Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism

You thought capitalism was permanent? Think again.

David Harvey unravels the contradictions at the heart of capitalism - its drive, for example, to accumulate capital beyond the means of investing it, its imperative to use the cheapest methods of production that leads to consumers with no means of consumption, and its compulsion to exploit nature to the point of extinction. These are the tensions which underpin the persistence of mass unemployment, the downward spirals of Europe and Japan, and the unstable lurches forward of China and India.

Not that the contradictions of capital are all bad: they can lead to the innovations that make capitalism resilient and, it seems, permanent. Yet appearances can deceive: while many of capital's contradictions can be managed, others will be fatal to our society. This new book is both an incisive guide to the world around us and a manifesto for change.

Praise for The Enigma of Capital:'A lucid and penetrating account of how the power of capital shapes our world -- Book of the Week Independent
A dynamic re-working of Marx...full of key insights and outside-the-box analysis Socialist Worker
A well-timed call for the overthrow of capitalism ... elegant ... entertainingly swashbuckling Financial Times

'David Harvey provoked a revolution in his field and has inspired a generation of radical intellectuals' - Naomi Klein

David Harvey is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York Graduate School where he has taught since 2001. His course on Marx's Capital, developed with students over forty years, has been downloaded by over two million people since appearing on the CUNY website in mid-2008. He is the author of Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism, The Condition of Postmodernity and The Enigma of Capital.

Following on from The Enigma of Capital , the world's leading Marxist thinker explores the hidden workings of capital and reveals the forces that will lead inexorably to the demise of our system. You thought capitalism was permanent? Think again. David Harvey unravels the contradictions at the heart of capitalism - its drive, for example, to accumulate capital beyond the means of investing it, its imperative to use the cheapest methods of production that leads to consumers with no means of consumption, and its compulsion to exploit nature to the point of extinction. These are the tensions which underpin the persistence of mass unemployment, the downward spirals of Europe and Japan, and the unstable lurches forward of China and India. Not that the contradictions of capital are all bad: they can lead to the innovations that make capitalism resilient and, it seems, permanent. Yet appearances can deceive: while many of capital's contradictions can be managed, others will be fatal to our society. This new book is both an incisive guide to the world around us and a manifesto for change.

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