Imperiale Lebensweise: Zur Ausbeutung von Mensch und Natur im globalen Kapitalismus

by Ulrich Brand

Haben wir die Zeiten des Imperialismus nicht längst hinter uns gelassen?Wenn man erwägt, in welchem Maße sich der Globale Norden nach wie vor an den ökologischen und sozialen Ressourcen des Globalen Südens bedient, rücken die Begriffe »Globaler Kapitalismus« und »Imperialismus« wieder näher zusammen. Unsere Muster von Produktion und Konsum erfordern einen überproportionalen Zugriff auf Ressourcen, Arbeitskraft und biologische Senken der restlichen Welt. Mit anderen Die Ausbeutung von Mensch und Natur hält nach wie vor an – und nimmt weiter an Fahrt auf.Ulrich Brand und Markus Wissen legen in ihrem Buch eine umfassende Krisenbeschreibung vor, die zeigt, wie inadäquat die aktuellen, oft marktförmigen und technischen Strategien der Problemlösung im Kapitalismus sind. Das Buch erinnert eindringlich daran, wie notwendig eine umfassende »sozial-ökologische Transformation« hin zu einer solidarischen Lebensweise ist und wie man sie auf den Weg bringen kann.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Environment, Economics, Ecology, Philosophy, Theory

225 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Dante · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5.

While the titular term- the 'imperial mode of living' - is an effective short-hand concept for addressing how capitalism necessitates embedding our social and economic practices into violent, colonial, ecologically destructive systems, the political perspective they offer is beyond tedious. Alliance building of 'progressive' forces from within the institutional strata of trade unions, business elites and amorphous environementalist social movements so as to construct a thus far unseen hegemonic bloc...nope. The authors have very little new to add on class, gender, race and the eco-politics of buen vivir which hasn't already been well-articulated by other theorists; e.g. its probably worth reading just Nancy Fraser's popular 'Hidden Abode' essay instead if you're wanting to think about the management of capitalism's ''outside'.

[Andrea Bettoncelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well into the 21st century not only are the negative effects of capitalism becoming more and more evident to everyone, but they are also destined to take a turn for the worse in the next few years due to a multitude of factors such as the rise of a new middle class in markets like China and India. In light of this, imagining a post-Corona world offers a tremendous opportunity to re-think the way we live.

In this book, authors Brand and Wissen put the readers in front of their social responsibility: if we want everyone to live a normal life, regardless of nationality, gender or class, the first step is to increase the awareness of the hidden costs of our way of living. Some chapters made me feel uncomfortable (with a pinch of guilt), which means they probably served their purpose.

[mkmk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for beginners to the subject.

ELECTRONIC WASTE: The deepening of the imperial mode of living in the global North is also apparent in the resources of the ‘information age’, which since the 1990s have promised to provide a ‘dematerialized’ or ‘virtual’ economy. But the ‘virtual’ economy still requires material resources that must be extracted. Some examples include rare earth metals that, especially in China, are obtained under highly hazardous conditions that threaten the health of workers and the natural environment. Nor is the disposal of electrical appliances any less problematic than their production: two-thirds of unused appliances in the EU are not properly disposed of. Despite a ban on its export from the EU, electronic waste winds up, via many paths, in countries such as Ghana or China. Thus, for example, before the waste import ban in 2017, every year millions of tonnes of electronic waste were moved through Hong Kong to Guiyu in mainland China (about 250 kilometres away). Eighty per cent of the population there, often migrant workers, had no health protections in the recycling companies: they would take the appliances apart with their bare hands. To identify the types of plastic, ‘the workers hold the pieces over the flame of a cigarette lighter and classify them according to the smell of the burnt plastic, and then sort them into different bins. This work is often carried out by minors who inhale the toxic vapours day in, day out.’ The recent ban on waste imports shows the brutal ambiguity of the imperial mode of living. People who lived from the waste treatment are being impoverished due to the reduction of electronic waste (even though some illegal waste still arrives). (pg 107)

