Karl Marx did major work across a range of fields—including philosophy, politics, and sociology—but it’s for his contributions to economics and political economy that he’s undoubtedly most well-known, celebrated, and critiqued. Marx understood capitalism as a system structured by the relations of production—i.e., the relationships people enter into in order to produce and reproduce the means of life—and from that understanding he derived the interlocking concepts that constitute the main elements of Marxist economics: the labor theory of value, surplus value, commodity fetishism, the commodity theory of money, the organic composition of capital, overproduction, the falling rate of profit, and capitalism’s endemic propensity to crisis. As capitalism has expanded and evolved, certain economic propositions advanced by Marx have arguably been proven true, others not. How can we understand Marxist economics, and what light does it shed on both the individual aspects of economic life—from wages to employment to recessions and depressions—and the general tendencies, evolution, and direction of the capitalist system as a whole?
In this course, we will explore the economic concepts on which Marx’s theory of capitalism is built, examining each in turn and ultimately as a composite whole. We will start with an introduction to the idea and importance of historical materialism as a mode for analyzing and understanding economic phenomena, before proceeding to the study of Marx’s notion of the commodity, the labor theory of value (and the differences between labor and labor power), and surplus value, and the meaning and functional significance of exploitation. We will then turn our attention to Marxist understandings of capitalist production, taking a look at the circuit of industrial capital, simple and expanded reproduction, and the accumulation of capital. Next, we will explore Marx’s theories of crisis, examining in particular two key concepts: the technical and organic composition of capital, and the controversial “law” of the falling rate of profit. Finally, we will look at Marx’s understanding of banking and financial capital and his theory of interest. Throughout we will ask: how can we understand the elements of Marxist economic thought individually and as a whole? Does the plausibility or viability of one facet determine the viability of another? How does Marxist economics relate to other schools of thought, from the classical to the Keynesian? And lastly, what are the power and limits of Marxist economics as a mode for understanding, critiquing, and predicting capitalism in the 21st century? Reading will include selected chapters of Marx’s Capital, as well as Ben Fine and Alfredo Saad-Filho’s classic overview Marx’s Capital.
There *is* no physical Brooklyn Institute. We hold our classes all over (thus far) Brooklyn and Manhattan, in alternative spaces ranging from the back rooms of bars to bookstores to spaces in cultural centers, including the Center for Jewish History, the Goethe-Institut, and the Barnard Center for Research on Women. We can (and do) turn any space into a classroom. You will be notified of the exact location when you register for a class.
Instructors will contact students approximately one week prior to the first class with reading assignments and details about the course location.
