KARL MARX IN AMERICA: READINGS
FOR THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS
FALL 2013; MONDAYS 6:30-9:30
Instructor: Joseph W.H. Lough
Course Location: Filozofski fakultet, University of Tuzla, Room 101
email: joseph_lough@berkeley.edu
Office phone: +387 603375497
Office Hours: MONDAYS, URBAN 10-12
Course Description
In the 1960s the world was for the most part a prosperous place; and where it was not prosperous, it
was enjoying unprecedented economic growth. Then, in the 1970s, the world’s economic fortunes
began to change. Karl Marx in America invites students to critically assess the crisis of capital
accumulation that began in the 1970s from a wide variety of vantage-points; from Bob Jessop and
Robert Brenner to David Harvey and Moishe Postone; from Milton Friedman and Gary Becker to Francis
Fukuyama and Robert Lucas, and, yes, even Karl Marx. Our aim is to critically interrogate the sea-change
in society, culture, politics and economics that took root in the 1970s and from there completely altered
our world; most directly, the world of the Balkans, of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and of Tuzla.
In the first half of our course, we will look at the history of capitalism, not in detail, but as an emerging
complex, highly-differentiated, dynamic system that, taking root in the late Middle Ages and Early
Modern Period, from there began to encompass the globe. Our aim is less to critique or praise this novel
global system than to see if we can grasp its cycles, its transformations, its growth, and its crises.
In the second half of our course, we will look specifically at recent capitalism, capitalism since World
War II. Here our aim is both to understand the strength and dynamism of this increasingly crisis-prone
world system, but also therefore to critically assess those economic theories that have repeatedly and
mistakenly predicted the immanent collapse of capitalism. On a cultural, social, political, and
institutional level why has capitalism proven so resilient? Why have economic theorists proven so illadept at accurately grasping the dynamism of this peculiar system?
This Syllabus
While students may rely upon this syllabus for all readings and assignments, they should also be aware
that unforeseen contingencies may require that we alter the syllabus from time to time. Students are
therefore encouraged to log onto and consult the syllabus online at regular intervals (at least three
times weekly).
Course Materials
All course materials will be posted in Microsoft Word doc or docx form, or in Adobe Acrobat pdf form on
the course website under the “Documents” tab.
Course Requirements
Under the conviction that scholarship is a collective venture (even when we think we are conducting it
alone), students will be expected to attend class and actively participate in discussions and
presentations (whether or not they are the presenters). For our purposes, emailing, on-line chatting,
and texting do not constitute active participation. More than two unexcused absences may invite being
dropped from the course. Attendance is not optional.
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Students are expected to have read the assigned readings and to be ready to share questions,
interpretations, challenges, alternatives, etc. to the positions presented by the authors.
Written assignments (i.e., mid-term, presentation summary, final paper) must be type-written,
appropriately formatted, with the course name, student name, date, and assignment clearly visible.
Assignments must be submitted electronically to the instructor.
Presentation: Before Midnight, November 3, students will select and rank their top three choices for
presenting. Based on their selections, students will be broken down into teams of between 4 and 5
students. SHOULD STUDENTS OVERSUBSCRIBE OR UNDERSUBSCRIBE FOR A PRESENTATION, THEY
WILL BE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED FOR THE UNDERSUBSCRIBED PRESENTATIONS. Prior to their
presentation, presentation teams will meet with me during my office hours to discuss their project.
Team members will be responsible for collaborating together on a presentation, not to exceed fifteen
minutes, during which they will (1) identify the problem the author(s) are addressing; (2) the position
against which the author(s) is/are arguing; (3) the author(s) solution to the problem. PRESENTERS MUST
NOT SUMMARIZE THE AUTHOR(S) POSITION. PRESENTERS MUST PRESENT THEIR AUTHOR(S)
“SOCRATICALLY,” I.E., BY IDENTIFYING THE QUESTION THE AUTHOR(S) ARE RAISING AND ENGAGING
THEIR CLASSMATES OVER THIS PROBLEM. Each student must then submit his/her own 5-page paper:
(1) identify the problem the author(s) are addressing; (2) the position against which the author(s) is/are
arguing; (3) the author(s) solution to the problem. The paper must not summarize.