[Edna Nová · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dobré. Imperiální způsob života vysvětlen na příkladu SUV. Pořizují si ho lidé, kteří jsou více bohatí, nicméně nevyužívají ho jako auto terénní, ale jako auto městské. Lidé co jezdí SUV třeba nakoupí bio eko potraviny, ale aby oni byli zdraví. To, že to auto má vyšší spotřebu než běžné auto je ovšem netrápí. Navíc je jízda v SUV pro ně pohodlnější a bezpečnější v případě střetu s běžným autem, ale pro běžné auto je naopak tristnější. SUV je taky statusová záležitost - ukazuji, že si mohou dovolit nadstandard.
V podobných knihách však nevidím žádné řešení. A to měl irituje.

[Rohit · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent introductory text on the unsustainable nature of many aspects of modern life. Nothing too new if you have already read a lot about capitalism, imperialism, and the environment. But some aspects, especially the chapters on history, and the chapter on the automobile, are worth reading. A bit dry and "high-level" throughout.

[Liam Holden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid and insightful read--though it is occasionally over-mired in theoretical jargon and sometimes takes its own argument too much for granted.

There are a lot of ways, unsurprisingly, this book could be put into dialogue with liberation theology.

For example, first scan this excerpt from page 46 of The Imperial Mode:

Purchasing a car is unquestionably a conscious action. If it is understood, however, merely as an act of rational choice that follows from an individual cost-benefit analysis, then a crucial dimension is missed, namely that the act of purchasing essentially results from infrastructural and institutional conditions as well as from dominant imaginations which have been habitually internalized... The category of habitus, by mediating between conscious action and its unconscious preconditions, also allows the levels of everyday activity to be linked to those of societal structures.

Though I think some of the most apt and direct comparisons can be drawn with Jon Sobrino's work, I do not have his The Principle of Mercy on hand. Instead, I will pull from Kristin Heyer's address "Hearts of Flesh." She may not be, herself, a liberation theologian (granted, she may be), but she is pulling here from the relevant liberationist concepts:

In its broadest sense, social sin encompasses the unjust structures, distorted consciousness, and collective actions that facilitate dehumanization... The social situation of original sin essentially constitutes a state that facilitates individual sinfulness... If by "structural," following insights from partner disciplines engaged herein like critical realist sociology, we mean institutions, cultures and habitus, than "structural sin" well captures the multivalence embraced by Francis's formal writings, homilies, and gestures.

The parallels are clear. See also: critique of the capitalist order's obscuring of its violent underpinnings, the basic notion of the North's success coming off the backs of the global South (fleshed out here in a way that nicely contextualizes Sobrino, who takes it for granted as a presupposition to his theology), the impossibility of universalizing the North's lifestyle, and the need for a radical break in history.

[Andreea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not that impressed about the ideas here. To me it seems like the authors cherry picked empirical evidence to fit into their “innovative” conceptual framework. Truth be told, I find that more than half of their problematising digressions are already labelled and analysed more comprehensively by other scholars. Also, why would they stress that bringing into the discussion ideas about gendered and racial hierarchy would automatically make their arguments more persuasive? Most mentions are quite broad and lack nuance. I would have liked to see more intersectional perspectives embedded into the context. All I got instead (with some exceptions) was victimisation of the women and non-white bodies.

Also, nature here is heavily socialised and construed as part of the “oppressed” class. I am actually interested in how they would address the advent of the Anthropocene here.

The ending is quite utopic but full of hope. I took it as homogenising class (preponderantly). To criticise the West yet talk about the epitome of Enlightenment, i.e., universalism was quite counterproductive in my opinion.

Overall, easy to understand, a good introduction into the marxist approaches to climate change. If I had read this book in 2023 I would have definitely been more enthusiastic about it. Now, I believe that there are better analyses out there.

