Capitalist Social Relations Research Articles

Social form, social reproduction and social policy: Basic income, basic services, basic infrastructure

Proponents recommend Universal Basic Income as a solution to a trifold crisis of work, wage and social democracy. Synthesising Marxian form analysis with Marxist-feminist social reproduction theory, this article suggests that these crises relate to historically specific capitalist social forms: labour, money and the state. These separate but interlocking crises of social form are temporary and contingent expressions of an underlying, permanent crisis of social reproduction. Mistaking the pervasive crisis of social reproduction in its totality for a temporary or contingent trifold crisis of work, wage or social democracy, Universal Basic Income proposals seek to solve it by moving through the same social forms through which they take effect, rather than confronting the social relations that constitute their antagonistic undertow and generate the crisis of social reproduction. The article considers two other solutions proposed to handle the deeper-rooted crisis with which Universal Basic Income grapples: Universal Basic Services and Universal Basic Infrastructure. Both propose non-monetary ways past the impasses of the Universal Basic Income, addressing much more directly the constrained basis of individual and collective reproduction that characterises capitalist social relations. But they retain a link with capitalist social forms of money and state that may serve to close rather than open the path to real alternatives. The article concludes that the contradictions these ‘abstract universals’ touch upon are best mediated through more bottom-up and struggle-based ‘concrete universals’ that address the manifold crises of work, wage and social democracy that undergird them. Such alternatives would leave open dynamic tensions around work and welfare in contemporary capitalism without promise of their incomplete resolution in the name of a false universality unattainable in a world characterised by antagonism, domination and crisis.

Make development great again? Accumulation regimes, spaces of sovereign exception and the elite development paradigm of China's Belt and Road Initiative

AbstractThis article studies what I describe as “state-coordinated investment partnerships,” an investment modality central to the deployment of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). These partnerships bring together state and business actors to export overcapacity and address infrastructural demands in underdeveloped markets. To do so, they require accumulation and sovereignty regimes that mirror, in contingent ways, similar social arrangements within China. The superposition of such regimes and the interests and social imaginaries of local actors produces forms of uneven and combined development and shapes the contours of the BRI's emerging developmental and geoeconomic footprints. The BRI exports also an elite development paradigm which promotes urbanization, connectivity and economic growth over participatory approaches. This paradigm projects a depoliticized version of China's present into the BRI's future to justify social and environmental dislocations, and shields Chinese firms from civil society scrutiny. My analysis rejects this elite perspective and favors a labor-centric approach that unearths the social foundations of the BRI. From this perspective, despite relevant differences in format, the BRI's quintessential investment modality is closely aligned to a contemporary global current of public-private partnerships endeavored to mobilize public resources and state power for the expansion of capitalist social relations.

Pro inferno do inconsciente

O romance Essa Terra dramatiza o conflito entre as expectativas positivas em relação ao progresso e o modo como ele se impõe com violência gerando crises agudas, sofrimento, loucura e morte. O desfecho da trajetória de Nelo, personagem que depois de vinte anos vivendo em São Paulo retorna à terra natal e se suicida, suscita uma série de indagações acerca do sentido do processo social do qual a migração é momento. Neste artigo propomos uma análise da configuração trágica do romance tendo em vista a complexidade da experiência que ele formaliza e os vínculos dessa experiência com um processo mais geral de imposição das relações sociais capitalistas, considerando a particularidade dessa imposição no contexto da formação nacional brasileira. O infortúnio dos personagens e os conflitos que eles vivenciam tanto externa quanto internamente configuram uma experiência que podemos reconhecer como trágica à medida que recompomos os vínculos entre a dimensão pessoal e social da experiência. Destacamos, em especial, a presença da culpa para examinar como o romance dramatiza a formação do sujeito moderno, ao mesmo tempo dotado e destituído de autonomia, aspecto que nos parece decisivo para apreender a experiência trágica que nos é contemporânea.

The impact of foreignness on the compliance with cybersecurity controls

This study examines whether and how foreignness affects internal auditors’ compliance with the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (the Standards) from social and culture perspective. It demonstrates that foreignness, such as language and relational social capital, has a significant impact on auditors’ compliance with the Standards, especially with respect to cybersecurity, independence and objectivity, individual objectivity, and governance of the Standards. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) is used to analyze the survey data. This study highlights that external factors such as social capital affect the internal auditors’ compliance with the Standards.

