According to the news agency Online news“New, unable to be born” is the title of an article that was translated on the channel of Anthropology and Culture. The article in the field of political economy thought aims to explain the death of neoliberalism and the emergence of a new order. According to the author, “Today, political authority is in crisis and Donald Trump is the embodiment of this hegemonic crisis: we are facing an unstable period of power tenure and the continuation of political crisis.” This article, which was translated by Azar Javadzadeh, is below:
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Antonio Gramsci[۱] The Italian theorist said in his famous phrase: the old is dying and the new is unable to be born. In a sense, this phrase is indicative of the critical and complicated economic-political situation of today’s turbulent world that we are facing. Nancy Fraser[۲] In a book with the same name, the feminist, theorist and critic criticizes the current American political economy and the hegemony of the global economic system centered on capitalism and tries to analyze the tendencies and trends of neoliberalism.[۳] Dominant in America and its extension to the world economy order. He believes that Today, political authority is under crisis and Donald Trump[۴] The epitome of this crisis is hegemonic: we are facing an unstable period of power tenure and continued political crisis.[۵]
The origin of today’s political-economic crisis is the cause and result of significant class differences and different strata of society (specifically America), and the legal process of the free market-based system model, which is based on unfair distribution of wealth and justice and ignoring racial identities. , cultural and gender focused.
The industrial revolution and the new relationships governing it, the concept of “market economy”.[۶]”, in which planning in the economic dimension and at the level of economic institutions was considered by investors, owners of means of production and basically for the purpose of increasing capital efficiency and its accumulation. In this way, in the framework of “absolute economic freedom[۷]There was no coordination in the economic system and in fact, this matter was entrusted to the invisible hand of the market mechanism.
But from that time until now, with the help of inventing new theories and methods, the theorists of political economy have been able to propose arrays of agreement with the production system based on capitalism one after the other, and polish for the durability of the production system based on capital accumulation and order. be the new global capitalist economy.[۸] But the critics of the new world order believe that now capitalism (specifically in the American society) has progressed with two aspects of right and justice: one is the justice of distribution.[۹] (i.e. fairer distribution of resources) and the other is cognitive justice[۱۰] (that is, justice based on esteem for different identities and groups in society). But many times these two capitalist arrays have been discredited and have emerged in a different way at the request of the dominant (neoliberal) currents.
The topic of global hegemony is one of the hottest topics in the world economic system.Hegemony is the term of Antonio Gramsci, this term is used for a process based on which the ruling class makes its rule appear natural by placing its own worldview preconceptions as the common sense of the society as a whole. Its organizational counterpart is the hegemonic block: that is, the coalition of different social forces in which the ruling class gathers and claims leadership through it. If (other) dominant classes have any hope of challenging these mechanisms, they must create a new, more persuasive or anti-hegemonic common sense and a new, more powerful political coalition or anti-hegemonic bloc.
Today’s world, in the period of pervasive crisis of neoliberalism in the regulation of the global economy, is subject to several ruptures, chaos and fragility, and the economic-political life of the system of capital production and accumulation has been questioned.. Nancy Fraser points to a crisis that is not only political, but also includes economic, ecological and social pathways: all of these converge to create an all-encompassing crisis. In his analysis of the turn of reactionary neoliberalism to progressive neoliberalism, and The re-dominance of ultra-reactionary neoliberalism with the effective face of Donald Trump (2016) says; Although he believes that populism[۱۱] The leader may be able to bring together the lower strata of society and bring about fundamental changes.
On the one hand, the dominant liberal currents of new social movements (feminism, anti-racism, multiculturalism, environmentalism, and LGBT rights); On the other hand, the most dynamic, productive, “symbolic” and monetary sectors of the United States economy (Wall Street[۱۲]Silicon Valley[۱۳] and Hollywood [۱۴]). What holds these strange strains together is a particular combination of views on distributive justice and ethical justice.
What is important in this process is that all points of view revolve around the stabilization of the capital system and not its change. Arrays and arrays are proposed by thinkers in a way that presupposes the existence of the capitalist system and is not willing to make the slightest change in this process. In the age of collapse of social life[۱۵]Fragmentation of society[۱۶]economic crisis, decline of cultural values, sense of lostness and individual loneliness[۱۷]It’s time for the new to arrive and the old to go away. But the point is: when do people reach the breaking point? Like a frog in a bowl of cold water: the water slowly warms up. The frog does not jump out – unless something happens and the frog jumps out.
The kind of change we need can only come from elsewhere, from a change that is, if not anti-capitalist, at least anti-neoliberal, says Nancy Fraser in the final section of her book. Although this prospect may seem far-fetched now, our best chance for a subjective solution in addition to objectivity is progressive populism. But even this may not be a stable endpoint. Progressive populism can be at the end of a transitory period, it can be a way station on the way to some new forms of post-capitalism in society.
