On March 5th, Red Emma, a radical bookstore in Baltimore, hosted a
symposium on Giovanni Arrighi’s new book “Adam Smith in Beijing”. The
panel consisted of Arrighi, David Harvey and Joel Andreas, a Sociology
professor at Johns Hopkins University, and specialist on class relations
in China from 1949 to the present.
You can watch the event here (linked on my blog).
When I first saw the title of Arrighi’s book, I jumped to the conclusion
that it was some kind of hard-hitting exposé of the capitalist
transformation of China. After all, what better symbol of neoliberalism
is there besides Adam Smith?
I shocked to discover that Arrighi views Adam Smith as a prophet of
markets, but not of capitalism. Not only that, what’s been happening in
China for the past 20 years ago is the development of markets rather
than capitalism. Boy, you learn something new every day.
Except for this part of Arrighi’s talk, the rest of it was not so
controversial albeit long-winded and hard-to-follow. I had to listen to
it twice in order to really figure out what he was trying to say. Like
some other big-time Marxists (I am using the term liberally) who lecture
extemporaneously and who are assured of their prominent place in
history, Arrighi seems to disdain the usual need for clarity and economy
of expression. The only other big-shot who I have heard in person that
is more opaque and boring is Etienne Balibar.
full:
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/giovanni-arrighis-vico-marxism/
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