[Thomas Mayr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ulrich Brand und Markus Wissen versuchen mit ihrem Konzept der imperialen Lebensweise die, dem Kapitalismus intrinsischen, Ausbeutungsmechanismen gegenüber Umwelt und Ländern des globalen Südens besser begreifbar zu machen. Sie schaffen dabei ein umfassendes theoretisches Konzept, das aufzeigt wie die imperiale Lebensweise systematisch hegemonial in unserer Wirtschaftsweise und individuell internalisiert in unserer Lebensweise verankert ist. Genau in diesem Aufzeigen der Verbindung zwischen individueller Alltagslebensführung und systematischer Hegemonie liegt die Stärke des Konzepts der imperialen Lebensweise.

Leider verbleiben Brand und Wissen sprachlich zu oft im stark theoretisierten sozialwissenschaftlichen Jargon, was die Problematiken der imperialen Lebensweise recht abstrakt und wenig konkret und angreifbar wirken lässt. Außerdem hätte es dem Buch gut getan, wenn Thesen zur vorherrschenden Wirtschaftsweise besser mit Zahlen bzw. empirischen Daten untermauert wären.

Insgesamt leisten Brand und Wissen mit ihrem Buch zur imperialen Lebensweise aber einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Umwelt- und Klimadebatte. Besonders spannend sind schließlich am Ende des Buches die Ausführungen dazu, wie eine alternative, solidarische Lebensweise ausschauen könnte.

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Our Unsustainable Life: Why We Can't Have Everything We Want

With the concept of the Imperial Mode of Living, Brand and Wissen highlight the fact that capitalism implies uneven development as well as a constant and accelerating universalisation of a Western mode of production and living. The logic of liberal markets since the 19th Century, and especially since World War II, has been inscribed into everyday practices that are usually unconsciously reproduced. The authors show that they are a main driver of the ecological crisis and economic and political instability.

The Imperial Mode of Living implies that people's everyday practices, including individual and societal orientations, as well as identities, rely heavily on the unlimited appropriation of resources; a disproportionate claim on global and local ecosystems and sinks; and cheap labour from elsewhere. This availability of commodities is largely organised through the world market, backed by military force and/or the asymmetric relations of forces as they have been inscribed in international institutions. Moreover, the Imperial Mode of Living implies asymmetrical social relations along class, gender and race within the respective countries. Here too, it is driven by the capitalist accumulation imperative, growth-oriented state policies and status consumption. The concrete production conditions of commodities are rendered invisible in the places where the commodities are consumed. The imperialist world order is normalized through the mode of production and living.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Not a rigorous academic text, with in-line citations and dense argumentative paragraph-length sentences. I feel sure most of y'all just blew out held breaths of dread. It's not like an eat-your-spinach read. It's not soothing, either; it pulls nary a punch. It's written by committed leftists for those not far off their own beam.

Given where we are in the US it's a deeply helpful way to crystallize the "why"s of the creeping sense many of us have, or are getting, that wrongness in political action is not even close to the whole story. It's only possible to prepare for what you're aware of.

Verso Books, in keeping with their principles, asks you to chip in $9.99 for an ebook. If you're new to the idea that capitalism ≡ imperialism, this will catch you up.

[ernst · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sehr lesenswertes Buch, vor allem durch die Ausarbeitung des zentralen Begriffs der imperialen Lebensweise.

