In her new book Capitalism on Edge (Columbia University Press, 2020), Albena Azmanova has argued that the 21st century has inaugurated a new stage in the life of global capitalism. Neoliberalism has been replaced by a yet darker entity, what she calls ‘precarity capitalism’, marked by the massive spread of insecurity for the 99 per cent: for rich and poor, men and women, the well-educated and the poorly skilled, insiders and newcomers. This, Azmanova argues, creates an unprecedented opportunity for victorious radical politics.
Albena Azmanova is Reader in Political and Social Theory at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies. Her research spans political sociology and social theory and focuses on social justice and judgment, modern ideologies and the transformations of capitalism. She is Member of the Independent Commission for Sustainable Equality, European Parliament. https://www.azmanova.com/
Discussants:
James K. Galbraith is professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and at the Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin and directs the University of Texas Inequality Project. He is member of the executive committee of the World Economics Association and member of Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. He is one of America’s most prominent left economists, a prolific author and active public intellectual.
Marshall Auerback is Research Associate at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College and fellow of Economists for Peace and Security. He is a policy analysist and commentator and a regular contributor to Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.