Universal Alienation, Formal and Real Subsumption of Society Under Capital, Ongoing Primitive Accumulation by Dispossession: Reflections on the Marx@200-Contributions by David Harvey and Michael Hardt/Toni Negri

  • Christian Fuchs University of Westminster, Communication and Media Research Institute & Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies
Keywords: Karl Marx, bicentenary, 200th birthday, anniversary, universal alienation, formal subsumption, real subsumption, primitive accumulation, accumulation by dispossession, anti-value, self-valorisation, David Harvey, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri

Abstract

This contribution presents reflections on the contributions of and the debate between David Harvey and Michael Hardt/Toni Negri that we feature as the opening part of the tripleC-special issue “Marx@200: Debating Capitalism & Perspectives for the Future of Radical Theory”. My reflection contextualises the debate by a) discussing the origin and genesis of Marx’s concepts of alienation, formal/real subsumption, and primitive accumulation and b) situating the arguments in earlier works by Harvey, Hardt and Negri. This paper points out differences as well as the strong commonalities between the works of Michael Hardt/Toni Negri and David Harvey. It discusses how the categories of universal alienation, formal/real subsumption of society under capital, original/ongoing primitive accumulation of capital are related. Harvey and Hardt/Negri show that Marx’s theory and politics are alive 200 years after his birth and will haunt capitalism as long as it exists. The paper concludes by arguing that Harvey’s concept of anti-value and the autonomous notion of self-valorisation point towards democratic, commons-based alternatives to capitalism.

Author Biography

Christian Fuchs, University of Westminster, Communication and Media Research Institute & Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies

Christian Fuchs is a professor at the University of Westminster.  He is co-editor of tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. His research interests are: critical theory, social theory, political economy of media and communication, critical digital media studies.
URL: http://fuchs.uti.at, Twitter @fuchschristian

Published
2018-05-04
Section
Karl Marx @ 200: Debating Capitalism & Perspectives for the Future of Radical Theory