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The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften: Events
Thursday, 13 July 2023, 11:00Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften, Am Wingertsberg 4, 61348 Bad Homburg
Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften of Goethe University
Fellow colloquium
Cain Shelley (Justitia Centre for Advanced Studies)
»Capitalist Class Power: Why It Is Dominating«
Abstract
Central to much Marxist and Socialist thought is the idea that, under capitalism, a capitalist class dominates the working class. But does it still make sense to deploy the terminology of a ›capitalist class‹ today, within post-industrial societies like Great Britain and Germany? And even if it does, can this class really be said to severely dominate others in the ways many Marxists have claimed? In this presentation, I want to offer some (hopefully novel) answers to both these questions. My paper has three main parts. First, it offers a conceptual account of which group of agents within contemporary societies can still accurately be termed ›capitalists.‹ Second, it constructs a social-ontological taxonomy of the forms of power currently possessed by members of this group, both individually and collectively. And finally, it develops a normative argument for why exactly we ought to regard this class’s possession of these powers as an instance of severe and morally unjustifiable domination.
The speaker
Cain Shelley is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at London School of Economics. His doctoral thesis explores the concept of class consciousness, and some of the political practices – municipal politics and activist-led education – that might play a role in strengthening different aspects of it. Before beginning his PhD, he received an MA in Political Science from the University of Leeds, and a BA in History and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London.
Participation
Closed event. Contact: Beate Sutterlüty; email: b.sutterluety@forschungskolleg-humanwissenschaften.de).
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