Capitalism and its critics

At a time when we are faced with fundamental questions about the sustainability of the economic system, Capitalism and Its Critics provides a kaleidoscopic history of the now dominant system of global capitalism, from colonialism and the Industrial Revolution to the ecological crisis and artificial intelligence. Cassidy will tell the story through the eyes of the system’s critics. From eighteenth-century weavers who rebelled against early factory automation to Eric Williams's paradigm-changing work on slavery and capitalism, to the Latin American dependistas, the international Wages for Housework campaign of the 1970s, and the modern degrowth movement. He looks at familiar figures – Smith, Marx, Luxemburg, Keynes, Polanyi – from a fresh perspective, but also focuses on many less-familiar, including William Thompson, the Irish proto-socialist whose work influenced Marx; Flora Tristan, the French proponent of a universal labour union; John Hobson, the original theorist of imperialism; and J. C. Kumarappa, the Indian exponent of Gandhian economics.

John Cassidy (@JohnCassidy) is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Dot.con: The Greatest Story Ever Sold and How Markets Fail, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction.

Nava Ashraf (@profnavaashraf), who will be chairing the event, is Professor of Economics at LSE. She is also Co-Director of the Psychology and Economics program at STICERD, and Founder and Director of the Altruistic Capital Lab in the Department of Economics.

You can find out more information on the LSE Events page.