THE CONCEPT OF THE POLITICAL
ECONOMY
POLITICAL ECONOMY
– IS DERIVED FROM THE COMBINING OF TERMS THAT MAKE REFERENCE TO AN ANALYTIC
EMPHASIS ON THE POLITICAL/SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND CONSEQUENCES OF ECONOMIC
ACTIVITY.
IT IS AMBIGUOUS BECAUSE IT HAS
COME TO REFER TO BOTH – (1) A HISTORICAL PROCESS (IT IS A GLOBAL/
INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE OR “SOCIAL FORCE”); AND (2) AN INTEPRETIVE FRAMEWORK
(A BODY OF SCHOLARSHIP).
THE INTERPETIVE FRAMEWORK
– THAT UNDERSTANDS HISTORY NOT AS THE RESULT OF NATURAL/EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES
BUT AS THE RESULT OF ACTIONS AND DECISIONS BY THOSE WHO HAVE ECONOMIC AND
POLITICAL POWER.
{MARX WAS CONCERNED WITH THE “SUPREME FACTS ABOUT
MAN'S ROLE IN THE POLITICAL MAKING OF HISTORY” - C.W. MILLS, THE
SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION PP. 167}
=========> ROUSSEAU GIVES
THE ETYMOLOGY OF IT AS COMING FROM OIKO - HOUSE PLUS NOMOS
LAW - THE LAWS OF LIVING – POSITING
AN INTEGRAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ECONOMY AND POLITY
=========> IN WHAT IS
CALLED THE BEGINNING OF “CLASSICAL ECONOMIC THEORY” IT GOES LIKE THIS –
POLITICAL ECONOMY WAS THE ORIGINAL TERM FOR THE STUDY
OF PRODUCTION AND THE RELATIONSHIPS OF BUYING AND SELLING AND THEIR
RELATIONSHIP TO LAWS, CUSTOMS AND GOVERNMENT.
AS SUCH IT WAS USED BY ADAM SMITH, JOHN STUART MILL,
DAVID RICARDO AND KARL MARX, ALONG WITH THE TERM "ECONOMIST", TO MEAN
SOMEONE WHO BELIEVED THAT POLITICAL AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS COULD BE SOLVED BY
MEANS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
=========> THIS ALL BEGAN
WITH EUROPEAN SOCIAL THEORY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE “MATERIALIST CONCEPTION OF HISTORY” OR WHAT MARX
{LATER} CALLED “DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM” {SUBSTRUCTURE/
SUPERSTRUCTURE SYNTHESIS}
MARX BEGAN A TRADITION OF
RADICAL SOCIAL CRITICISM {GROUNDED IN POLITICAL ECONOMIC ANALYSIS} THAT
QUESTIONED THE DOMINANT IDEAS ABOUT ECONOMY AND POLITY, AND
IDENTIFIED CONTRADITIONS AND TENSIONS IN SOCIAL VALUES OF SOCIETY
{MARX WAS CONCERNED WITH THE
“SUPREME FACTS ABOUT MAN'S ROLE IN THE POLITICAL MAKING OF HISTORY” -
C.W. MILLS, THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION PP. 167}
FACTS: WORK, LABOUR IS CENTRAL TO
WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN
CONCLUSIONS: IN CAPITALISM PEOPLE ARE
“ALIENATED” {SEPARATION OF THINGS THAT NATURALLY BELONG TOGETHER} FROM
PRODUCTION, FROM WORK, FROM OTHERS, AND FROM THEMSELVES
I) MARXIAN SOCIAL CLASS: CLASSES ARE BASED ON PROPERTY
RELATIONS, AND REFER TO AN INDIVIDUALS RELATIONSHIP TO THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION.
(A) "MODE OF PRODUCTION" == ECONOMIC UNDERPINNINGS
OF SOCIETY (COMPOSED OF FORCES OF PRODUCTION AND RELATIONS OF
PRODUCTION) EX: CAPITALISM // COMMUNISM.
(B) "MEANS OF PRODUCTION" == EX: TOOLS, NATURAL
RESOURCES, FACTORIES WHERE PRODUCTION TAKES PLACE.
(C) "INSTRUMENTS OF PRODUCTION"
== EX: LABOR FORCE, SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY.
THESIS:
THE MODE OF PRODUCTION OF A SOCIETY INTERSECTS WITH THE COLLECTIVE
CONSCIOUSNESS – A SOCIETY BASED ON ALIENATING PROPERTY RELATIONS PRODUCES FALSE
CONSCIOUSNESS AND SOCIAL INJUSTICE
II) PROGRESSIVE POLITICAL ECONOMY: {TODAY} IS A BODY
OF SCHOLARSHIP/ INTERPETIVE FRAMEWORK THAT DERIVES FROM AN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE
MARXIST TRADITION OF RADICAL SOCIAL CRITICISM ======>
SIGNIFIED BY EFFORTS TO ADVANCE
ANALYSES OF PROGRESSIVE SOCIAL CHANGE {INCLUDING INTERROGATING WHAT IS
MEANT BY “PROGRESSIVE”} =======> A BODY OF SCHOLARSHIP OPEN TO INTERNAL
DEBATE
A) FEMINIST POLITICAL ECONOMY ====> THE LATE 1970S
CHALLENGE TO GENDER BLINDNESS OF CONVENTIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY, WHICH
HIGHLIGHTED THE NARROW ECONOMICISM OF MALE-STREAM SCHOLARSHIP.
B) ANTI-RACIST POLITICAL ECONOMY:
(CRITICAL RACE THEORY – INTERSECTION OF
RACE AND PROPERTY ) ======> THE NEW MILLENNIUM HAS SEEN THE INITIAL
CHALLENGE TO THE COLOUR-BLINDNESS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, WHICH IS
HIGHLIGHTED BY THE NARROW ECONOMICISM OF WHITE-STREAM SCHOLARSHIP =======>
AND ANALYSES OF DECOLONIZATION AS WELL AS ETHNIC AND RACE RELATIONS HAVE, FOR
EXAMPLE, RESISTED CONVENTIONAL ECONOMIC THEORY AS WELL AS THE NOW ORTHODOX
STRAINS OF WHITE FEMINIST POLITICAL ECONOMY =====> CHALLENGING CLAIMS OF
NEUTRALITY, OBJECTIVITY, COLOR-BLINDNESS, AND MERITOCRACY – THESIS: THE INTERSECTION OF RACE AND PROPERTY CREATES
AN ANALYTIC TOOL THROUGH WHICH WE CAN UNDERSTAND SOCIAL INEQUITY