Insgesamt krankt das Buch aber daran, dass die Autoren die revolutionäre marxistische Tradition größtenteils ignorieren. Das betrifft vor allem den Marxismus-Leninismus und den Marxismus-Leninismus-Maoismus (Luxemburgs Imperialismustheorie wird dagegen in wesentlichen Zügen rezipiert, ohne freilich ihre revolutionäre Politik dabei aufzunehmen). Das führt dazu, dass sie ihrem eigenen Begriff der imperialen Lebensweise eine Neuheit zuweisen, die er durchaus nicht hat, ist er doch im wesentlichen nichts anderes als eine Ausarbeitung der Problematik der Arbeiter:innenaristokratie, wie sie Lenin anno dunnemals aufgeworfen hat. Auch wird Gramsci fundamental für die gesamte Theoretisierung verarbeitet, ohne jedoch zu begreifen, dass er Leninist war und was das für die Lösung der Widersprüche bedeutet. Die genannte Ignoranz äußert sich dann besonders drastisch am Ende des Buches, wenn es um Lösungsansätze geht. Dort verlieren sich die Autoren in vagen, ganz allgemeinen Wünschen, Fingerzeigen, letztlich sozialdemokratischen Ideen (hier kommt auch wieder mal der anhaltend negative Einfluss Poulantzas’ in der Staatsfrage zum Tragen), wie sie die breitere deutsche Linke nun schon seit Jahrzehnten erfolglos wiederkäut. Das ist phraseologisch aufgebohrter aber dennoch politischer Primitivismus, der der Problematik gänzlich unangemessen ist.

Bis dahin aber gibt es eine gute Ausarbeitung des Imperialismus und wie er die Menschen nicht nur in den Zentren des Systems sondern zunehmend auch in der Peripherie subjektiviert und damit seine eigene Widersprüchlichkeit vertieft. Denn die imperiale Lebensweise ist nicht verallgemeinerbar, beruht sie doch auf einer eklatanten Überausbeutung von Menschen und Natur und der Externalisierung ihrer negativen Folgen auf die Peripherie.

[KT · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, informative and clearly written primer on the imperial mode of living that is based on exclusivity - it can sustain itself only as long as an 'outside' on which ti impose its costs is available, but this 'outside' is shrinking as more and more societies access it and fewer people are willing or able to bear the costs of externalisation processes

Highlights of this book include:
Referencing the 'structural selectivity' of the capitalist state that are more responsive to problems in the banking, mining or automobile industries than they are to those of the global climate or from demands from the population negatively affected by resource depletion and environmental degradation

Referencing 'food from nowhere' the concept from agrarian sociologist Philip McMichael in which the origins and production of foodstuffs is obscured such that its spatio-temporal unlimited availability is normalised, such as Chilean grapes offered in the Global North during the winter, Thai or Ecuadorian shrimps that are farmed for Global North consumption whilst destroying local mangrove forests, and cheap Romanian labour in German meat factories that ensures cheap meat in Germany and neighbouring countries
In addition the expansion of industrial agriculture that requires ever greater energy input as part of a norm that ties increasing meat consumption to rising prosperity. Note that producing one calorie of poultry meat requires 4times that amount in energy input, pork and milk 14 times and eggs 39 times; more energy is this invested in agricultural production than is gained in its form as food

How Nimbyism can be seen in the normalised, everyday attitude of the imperial mode of living, such as the relocation of 'dirty industries' that are labour intensive or ecologically harmful to countries in the Global South

[Brag Iyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is interesting, in a way a sort of more academia friendly conception of the older Marxist "labour aristocracy". However, its different in several ways as the imperial mode of living is a cross-class mode of living, that refers more to everyday life, norms and practice of mass consumption that has become hegemonic among most people in the imperial core (and the middle and upper classes in the periphery), at the behest of masses of people in the global south. The language sometimes feels like going through a repetitive maze, in search of something new - although that might be a translator's thing. I find that it would have benefitted as well if it actually dealt with the traditional accounts of labour aristocracy.

[joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

not a particularly original book but handy to have a concept to describe the specifically ecological character of global capitalist inequality, with an emphasis not only on material practices and relationships (of production, distribution and consumption) themselves but also on the extent to which these are embedded in imaginaries, desires and discourses - a 'whole way of life', as raymond williams would say. the book could/should have been much shorter though, even pamphlet length. the analysis doesn't really advance after the first three chapters.

