Taking the form of a critical examination of Marxist theories of the state, this article argues that analyses of the state need to integrate anti-racist theory. This allows the racialised nature of the capitalist state to be highlighted, and also has the potential to shed greater light on the operations of state power both historically and under neoliberalism.
The shadow of the prison looms larger than ever in social and labourmarket policy, as neoconservatism penetrates further into the remains of the old welfare state. This article looks at moves toward the ‘penal management of poverty’ in Canada’s largest province, and finds them disturbing in intent, but still unsteady and vulnerable in practice.
Gramsci’s insight that hegemony depends on ‘hegemonic principles’ such as the nation, which unify antagonistic classes, was never developed either theoretically or empirically. This article critically elaborates on Gramsci using the concept of ‘mechanisms of class accommodation’, and reviews the literature on the nation and social integration in order to inform an account of the historical emergence of the nation-people.
This paper begins with a critique of E. O. Wright’s 1980s class analysis via a reworking of central aspects of Marx’s class theory. This foundation provides the basis for a re-coupling of labour-process themes to a class analysis of contemporary capitalism.
This article comprises a sharp response to Fleetwood’s critical-realist contribution on labour markets in the previous issue of Capital & Class. It argues that the contribution of Marxist political economy to the understanding of labour markets is grossly understated, and that Fleetwood’s own alternative is deficient, since it fails to base itself within a political economy of capitalism.
John Harrison, socialist economist, has died aged 57. A gifted teacher, he gave bold, lucid talks on political economy for non-economists during the Thatcher years, reaching an audience that would normally shun the dismal science and its dour practitioners.