The ‘majesty of the law’: depoliticisation, the Rule of Law and judicial independence

The concept of depoliticisation is an important analytical tool in the study of British politics, although there remains a disproportionate focus on ‘successful’ examples of the strategy. This article provides an account of the failure of the Industrial Relations Act, focusing specifically on the National Industrial Relations Court. By presenting the Act as an attempt to insulate government by relying on the ‘majesty of the law’ as a disciplinary tool, this article argues that contradictions associated with the Rule of Law supporting capitalist social relations made the court an inappropriate vehicle for governing at arm’s-length in this context. The article explores how the lines of judicial independence became blurred, undermining perceptions of governmental disengagement. This resulted in the court becoming the most controversial aspect of the 1970–1974 Conservative government’s reforms. The analysis demonstrates how the interplay between formal rules and informal norms associated with ‘depoliticised institutions’ can produce unexpected outcomes and undermine a governing strategy. Contrary to intentions, the rules-based strategy embodied in the Act was anything but predictable and fuelled its untimely demise.

СОЦІАЛЬНИЙ КАПІТАЛ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ: ПОНЯТТЯ І МЕТОДИ ОЦІНКИ

The modern economy is characterized by a complex system of relationships and involvement in the production process of various resources. One such resource that has a multifaceted and multifaceted impact on economic agents is social capital. The article investigates the theoretical and applied aspects of the projection of the concept of «social capital» at the organizational level. The problems of analysis and comprehensive assessment of the social capital of the organization from the standpoint of using their results for management are considered. The article also considers the circumstance that led to a permanent idea of social capital as a means to ensure the solution of the problem of coordination of collective action. Due to such a broad interpretation, the concept of social capital is now used to explain various phenomena and processes of social, political and economic nature. The concept of social capital of the organization, the structure of social capital, as well as components such as structural, relational and cognitive social capital are considered. The article analyzes the impact of social capital on the activities of the organization, analyzes the approaches to assessing the social capital of the organization. It was found that in developing the economic strategy of the firm the greatest interest in terms of measuring the social capital of the organization are those forms that, on the one hand, have a clear impact on the market value of the company, and on the other, can be objects of management. The method of discounting cash flows, the method of exemption from royalties is the most appropriate for measuring the value of intellectual property, the method of comparable transactions, the method of excluded costs, the method of economic value added.

Do service firm employee and customer relations matter for customer forgiveness in service recovery?

Purpose Customer forgiveness is gaining importance in service recovery. This study debates that service firm employees and the customers’ relations are supportive resources for the customer while deciding for forgiveness. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to test the effects of structural, relational and cognitive social capital on customer forgiveness and thereof the effects of customer forgiveness on negative word of mouth and repatronage intentions. Design/methodology/approach Partial least squares–structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized relations on usable data from 428 banking customers who registered their complaint recently. Findings Results show that structural, relational and cognitive social capital explained a unique variance in customer forgiveness with significant positive influence, whereas customer forgiveness has a significant positive effect on repatronage intentions and a significant negative influence on negative word of mouth. Originality/value Customer forgiveness is a convincing idea in service recovery. This study proposed and empirically verified that social capital in relations of service firm employee and customer relations is important for customer forgiveness to minimize negative word of mouth and enhance repatronage intentions.

Examining social capital in relation to sleep duration, insomnia, and daytime sleepiness

