scholarly journals The Sociology of Agriculture in Transition: The Political Economy of Agriculture after Biotechnology

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Pechlaner
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Agricultural Biotechnology ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Patent Infringement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Corporate Ownership ◽  
Seed Saving ◽  
Traditional Agricultural Practices ◽  
Sociology Of Agriculture

ABSTRACT Due to its particularities as a nature-based process, agriculture’s ‘exceptionalism’ to capitalist industrialization has garnered much debate. One of the more productive consequences of this debate has been the development of conceptual tools that account for its distinction from typical capital accumulation patterns, such as Goodman, Sorj and Wilkinson’s (1987) classic concepts of “appropriationism” and “substitutionism.” The advent of agricultural biotechnology is now testing the limits of even these more refined conceptualizations, however, as the technology’s associated proprietary framework is reorganizing many traditional agricultural practices. Drawing on empirical examples of biotechnology-induced change—e.g. restrictions on seed saving, grower contracts, and patent infringement lawsuits—this paper argues that there is a need for a new concept in political economy of agriculture theory, which I term “expropriationism.” This concept identifies several aspects of an agricultural reorganization premised on legal means to enhance capital accumulation and on separating corporate ownership from liability.

scholarly journals Distributing productive play: a materialist analysis of Steam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Interaction Design ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sales Promotions ◽  
Historical Continuity ◽  
New Space ◽  
A Site

Valve Corporation’s digital game distribution platform, Steam, is the largest distributor of games on personal computers, analyzed here as a site where control over the production, design and use of digital games is established. Steam creates and exercises processes and techniques such as monopolization and enclosure over creative products, online labour, and exchange among game designers. Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding framework places communication at the centre of the political economy, here of digital commodities distributed and produced by online platforms like Steam. James Gibson’s affordance theory allows the market Steam’s owners create for its users to be cast in terms of visuality and interaction design. These theories are largely neglected in the existing literature in game studies, platform studies, and political economy, but they allow intervention in an ongoing debate concerning the ontological status of work and play as distinct, separate human activities by offering a specific focus on the political economy of visual or algorithmic communication. Three case studies then analyze Steam as a site where the slippage between game-play and work is constant and deepening. The first isolates three sales promotions on Steam as forms of work disguised as online shopping. The second is a discourse analysis of a crisis within the community of mod creators for the game Skyrim, triggered by changes implemented on Steam. The third case study critiques Valve Corporation’s positioning of Steam as a new space to extract value from play by demonstrating historical continuity with consumer monopolies. A concluding discussion argues Steam is a platform that evolves to meet distinct crises and problems in the production and circulation of its digital commodities as contradictions arise. Ultimately, Steam shows how the cycle of capital accumulation encourages monopolization and centralization.

scholarly journals Issues in the Political Economy of Agricultural Biotechnology

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID WIELD ◽  
JOANNA CHATAWAY ◽  
MAURICE BOLO
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Agricultural Biotechnology ◽  
The Political

scholarly journals The political economy of soil erosion in Cirasea sub basin, upstream Citarum basin

2021 ◽  
Vol 879 (1) ◽  
pp. 012013
Author(s):  
F Nurysyifa ◽  
Kaswanto ◽  
H Kartodihardjo
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Rehabilitation Program ◽  
The Political ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Land Conflicts ◽  
Political Position ◽  
Environmental Rehabilitation ◽  
The Government

Abstract The current problems of the Upstream Citarum basin, particularly in the Cirasea Sub-Basin, are near related to economic factors and the low political position of the community. One of the reasons is the biophysical aspect, which influenced the erfpacht rights for Dutch and British plantation companies in the Agrarische Wet policy at the end of the 17th century. When Indonesia became independent, the Government had worked on environmental rehabilitation as well as dealing with land conflicts, but rehabilitation activities often failed to meet the primary needs of the community. Therefore, rehabilitation efforts in various programs often fail. The objective of this this study is to figure out the preferences of interests and motives from the government and other access authorities which ultimately affect the lives of other communities through the formulation of an environmental rehabilitation program. The approach is Bernstein Political Economy Analysis. The results show that political economy is be able to reveals the problem of erosion, which is always imposed on groups with a low political position compared to other groups who are more vital in reaching access. Even though the community has limitations in implementing environmentally-friendly agricultural practices. Moreover, the political economy can reveal the government’s interests behind the land rehabilitation program which often sided with big investors and even tended to repeat the pattern of conflicts in the colonial era. Therefore, erosion can be an important element in describing the conditions of poverty that occur in rural areas.

Economic Surplus, the Baran Ratio, and Capital Accumulation

2019 ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Zhun Xu
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Capital Formation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Economic Surplus ◽  
Effective Utilization ◽  
Seminal Contribution

In 1957, in the Political Economy of Growth, Paul Baran made a seminal contribution to our understanding of the connection between economic surplus—a concept he introduced into the development discussion—and growth. Given that the ruling class controls the surplus of society, how the surplus is used—whether it is invested, consumed, or simply wasted—is at its discretion. The effective utilization of surplus implies a reasonable rate of capital accumulation and economic development. In the following study of the utilization of surplus I compare the size of surplus and gross capital formation in a variety of countries starting from the mid–nineteenth century.