[Roxy The Bolshevik Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful discussion of consumerism, imperialism, and ecocide, and the ways it produces malignant forms of subjectivity. The Imperial Mode of Living is a strong account that does a lot of the work of a more traditional concept of the Labour Aristocracy without many of the theoretical issues. Worth a read, though if you are educated in Marxist theory it can seem relatively derivative in its repetition of core concepts.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Imperial mode of living’ is a great phrase, 2.5 stars for that alone. Kind of unfortunate that it’s theory and history is pretty breezy. What’s more, the extended application of their theory to auto mobility doesn’t do much behind existing critiques of automobility now 50 years old

[Dan Pal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an important book. A good companion to Hickel's The Divide in that it looks closer at the specific policies, systems, and mindsets that uphold and protect Prosperity in Europe at the expense of so many "others".

[Alise Miļūna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Useful central concept, reminder of other authors' concepts, and chapter on mobility. I need to read some of Riane Eisler's work soon because I used to think that her 'domination-partnership' spectrum is the same as the 'imperial mode vs. mode of solidarity' proposed here.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conceptually fantastic, but marking down as the writing style is quite dry

[Marcel Schwarz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gute Zusammenfassung wo wir heute in Sachen Nachhaltigkeit falsch liegen

[Bablu · Rating 2 out of 5]

wish the authors stepped off their perch once in a while, even if they aren't strictly wrong about what they're talking about

[Renate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hervorragende Analyse, wohin sich unsere profitorientierte kapitalistische Gesellschaft bewegt und zunehmend die globalen Lebensgrundlagen der Menschheit zerstört. Ein Hindernis, dies zu ändern, ist das noch zu wenige Bewusstsein der Menschen im globalen Norden und zunehmend auch im globalen Süden, dass der jeweilige Lebensstandard auf der Ausbeutung ökologischer und sozialer Ressourcen andernorts besteht (genannt:"imperalistische Lebensweise"). Schritte hin zu einer solidarischen Lebensweise, die allerdings erfordert, die kapitalistischen Machtstrukturen zu beseitigen, werden dabei auch ausführlich dargestellt.
Allerdings manchmal wegen vieler Soziologisch-ökonomischer Fachbegriffe nicht ganz einfach zu lesen.
"Die Welle der Solidarität vieler Menschen gegenüber den Geflüchteten ab dem Spätsommer 2015 ist gleichzeitig auch eine Anerkennung der Verwüstungen, welche die imperiale Lebensweise andernorts verursacht."

[Franziska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein großes Lob an die Autoren für die unglaublich vielen Verweise auf andere Werke und Aussagen. Diese Arbeit ist sehr hoch anzurechnen.

Zu Beginn des Buches war ich skeptisch, da es trotz sehr hoher Fremdwortdichte immer wieder die gleiche Aussage wiederholte. Ab Kapitel 3 wurde dann detaillierte argumentiert.

Letztendlich bleibt es ein Anstoß zum Nachdenken und Diskutieren, jedoch bietet es wenig Lösungsansätze. Ich hätte mir gewünscht mutiger in die Zukunft einfach Dinge vorzuschlagen.

[Philipp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trockene aber präzise Analyse der Umstände, die zur imperialen Lebensweise geführt haben. Das letzte Kapitel zur "solidarischen Lebensweise" ist hingegen nicht sehr ergiebig. Der optimistische Ausblick fehlt hier etwas aber das liegt wohl leider in der Natur der Sache (bzw. der imperialen Lebensweise)...

[Pia · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf. Inhaltlich sehr gute Analyse, aber auch sehr trocken geschrieben. Wenig Lösungsansätze.

[lindsi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t finish

[Ana Almeida · Rating 5 out of 5]

"As lutas por direitos de propriedade [...] estão no cerne da ecologia política destrutiva do capitalismo, que tem no controle exclusivo dos recursos naturais uma condição para a sua valoração."