Dispossessing Urbanization: Urban Marxism in the Face of the Problem of Primitive Accumulation Cover Image

Wywłaszczająca urbanizacja. Miejski marksizm wobec problemu akumulacji pierwotnej
Dispossessing Urbanization: Urban Marxism in the Face of the Problem of Primitive Accumulation

Author(s): Piotr Juskowiak
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Economy, Marxist economics, Sociology, Rural and urban sociology
Published by: Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: primitive accumulation; accumulation by dispossession; urban Marxism; dispossessing urbanization; neoliberalism; Marx; Harvey

Summary/Abstract: The article is a complex attempt to present the achievements of the broadly understood urban Marxism in the field of reinterpretation of the classic concept from the cards of Capital – “primitive accumulation”. Drawing on theories of such scholars as David Harvey (“accumulation by dispossession”) or Saskia Sassen (“expulsions”), the author points to the possible ways to operationalize the concept of “dispossessing urbanization”. Inspired by the theorizations of autonomist Marxists (Antonio Negri, Sandro Mezzadra, Massimo De Angelis), he proposes to see it as a relatively new and increasingly important dispostif that allows not only to improve traditional methods of enclosures and construct entirely new ones, but also to instrumentalize urban cultures which seems unlikely for the historical versions of primitive accumulation. This theoretical inspiration leads him also to highlight another gap in the accumulation by dispossession theory, namely the lack of sufficient reflection on the production of subjectivity processes which seem constitutive for the broad set of dispossessing practices.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 16
  • Page Range: 78-113
  • Page Count: 36
  • Language: Polish