ObjectiveSleep, which plays an important role in health and well-being, is socially patterned such that certain demographic groups have worse sleep health than others. One possible mechanism driving sleep disparities is social capital. The current study examines the association between social capital and self-reported sleep variables (eg, duration, insomnia symptoms, and daytime sleepiness) among a sample of 1007 participants from the Sleep Health and Activity, Diet and Environment Study (SHADES). MethodsLogistic regressions were used to estimate whether the sleep variables were associated with social capital measures. All models control for age, sex, race/ethnicity (Non-Hispanic White, Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and multicultural/other), income, and education (less than high school, high school graduate, some college, and college graduate). ResultsLower likelihood of membership in groups was seen for long sleepers (>9hrs, p-value<0.05) and beliefs that neighbors rarely/never help each other was more likely among short sleepers (5–6hrs, p-value<0.05), relative to 7–8 h sleepers. A decreased sense of belonging was seen among short sleepers (5–6hrs, p-value<0.05). Decreased likelihood of trust was reported by those with moderate-severe insomnia (p-value<0.05). Similarly, neighborhood improvement efforts were less likely among individuals with moderate-to-severe insomnia (p-value<0.05). ConclusionsResults of our study show that short and long sleep duration, as well as insomnia, were inversely related to measures of social capital, such as group memberships and a sense of neighborhood belonging. Future research may explore the directionality of the relationship between social capital and sleep and perhaps consider future interventions to improve low social capital and/or poor sleep in community samples.

Social Relational Capital as a Community Economic Development Factor

The paper examined the impact of relational capitals on community economic development. For this purpose, the handloom business community was taken as a case study from Peshawar Valley. Data was collected through purposive sampling from169 handlooms firms. The results concluded that the impact of relational capital is significant, and the relationship is positive. This study hereby suggests that government and policymakers should invest in making ties and a strong network of firms within and outside of the community; hence with high investment in making strong social-relational capital can develop the entire entrepreneurial communities.

Civil society engaged in wildfires: Mediterranean forest fire volunteer groupings

In fire-prone areas such the Mediterranean basin, wildfire risk means a societal challenge. Governments in modern welfare states have generally addressed it through a “zero fire policy”, focusing on suppression and professionalization. Such approach provides security to local populations, who in turn may detach from the socio-ecologic phenomenon of wildfire and become passive actors. In the face of increasingly virulent wildfires, local communities are often not prepared with consequent damages and casualties.Yet, some regions show pro-active locals organizing their efforts to tackle wildfires. These fire volunteer groups suppose a social innovation in rural communities that help in their adaptation to climate change. Going beyond homeowners' preparedness, the actions of volunteers range from supporting firefighters' efforts, first attack and/or year-round prevention. The investigation of these communities is in its infancy despite its practitioner and policy interest.In this study, we shed light on this civil society engagement across different Mediterranean forest settings, namely from predominantly public forest ownership in Greece, to predominantly private in Catalonia (Spain) and virtually entirely private in Portugal. Collecting data through a survey, the type of activities of these volunteer groups, their relations with fire and local actors (i.e. social capital) and trajectory have been analysed to find possible trends.Statistical results show that their portfolio of activities relates to their group size (i.e. available human resources) and their structural and relational social capital. Preliminary insights show an improvement in trust with fire and forest actors owing to the fire volunteer group establishment. No evidence has been found of forest area covered by fire volunteers, recent fire experience or variety in members' profile to affect the type of activities. The results are discussed in the frame of social capital theory and suggestions for further research are put forward.

The translation of entrepreneurial intention into start-up behaviour: The moderating role of regional social capital

This article examines the moderating role of regional social capital in the intention–behaviour link in entrepreneurship. We investigate to what extent the regional social capital context in which aspiring entrepreneurs are embedded strengthens or weakens the translation of individual entrepreneurial intentions into new venture creation activities. Our results suggest that the intention–behaviour link is weakened by cognitive regional social capital in the form of regional hierarchy values and strengthened by structural regional capital in the form of regional cultural diversity and regional breadth of associational activity, as well as by relational regional social capital in the form of high levels of regional generalised trust. Our findings suggest that to support new venture creation activity, there is a need to grow regional social capital via the enhancement of social trust, associational activities and regional cultural diversity – and at the same time decrease hierarchical social structures within regions.

“The Camphor Question Is in Reality the Savage Question”: Indigenous Pacification and the Transition to Capitalism in the Taiwan Borderlands (1895–1915)

This article examines the relationship between the Taiwan camphor industry and Japan’s conquest of the island’s Indigenous peoples. Between 1895 and 1915, Japanese police and military forces invaded Taiwan’s Indigenous highlands for control of camphor. At the dawn of the twentieth century, camphor crystals were a vital natural resource used in the production of celluloid, pharmaceuticals, and industrial chemicals. The consequences of this single commodity were far reaching, as Japanese pacification armies shelled and burned Indigenous villages to the ground, forcibly relocated tens of thousands, and killed both resistance fighters and innocent civilians. This article looks at the ways in which the productive and consumptive demands of the camphor industry directly shaped the political, military, and ideological structures of imperial governance in upland Taiwan. Through the prism of the Taiwan case, it examines the violent forms of colonial occupation that accompany the imposition of capitalist social relations on native societies.

