Racial Capitalism and the US Elections
Offering an analysis of the current moment from a racial capitalist lens does not only avoid the presentism and individualism of American sociology. It also clarifies what is to be done.
Contradictions of Our Election
The U.S. remains a deeply polarized country, with a very large racist following for a far-right party, Trump’s Republicans. At the same time, people of color, the working class, women, and youth, the LGBT community, Native Americans, and environmentalists have mobilized at levels not seen since the 1960s — in the Sanders campaign, the Black Lives Matter uprising, the immigrant rights movement, and in so many other ways. We are at a crossroads.
Whatever the Result, This Election is not the End of Trumpism
Regardless of the results, what we know for sure is that the 2020 election will not signal the end of Trumpism, even if, as appears increasingly likely, Trump himself ends up losing the election. Despite his rank incompetence and callousness in the face of the pandemic and economic crisis, which eroded his support somewhat, he has retained the support of a significant minority of American voters. Thanks to a wildly undemocratic electoral system, it’s still possible that this minority will allow him to stay in power (there is no scenario at this point in which Trump wins the national popular vote). But even with a Biden win, Trump’s base isn’t going anywhere.
Gender, Class, and the Gig Economy
We argue, in short, that what Marxist-feminist Temma Kaplan labeled female—as opposed to feminist—consciousness is fully compatible with a stance of working-class antagonism to company bosses and class-privileged customers.
The Limits of State Capitalism on China’s Bid for Hegemony
Much of the current discourse on China’s rise significantly overstates its economic might. China’s model of state capitalism and the dynamics of globalization have contributed to its rapid development over the past four decades. Yet these same factors circumscribe its hegemonic potential.
Graduate Student Worker Organizational Stability in the Twilight Hour of Neoliberalism
While it won a historic contract in 2014, ultimately, the graduate student worker organizational process failed to stabilize into a lasting organizational formation. Understanding the reasons for this helps us to understand the broader structural and contingent problems that worker organizers face in the current conjuncture both in and beyond the university.
From the Shop Floor to the World Market: Organizational and Political Challenges to Trade Unions’ Global Power
The contemporary labor movement faces three kind of constraints engendered by the dynamics of globalization. In the first place, the internationalization of production processes through delocalization and outsourcing, with its uneven consequences of precariousness or unemployment. Secondly, the transformation of former welfare states in the neoliberal era, with associated regressive reforms and the reshaping of unions’ institutional role. Thirdly, the formation of economically integrated regions and export processing zones, with the consequent engagement of labor movements in supranational institutional arrangements.
Capitalist Restructuring and the Power of Women Textile Workers in Egypt
Changes in the Egyptian textile industry gave women workers structural power, which they drew on to develop cross-gender solidarities and working-class consciousness to fight back. Their strikes laid the groundwork for the Arab Spring.
Logistics, Labor, and State Power
Laleh Khalili's latest book, published earlier this year, is Sinews of War and Trade. In it, she connects the themes of war making in the Middle East found in her earlier work with an examination of the contested role of capital, labor and the state in the region—via the maritime logistics industry. Breathtaking in ambition, her analysis draws on a wide range of materials to provide a long-view historical perspective on the economic and political development of the Arabian peninsula through the unequal playing field of global maritime trade.
Notes on the Black Lives Matter Uprising in Historical and Global Context
This spring, as some countries began to reopen after months of COVID-19 lockdowns, youthful rebellions broke out inside the two most powerful states in the world, the USA and China. The Black youth of Minneapolis, their allies, and countless others across the USA expressed their anger on the streets over yet another police murder, which was one too many. During the same days, the youth of Hong Kong renewed their protests against new anti-democratic moves by the Chinese government. The US protests, which grew into a massive nationwide Black Lives Matter uprising, also had a major international impact.
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