However uncertain we may be about the end, one thing is clear: if we fail to follow this path now, we will prolong the current period of suspension. This means condemning workers from all backgrounds and colors to increasing pressure and reducing health, to class discrimination and social insecurity. Also, this means that the workers are falling into a wider range of pathological symptoms, to resentments arising from anger and hatred expressed at the time of shielding the misfortune of others, to violent riots following periods of repression, to a cruel and evil world where solidarity pacts are erased and destroyed. In order to get rid of this destiny, we must leave both the neoliberal economy and the various politics of esteem that have recently supported this economy by abandoning exclusive ethnic nationalism and giving up liberal meritocracy individualism. Only by linking a sustainable, egalitarian distribution policy with an inclusive and class-sensitive ethical politics, can we create a counter-hegemonic front that can lead us from the current crisis to a better world.
Source: Nancy Fraser, 2019, The old is dying and the new cannot be born, translated by Shirin Karimi, 2019, Political Economy Review website
King, Nick & Aled Jones, 2021, An Analysis of the Potential for the Formation of ‘Nodes of Persisting Complexity’, Sustainability Journal, July 2021
Roberts, Donna L, 2023, Social Fragmentation: Causes, Impacts, and Potential Path Forward, PhD (Psych Pstuff), Oct 2023
Sources of discussion:
[۱] Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) was a great Marxist philosopher, revolutionary, and theoretician, and one of the leaders and founders of the Italian Communist Party. Gramsci is one of the theoreticians and anti-capitalist fighters and the conceptualizer of the theory and the famous term of hegemony (transcendence / cultural transcendence).
[۲] Nancy Fraser (1947-)
[۳] Neoliberalism is a term whose usage and definition has changed over time. Primarily, it is a theory of political economy practices to realize entrepreneurial freedoms and individual skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade. According to neoliberalism, the role of the government is to create and maintain a suitable framework and institution for the operation of these practices; For example, the government must guarantee the quality and consistency of money. In addition, the government must create the necessary military, defense, and legal structures and functions to secure private property rights and, if necessary, ensure the proper functioning of markets by resorting to domination. After all, if markets do not exist (in areas such as land, water, education, health care, social security, or the environment), the government should create them but should not intervene further.
[۴] Donald John Tramp (1946-) is an American politician, media personality and businessman who served as the 45th President of the United States of America from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected president after winning the 2024 presidential election and is scheduled to take office as the 47th president on January 20, 2025.
[۵] Look at the book “The old is dying and the new is unable to be born”, Nancy Fraser, translated by Shirin Karimi, 2019, political economy review website.
[۶] Market economy is an economic system in which the production and distribution of goods and services is carried out by the mechanism of free markets guided by the free price system (instead of programmed markets).
[۷] laissez-faire is an economic approach according to which transactions between individuals should be free of any government interference. This is why Les Fer is considered one of the intellectual foundations of free economy and classical liberalism
[۸] The influential theory of Walt Whiteman Rostow (W. Rostow), in the 1960s, which believed that the achievement of modern development depends on the five stages of evolution in the capitalist system, was proposed with the same goal.
[۹] Distribution
[۱۰] Recognition
[۱۱] Populism is a political doctrine and method in favor of showing the rights and interests of the common people against the elite group. In the 20th century, most populist movements were identified with Latin American and Indian movements. But since the 1980s, these movements have gained some success in Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and the United States.
[۱۲] Wall Street is a famous street in Manhattan, New York, USA. The term “Wall Street” has come to mean the US financial markets as a whole, the American financial services industry, New York-based financial interests, or the financial district itself. New York is described by Wall Street as the main financial center of the world
[۱۳] Silicon Valley Silicon Valley, meaning Silicon Valley, is the common and informal name of an area about 60 km southeast of San Francisco, a suburb of Santa Clara, California, United States of America. The fame of this region is due to the location of many prominent IT companies in the world. The name of this area was first derived from the high number of companies producing silicon chips in this area, which then became a symbol of the presence of very active companies in the field of advanced technologies in this area. Silicon Valley includes many cities, the most important of which is San Jose, known as the capital of Silicon Valley.
[۱۴] Hollywood Hollywood is an area in the northwest of downtown Los Angeles, the largest city in the state of California in the United States. Hollywood is known for its fame and cultural identity as the historic center of film studios and an example of the “film and television industry of the United States of America”.
[۱۵] (De-complexification) Human civilization is moving towards the tragedy of the comet resulting from the emergence of political and social complexity since the beginning of human life with a rapid and intense acceleration. This phenomenon is the result of the increase in widespread disturbance of the earth system, its effects and consequences on a global scale such as climate change. The recent consequences have increased the risk of overturning and trying to create a complex and destructive system. (2021)
[۱۶] The Fragmentation of Society refers to the division of society into distinct groups that do not interact or integrate with each other as in the past. Paradoxically, in an age where we are more connected through technology than ever before, there are signs that we are becoming increasingly disconnected in terms of our social connections, shared experiences, and shared values. (2023)
[۱۷] Social Alienation
منبع: www.khabaronline.ir