China's ChangingGuanxiCapitalism: Private Entrepreneurs between Leninist Control and Relentless Accumulation

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. McNally
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Political System ◽  
Institutional Logics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Private Firms ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Chinese Entrepreneurs ◽  
Private Entrepreneurs ◽  
Institutional Space

Guanxiandguanxicapitalism are much-debated terms in the context of China's evolving political economy. This article explores the changing nature of China'sguanxicapitalism. It analyzes first various aspects ofguanxicapitalism, a unique conceptual blend infused with seemingly incongruous cultural and historical meanings drawn from both Chinese and Western roots. It then introduces three case studies of private firms, illustrating empirically how Chinese entrepreneurs' relationship with the political system is evolving. The article ends by assessing the ways in which political factors,guanxipractices and capitalist accumulation are interacting and changing. I hold thatguanxicapitalism is playing a crucial role in realigning the interests of state and capital in China. It yields idiosyncratic benefits to certain Chinese private firms, while also bridging the logics of freewheeling capital accumulation and authoritarian control in a state-dominated economy. In this view,guanxicapitalism encompasses both contradictory and complementary institutional logics. Since the persistence of Leninist control generates “deliberate ambiguity” in how China's private sector is governed, the penetration ofguanxinetworks into government-business relations creates institutional space that enables both Leninist control and relentless capital accumulation to proceed, in turn lending China's emergent capitalism a unique quality.

scholarly journals Trabalho gratuito nas redes: de como o ativismo de 99% pode gerar ainda mais lucros para 1% │ Free labour in networks: how the activism of 99% can generate even more profits for 1%

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Dantas ◽  
Marcela Canavarro ◽  
Marina Barros
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Collaborative Networks ◽  
The Political ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Collaborative Practices ◽  
Surplus Value ◽  
Preliminary Study

RESUMO Este artigo contém elementos ainda exploratórios de pesquisas que vêm sendo desenvolvidas pelos seus autores. São descritas algumas práticas colaborativas em redes ativistas, a exemplo do "Rio na Rua" e da "Avaaz", visando, sobretudo, exibir o estágio metodológico em que se encontra a pesquisa, para sustentar sua hipótese central: as redes colaborativas, politizadas ou não, mobilizam trabalho gratuito de bilhões de pessoas que servem, como qualquer trabalho não pago, para a acumulação de capital. Utilizamos o campo da Economia Política da Informação, Comunicação e Cultura (EPICC) como base teórica da análise e expomos resultados preliminares de pesquisas empíricas em andamento.Palavras-chave: Mais-valia 2.0; Trabalho Gratuito; Redes de Mobilização; Facebook; Avaaz.ABSTRACT This article brings a preliminary study that has been carried on by its authors in the last months. We describe collaborative practices in activist networks, such as Rio na Rua's Facebook page and "Avaaz". The main focus here is to present the methodological phase of the research to support our thesis: collaborative networks, whether political or not, mobilize non-paid work of billions of people who contribute to capital accumulation. The Political Economy of Information, Communication and Culture is the theoretical basis of the analisys and we publish here some preliminary results of ongoing empirical research.Keywords: Surplus value 2.0; Non-paid work; Mobilization Networks; Facebook; Avaaz.

scholarly journals Distributing productive play: a materialist analysis of Steam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Interaction Design ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sales Promotions ◽  
Historical Continuity ◽  
New Space ◽  
A Site

Valve Corporation’s digital game distribution platform, Steam, is the largest distributor of games on personal computers, analyzed here as a site where control over the production, design and use of digital games is established. Steam creates and exercises processes and techniques such as monopolization and enclosure over creative products, online labour, and exchange among game designers. Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding framework places communication at the centre of the political economy, here of digital commodities distributed and produced by online platforms like Steam. James Gibson’s affordance theory allows the market Steam’s owners create for its users to be cast in terms of visuality and interaction design. These theories are largely neglected in the existing literature in game studies, platform studies, and political economy, but they allow intervention in an ongoing debate concerning the ontological status of work and play as distinct, separate human activities by offering a specific focus on the political economy of visual or algorithmic communication. Three case studies then analyze Steam as a site where the slippage between game-play and work is constant and deepening. The first isolates three sales promotions on Steam as forms of work disguised as online shopping. The second is a discourse analysis of a crisis within the community of mod creators for the game Skyrim, triggered by changes implemented on Steam. The third case study critiques Valve Corporation’s positioning of Steam as a new space to extract value from play by demonstrating historical continuity with consumer monopolies. A concluding discussion argues Steam is a platform that evolves to meet distinct crises and problems in the production and circulation of its digital commodities as contradictions arise. Ultimately, Steam shows how the cycle of capital accumulation encourages monopolization and centralization.

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