Global Capitalism
A Crisis of Restructuring: The Transition from Monopoly to Global Capitalism
Restructuring Crisis or Cycle of Contraction?
Implications for the Older Industrial Regions and Cities
Implications for the Periphery
A New International Division of Labor?: The State of the Debate
Monopoly Capital and World Systems Views of the New International Division of Labor
Global Capitalism and the New International Division of Labor
Conclusion

Part III: Explorations in Global Capitalism

Chapter Six: The Restructuring of the World Economy under Global Capitalism

Introduction

Section 1:
A New Form of Capitalist Competition: The Strategy of Glabal Spatial Mobility

The Growth of Foreign Investment in Manufacturing in the Third World
Other Means of Relocating Manufacturing Production to the Periphery
Capital Relocation to the Periphery and the Balance of Class Forces
The Sectoral Pattern of the Relocation of Manufacturing Production to the Periphery
The National Pattern of Manufacturing Investment in the Periphery
A Note on the Semi-Periphery
Summary

Section 2: THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE GLOBAL PRODUCTION ECONOMY

Regional Patterns of Growth
Regional Patterns of Structural Change
Summary
Foreign Investment and Peripheral Industrialization
A World System Cycle or a Transition to Global Capitalism?

Section 3: A New International Division of Labor

The Growth of Manufacturing Exports From the Periphery and Semi-Periphery
A Comparison of the Growth of Manufacturing Exports from the Periphery with the Growth of Core Exports
The New Role of the Third World in the World System of Trade
A Sectoral View of Peripheral Industrialization and the New International Division of Labor
A Qualifying Note
Summary

Section 4: The Costs and Constraints of Global Capitalism in the Third World

Reprise and Prospect

Chapter Seven: The Monopoly Sector in the Core: The Crisis of Detroit

Section 1: Detroit and the Era of Monopoly Capitalism

Introduction: Detroit and the American Way of Life
Understanding Detroit: Understanding the Global System

Section 2: The Automobile Industry and the Crisis of Detroit as a Case in the Transition from Monopoly to Global Capitalism

Detroit and the Automobile Industry and the Era of Monopoly Capitalism
Capital-to-Capital Relations in the Automobile Industry
Decline of Hegemony
Change in marketshare
The return of price competition
Summary
Capital-to-Labor Relations: Global Capital Mobility as The New Lever of Exploitation in the Automobile Industry
Capital-to-Labor Relations: Evidence of the Global Mobility of U.S. Auto Capital
Capital-to-Labor Relations: The Use of Capital Mobility as a Lever of Exploitation in the 1982 Labor Negotiations in the Automobile Industry
Capital-to-Labor Relations: The Impact of Global Capitalism on U.S. Auto Workers
Transition or Cycle in a Monopoly Sector
Capital-to-Labor Relations in the Detroit Region
Capital-to-State Relations in the Detroit Region

Section 3: The Restructuring of the Economy of Detroit

A State of Emergency
Indicators of Decline in Detroit
What is the Future of Detroit?
The delinking of Detroit and the Automobile Industry
Signs of Transition in Detroit

Section 4: Summary and Reprise

New York and Detroit: Regional Differences under Monopoly Capitalism

Chapter Eight: Global Cities and Global Classes: The Periphery Comes to the Core in New York City

Section 1: Global Cities in the World-system of Capitalism

The Concept of a Global City
Images of the Global Cities
Conceptualizing Change and Its Consequence for the Working Class in Global Cities

Section 2: The Working Class in Global Cities: Alternative Theoretical Sources

Theories of Unequal Exchange: The Working Class in Core Regions
The Perspective of Global Capitalism

Section 3: New York: The Empire City

New York's Manufacturing in Decline
Circuit One: Capital Mobility and the Vulnerability of Labor in New York City
The Reserve Army in New York City
The Reentry of Capital: The Periphery in the Global City
The Income and Wage Implications of New York's Structural Shift
Wages in the Global City
The Sphere of Reproduction: Housing Conditions
The Periphery in the Core: Poverty and Infant Mortality Rates in New York

Section 4: SUMMARY AND REPRISE

Chapter Nine: Remaking the State in Massachusetts

Section 1: Massachusetts and Social Theory

Section 2: Restructuring Massachusetts

Full Employment in Massachusetts: The Aftermath of Decline
The Effect of Job Loss and Capitalist Competition in Traditional Industries
The Capital to Labor Relation: Unionization
Job Growth in High Technology and Services: Discipline Yields Re-Entry
The Global Dimension of High Tech Growth
A Note on The Pentagon Connection
After the Storm: A Restructured Economy

Section 3: The Ascendance of High Tech

Introduction
Proposition 2 1/2: Developing a Mass Base
Plant Closing Legislation: The Politics of Consensus
Conclusion
Summary: Strategic Relations in Massachusetts
Capital-to-capital
Capital-to-labor
Capital-to-state

Part IV: Politics and the State

Chapter Ten: The Strategy of Classes in the Older Regions

Introduction
Capitalist Class Strategic Initiatives
Working Class Strategic Response: Organizing in the Sphere of Production
Working Class Strategic Response: Organizing in the Sphere of Consumption
Urban social movements
The limits of the new populism
The local arena
The sphere of consumption
Coalition Formation
The national arena
Conclusion

Chapter Eleven: State Autonomy and the Prospects for Socialism

Introduction
The Historical Basis of Relative Autonomy
The concept
Relative autonomy and monopoly capitalism
The Transition to Global Capitalism
Global Capitalism and Relative Autonomy
Global Capitalism and the Theory of the State
Some basic concepts
The Decline of Relative Antonomy
Relative Autonomy: An Alternative View
The Implications of the Relative Decline of Relative Autonomy
Socialism and Global Capitalism

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Description

How have global markets and global manufacturing changed the balance of social, economic and political power? With this volume Ross and Trachte challenge existing political-economic theory. In concise terms they show how traditional theories of monopoly capitalism and world systems are not well-suited to analyze the emergence of global capitalism. This book, in a series of case studies of U. S. metropolitan areas, examines the dramatic transformation of the world economy in the last two decades. The book's last section examines political strategy and the political theory implied by the heightened power of capital.

Robert J. S. Ross is Associate Professor of Sociology at Clark University. Kent C. Trachte is Dean of Freshmen at Franklin and Marshall College.

Reviews

"This work addresses very important questions about structural change and continuity in modern world society. It combines a patient and careful study of key changes in political and economic institutions with a cogent argument for the thesis that a new stage of capitalist development has arrived. Ross and Trachte's book is an extremely important contribution to social scientific theorizing about modern society. " — Christopher Chase-Dunn, Johns Hopkins University