EDUCATION | Part 4 | Reading Marx’s 'Capital' Volume 1 with David Harvey

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[kuriadams]

21:36 Yes, all of the criticism that is typically heaped upon the Jews, is actually criticism of the capitalists. Something I realized long ago.

[chanm]

Frankly, I was blown away by how deftly Harvey fielded some of these questions considering how all over the place they were - not that that was a bad thing. I think, if anything, it just goes to show how truly diverse are the implications of Marx's work some 150 years down the road.


The answer to the question about the role of higher education in a neoliberal labour regime was particularly elucidating. I'd always seen that the N. American education system was big business, but to hear Harvey put all the pieces together - the neoliberal mobilization of self-interest in education, the increasing perishability of specialized skills training, and the ultimate dissipation of labour-side bargaining power - it was truly frightening.

[maribernabeu]

Gracias por subir estos videos! Para quienes lo leen en español: para ver la clase "Cap 4, 5 y 6" solo hace falta leer el Cap 4 de la Edición Siglo XXI. En la edición en inglés, nuestro capítulo 4, está dividido en 3 capítulos (4, 5 y 6)

[macguffin]

Zizek, in his book The Parallax View on page 59, notes that ‘inwardly circumcised Jew’ is the Pauline definition of a Christian (I haven’t read the Pauline definition in its source text, so don’t know if prejudice is present there). I think the point is that Marx is using religious denomination and how it is explicitly marked/unmarked, as a metaphor for how commodities can be subsumed under M-C-M+, are defined by it without noticeable external change, but identity is different afterwards. Zizek equates actual circumcision with abandoning use-value for money alone, and inward circumcision with commodities being seen as money at their core. I don’t see any anti-Jewish or anti-Christian sentiment in this. It seems to me to be an ‘as A is to B so C is to D’ comparison, with the focus on a specific and illuminating aspect of structure across radically different domains. It also plays with Marx’s ‘theological niceties’, hitting home again that a kind of ‘subject-like’ inner life pertains to commodities, and that we must see them as more complex that material objects. I’m not sure, but Is there an inconsistency in saying that Marx implies that the nasty things prejudice associates with Jews should be said about capitalists? Didn’t you point out that Marx is dealing with structural positions that anyone can and does take up at given times, and so ‘capitalist’ should not be reified, but if it is judged negatively, one must alter the system which sustains the structural location occupied by specific individuals to greater or lesser degrees? If anyone detects problems with my interpretation I would be very grateful for their insight.

[Diamat]

7:00 Contradictions in general formula of capital

[ClaudioBenassi]

The keypoint is surplus value. It’s pure suffering condensed into thievery on a social standpoint. It’s horrible to mistreat workers.

[DX]

Thank you for uploading. Btw this part is REALLY quiet (the others pretty quiet too, but this one especially). Maybe something to look to in future uploads.

[chatsidefires]

What's with the dude about an hour and a half into it who freaking calls Professor Harvey "David?" Like that's so not cool.

[vophie]

53:30 socialism incorporating the capitalism "value"

[DX]

I think I have to add that Marx when talking about the freedom of labour is yes: talking ironically about the freedom of labour to choose its employer, but also he later contrasts it to the many systems of serf and dependent labour, where people were not free to move, were compelled by law to work on their master's land as liens. And his comparison is very unfavorable to capitalism, because it enforced a degree of exploitation which was previously unknown (apart from wartime).

=8)-DX

[vophie]

45:50 no natural man with labor power (free of all other commodities, and free to sell their labor as a commodity) those here to sell it - bookmark - part i've heard before

[BeckCaesar-rl]

Thompson Steven Hernandez Betty Allen Kimberly

[NelsonBegay-jr]

Hernandez Angela Gonzalez Jessica Jones Michelle

[BetsyWillie-tf]

Harris Larry Perez Sharon Thompson Donald

[SpenderDebby-xn]

Perez Jennifer Johnson Edward Smith Betty

[MidwesternMarx]

Can’t stand all the random pot shots at China. Weird how he constantly uses a country attempting to build socialism to explain the contradictions of Capital. I feel as though there HAS to be a better example of workers being shorted their wages under capitalism than “Workers don’t get paid in a China all the time”.

Still a great breakdown. I just wish Western academics like Harvey could take little break from bashing China every now and then. I think he attacks them in every episode of this series thus far. Just seems Unnecessary for breaking down a book about capitalism, and I can help but feel it’s politically/individually motivated, as David Harvey has written a lot of negative things about Demg Xiaoping’s Market Reforms.