Final: Students must visit me during office hours prior to the Spring Break to discuss the two economists
they intend to focus on in their final paper. Students will present to their assigned Reader a bibliography
of works they intend to use writing their final paper no later than week 14. In their final paper: (1)
students will identify a problem common to both economists; (2) identify how this problem arose in
response to historical changes; (3) critically reflect on how well (or poorly) the economists grasp and
respond to these changes; and (4) identify the solutions that each economist settles upon to this
problem; and (5) state how they would revise these solutions to make them more adequate.
Course Calendar
PART ONE: THE REVOLUTION
GYMNASIUM IN A BOX
Date
November 11
November 18
November 25
Title
Introduction;
Gymnasium “on a
Stick”
Revolution in Time
and Value
The Birth of the
Transcendental
Subject
Assignment (completed by date)
Read: Aristotle, Politics; Plato, Gorgias; Plato, Republic
Read: D Landes, “Revolution in Time,”; EP Thompson,
“Time, Work Discipline and Industrial Capitalism”; I Kant,
Prolegomena; PRESENTATIONS
A Smith, Wealth; GWF Hegel, Civil Society; K Marx, Capital;
PRESENTATIONS
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THE GEOGRAPHY OF CAPITALISM
Date
Title
December 2
The Three
Hegemonies of
Historical Capitalism
and the Genoese
Cycle
December 9
The Dutch and the
British Cycles
December 16
The American Cycle
December 23
The Bosnian Cycle
THE VIEW FROM CHICAGO
Date
Title
February 10
No Democracy
Necessary
February 17
A Private History
February 24
Negative Freedom
THE END OF HISTORY
Date
Title
March 3
What Happened
March 10
Our Pessimism
March 17
Desire
March 24
The Master-Slave
Relationship
Assignment (completed by date)
Read: G Arrighi, Long Twentieth Century, chap. 1, The Three
Hegemonies of Historical Capitalism; G Arrighi, Long
Twentieth Century, chapter 2, pp. 86-129; PRESENTATIONS
Read: G Arrighi, Long Twentieth Century, chapter 2, pp.
130-162; G Arrighi, Long Twentieth Century, chapter 3, pp.
163-200PRESENTATIONS
Read: G Arrighi Long Twentieth Century, chapter 4, pp. 247308; PRESENTATIONS
Read: J Lowinger, Economic Reform and the Double
Movement; PRESENTATIONS
Assignment (completed by date)
Read: G Becker, Competition and Democracy; G Becker,
Irrational Behavior and Economic Competition;
PRESENTATION
Read: M Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, Preface, Intro,
chapters 1-3; PRESENTATION
Read: M Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, Preface, 4-7;
PRESENTATION
Assignment (completed by date)
Read: D Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Intro,
chapters 1-2; PRESENTATION
Read: F Fukuyama, End of History, Intro., Part I;
PRESENTATIONS
Read: F Fukuyama, End of History, Part II, chapters 5-9;
PRESENTATIONS
Read: F Fukuyama, End of History, chapters 13-18;
PRESENTATIONS
THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF POSTMODERNITY
Date
Title
Assignment (completed by date)
March 31
Modernism
Read: D Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, chapters
1-3; PRESENTATION
OU 101 Karl March in America (rev. 1 2016-02-07)
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April 7
Postmodernism
April 14
Fordism
April 21
Global Economic
Turbulence
Where Theory Went
Wrong
Traditional Marxism’s
Missteps
An Alternative
Approach
In Defense of Slavery
April 28
May 5
May 12
May 19
RETHINKING OUR HISTORY
Date
Title
May 2
Where from Here?
Read: D Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, chapters
7-8; PRESENTATIONS
Read: D Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, chapters
9-11; PRESENTATIONS
Read: R Brenner, The Economics of Global Turbulence, intro
and chapters 1-3; PRESENTATIONS
Read: M Postone, Time, Labor, and Social Domination,
Intro, chapter 1; PRESENTATIONS
Read: M Postone, Time, Labor, and Social Domination,
chapters 2-3; PRESENTATIONS
Read: M Postone, Time, Labor, and Social Domination,
chapter 8; PRESENTATIONS
Read: D Dobbs, Natural Right and the Problem of Aristotle’s
Defense of Slavery; PRESENTATIONS
Assignment (completed by date)
OPEN DISCUSSION