Class Acts in Political Economy

Roundtable Event with David Ruccio and Katherine Gibson

As part of the activities linked to his delivery of the 9th Annual Wheelwright Lecture, David Ruccio (University of Notre Dame) will be engaging in a unique event with Katherine Gibson (Western Sydney University) to discuss their path breaking contributions to class analysis in theory and practice.

In collaboration with Gleebooks, both  authors will be presenting a focus on how class ‘acts’ in political economy.

For David Ruccio, in and beyond Development and Globalization, conducting a Marxian class analysis means analysing the various forms that surplus labour takes in any given society or institution in order to question issues of development, debt, state planning, revolution, inequality and the “success” of mechanisms such as austerity and structural adjustment programmes.

For Katherine Gibson, in and beyond Making Other Worlds Possible, capitalism is defined as a social relation, or class process, in which nonproducers appropriate surplus labour in value form from free wage labourers as a means to ask: “how do we become not merely opponents of capitalism but subjects who can create ‘noncapitalism’?”, for example through alternative economy organising.

These two authors will be making short presentations on how class ‘acts’ in political economy before engaging with the public in a wider conversation about smashing capitalism!

Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Road.

19 October, 2016 – 6:00pm.

Entrance: Free