Post-Crisis Capital Controls in Developing and Emerging Countries: Regaining Policy Space? A Historical Materialist Engagement

Recent political economy scholarship has interpreted the recent resurgence of capital controls across the Global South as attempts by some developing countries to preserve their policy space to pursue heterodox economic policies. This article critically engages with this literature and argues for the need to study capital controls in light of the social constitution and the class character of the capitalist state, money, and private capital flows. This argument is substantiated through a class analysis of the deployment of capital controls in Brazil from 1945 to 2014, which emphasizes the crucial role that capital controls have historically played in the reproduction of capitalist social relations and particular forms of class rule in Brazil.JEL Classification: F30, F32, F38, F54

EU Aggregate Demand As a Way out of Crisis? Engaging the Post‐Keynesian Critique

AbstractPost‐Keynesians have delivered an important advance in providing explanations of the Eurozone crisis, not the least in demonstrating how the formation of the European integration project lacked the means to manage effectively the macroeconomic imbalances between core and peripheral spaces across the region. Through a critical engagement with such descriptions, this article argues that to account more adequately for the formation of the asymmetrical and crisis‐ridden forms of development across the Eurozone it is necessary to focus on the uneven and combined development of Europe's peripheral spaces and their integration into an expanded free trade regime since the 1980s. It is through a focus on the structuring condition of uneven and combined development shaped by capitalist social relations of production and attendant class struggles that we can locate the origins of the present crisis.

Capital and Social Difference in Gramsci and Luxemburg

Antonio Gramsci’s prison notebooks are widely celebrated for their theorization of the political and of hegemony in capitalist society. We may also read the notebooks as works analyzing conditions where capitalist social relations are prevalent, but where pre- and noncapitalist social relations have only partially decomposed. This opens the way for situating them alongside Rosa Luxemburg’s less well-known writings, including her unpublished prison manuscript “Introduction to Political Economy.” Her analysis of the political and imperial dynamics of capitalist societies centers upon the question of the origins and formation of capitalist social relations. Although his prison notebooks suggest a capacious interest in global dynamics, Gramsci's focus is generally Italy, and the complexities of transition are thereby narrowed. By contrast Luxemburg’s writings on political economy—like Gramsci’s, left incomplete by her imprisonment and subsequent murder by fascists—consistently emphasize the historical evolution of distinct social formations, their geographical diversity, and the importance of the specific emergence of capitalist social relations from precapitalist societies.

Examining Ethnic Entrepreneurs’ Funding Access in Post-Crisis Ireland

Examining Ethnic Entrepreneurs’ Funding Access in Post-Crisis Ireland Dr. Antoinette Flynn, Associate Prof. Naomi Birdthistle, Dr. John McCarthy, Mr Abayomi Samuel Silas Abstract Purpose: Considering the growing number of ethnic-entrepreneurs in Ireland and the government‟s policy focus on Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SME), this paper explores ethnic-entrepreneurs access to external (bank) finance. Irish SMEs in general are heavily reliant on bank finance and following the global financial crisis (GFC) and Irish banking and property crises, they have experienced dramatic credit rationing. We explore whether the ethnic-minority SME in Ireland has experienced a similar funding gap and the extent to which their social capital inhibits their funding opportunities. Methodology: Thirty ethnic-minority entrepreneurs in the Midlands region of Ireland were surveyed and interviewed using a snowball sampling approach. Findings: The findings suggest that ethnic-minority SMEs have a significantly higher rate of credit refusal and have comparatively limited finance opportunities. Ethnic-entrepreneurs‟ social capital resources inhibited their funding preferences as suggested by the Pecking Order Hypothesis; in particular, their weak cognitive and relational resources negatively impacted their structural social capital in relation to formal bank-loan applications. Access to government entrepreneurial supports were also constrained by a dearth of social capital resources that manifested in a range of restrictions (fear of rejection, layers of bureaucracy, lack of adequate information, language barriers). Value: This paper uniquely sheds light on the ethnic-entrepreneur‟s awareness, understanding and in some cases, experiences of accessing bank finance, microfinance and other government supports in post-crisis Ireland. From this specific national experience, policy recommendations to more effectively support ethnic-minority entrepreneurs in accessing finance are identified and discussed. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jsbed.v7n2a2

