The Micro-Politics of Capital: Marx and the Prehistory of the Present

by Jason Read

What is the relation between the economy, or the mode of production, and culture, beliefs, and desires? How is it possible to think of these relations without reducing one to the other, or effacing one for the sake of the other? To answer these questions, The Micro-Politics of Capital re-reads Marx in light of the contemporary critical interrogations of subjectivity in the works of Althusser, Deleuze, Guattari, Foucault, and Negri. Jason Read suggests that what characterizes contemporary capitalism is the intimate intersection of the production of commodities with the production of desire, beliefs, and knowledge.

Genres: Philosophy, Economics, Nonfiction, Politics, Political Science

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Sara-Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

although I feel as if I have my fingers crossed behind my back while holding marx's hand, as we get more and more acquainted I continue to be both awed and intimidated by his conceptual corpus. Jason Read is a well-versed in Marx, utilizing Althusser, Foucault, Deleuze, Virno, Hardt and Negri and Balibar-- more to make illustrative points than to map these theorists' relations systematically. During discussion of primitive accumulation (chpt. 1) and formal subsumption (chpt. 3), he has some extremely provocative little sections about difference, the past and pre-history, and the inside/outside elements of encounter involved in the co-existence of different temporalities. But this all is somewhat secondary to his central concern, the production and reproduction of dimensions of subjectivity within and by capitalism, namely the dimensions of abstract indifference necessitated by abstract labor. He cannot do this, of course, without comparing the subjectivity of pre-capitalist modes of production and at least mapping somewhat the contours of the transformation, and insodoing he makes an effort to differentiate his reading of Marx (which is "unapologetically rooted in the present") from the clearer epochal divisions that mark Marx's more Eurocentric moments. I'm not sure if he entirely succeeds in this attempt, but he sure accomplishes a lot in 160 pages and gave me much to work through.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most suggestive readings of Marx's work since Althusser's Reading "Capital". It constructs a terrain on which the concerns of poststructuralism and Marxism proper (the "proper" being, precisely, what is in question) can meet and negotiate. To that extent the book is not only a theoretical breakthrough: it is also of great political import.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

You wanna learn how to use Marxism well in the world of today? You better fucking read this!

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

“No one knows what it means but it’s provocative. It gets the people going!”

[Samir Mechel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading Marx through French theory and Negri. Way too convoluted, and I didn’t agree with much of the author’s interpretation and arguments. Some good points on reproduction though.

[javor · Rating 5 out of 5]

phenomenal analysis. first time i ever felt like i even remotely understood marx. crazy parallels between d&g/foucault and althusser which like no one is doing. explained overdetermination and whatnot really well. feel like this book connects RC and AO/ATP beautifully. could've been deleuze's last book. grounded all of his work in a positively marxist reading. well-written and well-argued. go jason

[Redpoet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, but please don't ask me about it...