PROKLA - Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft
Not a member yet
1980 research outputs found
Sort by
Aufstieg und Niedergang einer wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Wahrheit: Reinharts und Rogoffs Artikel Growth in a Time of Debt
Get PDFThis article received soon after publishing in 2010 the status of an economic truth, which was used to justify austerity measures. In early 2013 it was revealed thatthe paper had an erroneous data base. Here it is discussed by which mechanisms an „economic truth“ is produced and circulated and what is needed to question and destroy such a truth
Hungeraufstände und Kämpfe gegen hohe Preise
Get PDFIn the course of the global food price crisis that began in late 2007, in dozens of cities worldwide, particularly in the global South, large numbers of people have come out into the streets and protested in spontaneous ‘food riots’, marches and strikes against price increases of 50 per cent or even more for cereals, cooking oil and other staple goods. This article analyses the case of ‘food riots’ and struggles against the high cost of living in Burkina Faso, one of the countries in sub- Saharan Africa that have experienced intense protests against high food prices since 2008. It is argued that protests against the high cost of living do not simply express despair of the hungry but are part of broader social struggles. Thus, they present at the same time part of specific struggles within the national context and resistance against the current global food regime
Imperiales Öl und vergessene Verbrechen: Grenzgebiete der Enteignung im Niger-Delta
Get PDFNigeria is a petro-state with a vast shadow economy and shadow political apparatuses, in which the lines between public and private, state and market, government and organized crime are blurred and porous. Since the oil industry in the Niger delta became commercially viable in 1958, virtually every inch of the region has been touched by international oil corporations. As a result, a multiplicity of overlapping conflicts have evolved: From the new states and local government areas bankrolled by the oil revenue process, to reconfigured spaces of chieftainship and ethnicity in which a panoply of political movements struggle for the control over territory, to the violent spaces of the creeks controlled by insurgents and federal military forces
Familienduell: Von der politischen Regulierung und den Kämpfen um Familie
Get PDFTaking the thorough changes in the political regulation of family in Germany as a starting point, this article considers these developments as (discursive) struggles between different social actors over the meaning, the form and the social tasks of family. Family therefore is not considered as a ‘pre-societal’ given but rather a socio-political and power-laden construct, which takes a central role in governing privatized social reproduction and reproductive work. To capture these aspects four critical debates on family are discussed: First, feminist approaches which focus on the separation of the private and the public, second, queer-theoretical approaches which discuss family as a heteronormative concept; third, Foucault’s writings which enables to capture family as an aspect of biopolitics; fourth, Gramscian theory of hegemony which allows analyzing family as a contested notion and a field of struggle
Der Lohn ist die Arbeit: Die In-Wert Setzung weiblichen Arbeitsvermögens als emanzipatorisches Dilemma
Get PDFThe article points out that the politics of gender equality in Germany have lost the perspective of a feminist critique within the last decades. The topic of care and reproductive work has been completely neglected, the debate is focused only on the employability of women and their integration in the national workforce. The working concept that underlies this development reproduces the separation of paid labor and reproductive work and refers women to the capitalist jobmarket, promising to find equality and liberation there. The article refers to Angela McRobbie and Nancy Fraser, it questions the narrow-minded labor-market-orientation of today’s women’s policy and calls for a renewal of a feminist critique of the concept of wage labor
In Memoriam Gilbert Ziebura (1924 – 2013): Zur Aktualität einer Analyse struktureller Bestimmungsfaktoren politischer Handlungskorridore
Get PDF"Gilbert Ziebura ist am 21. Februar 2013 gestorben. Einige von uns hat er während seiner Tätigkeit an der FU Berlin (1964-1974), der Universität Konstanz (1974- 1978) und schließlich der TU Braunschweig (1978-1992) nachhaltig geprägt. Legendär sind seine Vorlesungen, die das Zusammenwirken von (welt-)ökonomischen, gesellschaftlichen und politischen Verhältnissen den Studierenden bildlich werden ließen.1 Ohne mit oberlehrerbehaftetem Habitus an der Begründung einer eigenen ‘Schule’ interessiert zu sein, haben sich an allen Orten seines Wirkens „Zieburisten“ herausgebildet. Ob diese Titulierung seiner ‘Schüler’ als Anerkennung oder als Schimpfwort gemeint war, habe ich bis heute nicht verstanden. Gilbert verwendete solche Termini kaum. „Oberlehrerhymnen“ brachten ihn eher – wie es in F.J. Degenhardts „Adieu Kumpanen“ heißt – „zum Kotzen“. Viele seiner ‘Schüler’ haben sich im Laufe der Zeit von ihm emanzipiert, eigene Positionen entwickelt – ich natürlich auch. Er hatte Respekt davor, arbeitete sogar darauf hin, über ihn hinauszudenken. Er akzeptierte uns, wie wir waren – mit unseren Fehlern, Unzulänglichkeiten, Unkenntnissen, die er wohl immer wieder wahrnehmen musste. Für viele von uns wurde er genau deshalb zu einem sehr guten Freund...
Zur Aktualität der Organisationstheorie von Luxemburg und Gramsci: Zwischen emanzipatorischer Theoriebildung und ahistorischer Bezugnahme
Get PDFBig parts of the left refer to Rosa Luxemburg and Antonio Gramsci as two main theorists of organization theory. In this article, we present their thinking towards problems of class consciousness, the activity of the masses, bureaucracy, political parties, parliament and hegemony. We argue that in main regards they complement each other. Finally we figure out how one can use this theoretical approach under today’s different conditions and which problems might appear if we don’t bear in mind such differences
Die sozialen Kämpfe in Südafrika verbinden? Gewerkschaften und soziale Bewegungen im Bündnis gegen prekäre Beschäftigung und die Kommodifizierung öffentlicher Güter
Get PDFAfter the end of Apartheid 18 years ago, class conflicts are on the rise in South Africa. In most cases, social struggles of poor communities and trade union protests are led separately from each other. In contrast, trade unions in South Africa were regarded as an exemplar of Social Movement Unionism in their fight against Apartheid. Based on seven interviews and three group discussions with trade unionists from the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) and municipal employees in Cape Town, this article examines the impact, chances and obstacles of coalition building between trade unions and the new social movements in contemporary South Africa. In Cape Town SAMWU and social movements are working together to formulate an alternative Development Plan for the city as well as joint ideas for a good public service based on the needs of poor communities. As casualisation is increasing and undermining the associational power of trade unions, links are rebuild between SAMWU and community organisations in Cape Town. At the same time it can be shown that the joining of forces and social struggles is based on preconditions and needs intensified efforts undertaken by unions and social movements alike
Staatskapitalismus goes global
Get PDFThe Chinese economy has developed rapidly during the past 30 years and a market-oriented state capitalism has emerged. The policies of the Chinese party-state have led to concentrating effects both in – and outside of China: Huge state-owned enterprises and conglomerates have emerged at the expense of smaller ones. With the support of state institutions, the remaining SOEs increasingly involve in overseas activities. Chinese outward foreign direct investment has grown considerably since the year 2000. This paper depicts China’s capitalist development and illustrates underlying motives and effects of the “Go Global Strategy”
Umstrukturierung der Verschuldung und Wachstumsbedingungen: Griechenland und Argentinien im Vergleich
Get PDFAfter the crisis of 2001/2002 Argentina was confronted with similar problems as Greece is nowadays. Argentina, however, recovered quickly. The article discusses which chances Greece has to follow a similar path of development and which are the obstacles for such a path