Perspective on Global Crisis

Book excerpt: This special issue examines the global economic crisis in systemic terms that encompass economic, social, and cultural dimensions of contemporary life. The essays analyze not only the nature of the crisis but also the possibilities of transformative action. One contributor evaluates the historical structural causes of the contemporary crisis to propose future tactics for the Left in promoting egalitarian and locally autonomous and self-sufficient economic practices. Another explores crises in the global pharmaceutical industry, particularly in India and the United States, and the inherent structures of global capital and biocapital through which health itself becomes a source of capitalistic value. Another essay reads the current credit crisis as a way to illuminate how deeply financial markets are embedded in the social fabric of work, ritual, and play and how the persistent failure to regulate market rule has led to an endless cycle of crisis-induced and crisis-inducing restructuring of policy. Together, the essays reinvigorate the study of global and long-term historical processes and structures. In this issue's special topical section, "Against the Day," edited by Priyamvada Gopal, contributors analyze the current assault on higher education in Great Britain, including dramatic budget cuts and tuition increases, the resultant student protest movements, and the future of the humanities. Contributors: Giovanni Arrighi, Gurminder Bhambra, Neil Brenner, Duncan K. Foley, Priyamvada Gopal, Michael Hardt, Gary Herrigel, John Holmwood, Simon Jarvis, Benjamin Lee, Edward LiPuma, Claudio Lomnitz, Jamie Peck, Moishe Postone, Nina Power, Kaushik Sunder Rajan, Beverly Silver, Nik Theodore, Immanuel Wallerstein Moishe Postone is Professor of History at the University of Chicago.