In part I, we saw how for Wood and Brenner the defining characteristic of capitalist society, the one that sets entirely novel “laws of motion” into play, is market-dependence. Following Chomsky, I rather prefer the term ‘market discipline’—the dependence on the market for their very survival means that everybody has to obey market imperatives. In capitalism, it is market discipline that replaces “extra-economic” forms of coercion that characterize surplus extraction in non-capitalist societies. Market competition generates remorselessly rising productivity. But markets have always existed, as did the drive for profits. What is new in “true capitalism,”
Braudel's Vengeance
Braudel's Vengeance
Braudel's Vengeance
In part I, we saw how for Wood and Brenner the defining characteristic of capitalist society, the one that sets entirely novel “laws of motion” into play, is market-dependence. Following Chomsky, I rather prefer the term ‘market discipline’—the dependence on the market for their very survival means that everybody has to obey market imperatives. In capitalism, it is market discipline that replaces “extra-economic” forms of coercion that characterize surplus extraction in non-capitalist societies. Market competition generates remorselessly rising productivity. But markets have always existed, as did the drive for profits. What is new in “true capitalism,”