Political Economy: Capitalism and Nature
Political Economy - 101
Focuses on the relationship between economic and political processes (Gregory, 2009).
Treats economics as an extension of power and politics required to study any activity that connects to the production and distribution of wealth (Sarma, 2009).
A political economy of nature focuses on the interrelation between nature and the current mode of production (Campling & Baglioni, 2020).
Key questions in political economy:
Who works the land?
Who gets access to the land?
Who profits from the resources?
Where do impacts occur?
How are the profits and impacts distributed? (adapted from Le Heron, 2009; Campling & Baglioni, 2020)
Political Economy - origins
In the early 17th century, Political Economy (PE) was concerned with increasing sovereign power and prosperity of subjects.
During the late 19th century, PE in Britain was strongly influenced by the work of Adam Smith (1723 – 1790).
Smith is considered the father of neoclassical economics (Cardinale & Scazzieri, 2018; Gregory, 2009; Mizuoka, 2009).
Neo-classical economics:
Market as a powerful entity
Able to self-regulate (“invisible” hand)
Homo economicus
Utility maximization
Minimum intervention of States
Assumes “apolitical” economic models (Cardinale & Scazzieri, 2018; Gregory, 2009; Mizuoka, 2009)
Karl Heinrich Marx
Born on May 5th, 1818 in Trier, Germany.
Doctor in philosophy from the University of Jena (Germany).
Philosopher, historian, economist, journalist…a worker!
In 1844 met Friedrich Engels in Paris – a key moment.
Died on March 14th, 1883 in London, UK.
Key books: Thesis on Feuerbach, Manifest of the Communist Party, Grundrisse, Das Kapital, Critique of the Gotha Program.
Marx’s critique of PE
Karl Marx focused on the underlying relations between economic, social, and political systems.
Marx identified several incongruences in Smith’s work, such as:
“Labour buys everything”, but workers cannot afford to buy labour, so they have to sell their labour.
“Capital is the accumulation of labour”, but the owners of capital do not work, and the ones who work do not have capital (Gregory, 2009; Harvey, 2010; Mizuoka, 2009; Marx, 1990).
Enclosure Laws in England enacted private property over land (1780 and 1820s) → primitive accumulation.
Land (means of production) that was a collective resource was taken from peasants who were only left with their labour to sell.
Accumulation by the few from the exploitation of the many.
Workers no longer see their labour in the commodities they produce (Marx’s theory of alienation) (Marx, 1990; Harvey, 2010; Robbins, 2022).
Capitalism establishes a set of necessary relations of production.
The capitalist class owns the means of production (e.g., factories, land) and secures key conditions of production (e.g., natural raw materials).
Workers must sell their labour at a low price, which generates a surplus value kept by the capitalists.
To keep generating surplus value, capital must keep in movement (M-C-M’).
Competition reduces surplus value, so labour and/or nature are overexploited to generate more surplus value (Marx, 1990; Harvey, 2010).
Capitalism has an innate tendency towards overaccumulation (underconsumption or overproduction) – the 1st contradiction of capitalism.
Crises are systemic (TRPF).
During an economic crisis, the impact on workers and capitalists is differentiated.
How are crises solved? Massive wage cuts, change of location, government rescue funds (Marx, 1990; Harvey, 2010; Robbins, 2022).
The world's five richest men have more than doubled their wealth since 2020, while five billion people were made poorer.
The share of the world population living under the World Bank poverty line of US stands at . Meanwhile the richest % own almost an identical proportion of % of all global wealth.
In 2023, the Global South paid over million an hour to the richest % in the Global North.
Net productivity Hourly compensation.
The productivity Percent growth in U.S. and wages hourly compensation, -:
Net productivity: %
Hourly compensation: %
Capitalists must underpay workers (and/or nature) to increase their capital and better compete.
Due to competition, capital tends to accumulate in few hands (e.g., monopolies).
Overaccumulation of capital would necessarily mean lower wages and higher extraction of resources.
Overaccumulation can result in overproduction or underconsumption. Both impact on the circulation of capital.
First contradiction of capitalism: the tendency of capitalism to undermine the economic conditions for its own development due to overproduction/underconsumption.
As a result of the inherent contradiction of capitalism, there are recurrent economic crises:
-: US economic crisis
-: Great Depression
Economic crisis of -
Raising of living cost…?
Second contradiction of capitalism
Rather than placing stress on workers' conditions, capitalism also puts heavy pressure on nature – another source of surplus value.
Overexploitation of the conditions of production would not sustain production in the long run.
Scarcity is induced by the commodification of nature – not a natural condition.
Increasing accumulation of capital (i.e., economic growth) cannot be possible on a planet with finite resources (Hubber, 2022; O’Connor, 1988, 1991; Robins, 2022; Smith, 2010).
The tendency of capitalism to undermine the environmental conditions underpinning its perpetuation → ecological crisis.
Environmental degradation is also harmful to workers and social reproduction overall.
Workers do not only organize to claim higher wages but also to fight for a clean and healthy environment.
Social reproduction is often neglected (e.g., household work) (Hubber, 2022; O’Connor, 1988, 1991; Robins, 2022; Smith, 2010).
Capitalism and the production of nature
Nature itself is a product of human influence.
In capitalism, nature appears as a contradiction:
External → commodification
Internal → universal rules of nature
Capitalism is a powerful ideology.
Social and ecological issues in the production phase are hidden or forgotten (e.g., green-grabbing, green-washing, socioenvironmental conflicts) (Fairhead et al., 2012; O’Connor, 1988, 1991; Moore, 2015; Robins, 2022; Smith, 2010).
Globalization and increasingly open borders have allowed capitalism to expand its frontiers.
In the case of a local crisis, capitalists can establish new markets elsewhere (often with less restraining environmental policies) – spatial fix.
As a result, the production of nature is geographically uneven, and workers and nature become disposable (Federici, 2012; Harvey, 1999; Huber, 2022; Robins, 2022).
Social reproduction and nature
People require an adequate environment to carry out their daily life.
The pressures that the capitalist mode of production puts on nature have a direct – although uneven – impact on people’s livelihood.
Hence, it is relevant to pay attention to how people organize to improve, defend, and change their environment. Not an easy task though… (Hubber, 2022; Neumann, 2005; Robins, 2022).
Towards Degrowth
Degrowth is not new but has recently received more attention from scholars.
Degrowth builds upon Political Economy and Political Ecology.
Degrowth critiques economic growth, which is a social objective in capitalism.
Degrowth proposes the downscaling of production and new forms of living and producing (e.g., eco-communities, cooperatives, work-sharing) (D’Alisa et al., 2015; Parrique, 2019).
Towards Political Ecology
Political Ecology draws from Marxist Political Economy ideas.
Political Ecology focuses on the ecological changes linked to the current mode of production.
Political Ecology pays attention to the power dynamics behind ecological degradation.
Political Ecology asks, e.g., Who gets access to resources? Who benefits from the exploitation of natural resources? Who is affected by ecological degradation? (Neumann 2005, 2009; Robins, 2022; Zimmerer, 2003).
Key points
Marx’s critique of political economy emphasizes the role of history and the crisis-prone nature of capitalism.
Marx’s key concepts: labour, accumulation, contradiction, crisis.
Nature and its changes are deeply – and unevenly – influenced by the capitalist system.
An organized society can influence positive changes on their environment.
Marxist Political Economy has contributed to the emergence of more niche approaches (e.g., political ecology, degrowth).