The change in the perception of the state by students in Poland and Lithuania in the context of research on social Capital

The aim of the article is to assess changes in the perception of the state by students in the context of research concerning social capital. The paper studies whether the knowledge and the social competences gained during the three years of study are reflected in the perception of the state by young people. The paper uses the results of a survey analysis conducted at the universities in Poland and Lithuania. The theoretical part of the article presents chosen issues concerning social capital in relation to the state. The article presents conclusions regarding the assessment of changes in the perception of the state by young people in Poland and Lithuania in the context of democracy, social participation, trust and social norms. This research enables us to make a comparison of the results between the two countries and from two research periods and is an original contribution to the discussion about the role of the young generation in society. The results of the research indicate that the knowledge and the social competencies acquired during three years of study in most cases were not reflected in the change of perception of the state by Polish and Lithuanian young people.

Exploring the effects of subsidiary interdependence on the performance of global product launches

We explore the effects of subsidiary interdependence on global product launch performance using a case-study design combining quantitative and qualitative data collected from subsidiaries participating in the global launch of a new drug by a major pharmaceutical multinational enterprise. The study combines pre-launch survey data on subsidiary interdependence with post-launch quantitative performance data to select eight of 67 subsidiaries involved in a global product launch. We also analyse information gathered through in-depth interviews with 19 subsidiary managers to explore various facets of the relationship with their headquarters and other subsidiaries. Our findings suggest that the positive effect of interdependence on global product launch success varies with subsidiaries' involvement in decision-making, with the division of labour and responsibilities, and with the existence of cognitive, relational and structural social capital. Based on our findings, we present several propositions regarding the effects of subsidiary interdependence on the success of global product launches.

Практики та режими бачення сучасного урбаністичного простору

The article is devoted to the cultural analysis of the influence of the theory of postfordism, which considers post-Fordist production with post-industrial technology as the basis of industrial reproduction at the global level and the reproduction of capitalist social relations after the crisis of the Fordist mode of production and consumption. The abstract social space of the city is studied, which is formed by abstraction of labor and fetishization of things at the level of practice and the formation of a visually geometric representation of space with sign power repressive in relation to reality. The basis of the concept of sociality as the basis of a unified theory of space was developed by the French philosopher and sociologist A. Lefebvre and further developed by American social geography and urban studies, in particular in the works of D. Harvey, E. Soggy, D. Gottdiener and others. The followers of Lefebvre (apart from those important are F. Jameson's influence) refer in particular to the interdisciplinary trend of post-Fordism, within which postmodernism is considered in connection with the post-Fordist regime of accumulation (a concept developed by the Marxist regulatory school). S. Lesch focuses on the cultural mode of signaling. Likewise, D. Hartmann considers the influence of postmodernism on the post-Fordist regime of capitalism. Paolo True and Pascal Gillen consider within the limits of post-Fordism the existence in modern conditions of the plural. V. Martyanov examines the links between post-Fordism and the post-industrial / information society conceptualized by D. Bell, E. Toffler, M. Castels and others. The article deals with the reconstruction of the theory of social space and post-Fordism and outlines the social transformations of the twentieth century. In essence, it was a search for confirmation that the accumulation mode produces and reproduces social space. Architecture and urban space have become an important structural link through which to consider this connection and justify the invariance of the basic mode of accumulation through the reproduction of abstract social space and vice versa. The analysis of the discourse around the urban abstract space associated with the identity of the bourgeois class and the need for the formation of a hierarchized homogeneous spatial texture of production is carried out. As well as post-Fordist globalization and post-industrialization, which led to a change in the function and structure of the city with the main role of the post-modernist regime of signification as the logic of late capitalism in the context of programmed consumption.

Emotional Intelligence as an Antecedent of Relational Social Capital

Emotional Intelligence as an Antecedent of Relational Social Capital