This research laboratory focuses on critiques and alternatives to capitalism, spanning a number of subject matters, political perspectives and geographical areas. It brings together the contemporary research in the fields of sociology, social and political theory and heterodox political economy, whose main areas of focus are the problems of capitalist society and its mode of production; alternatives to capitalism that address contemporary social issues; and 19th and 20th centuries anti-capitalist ideas and practical experiments.
Welcoming new perspectives on a wide range of themes, the laboratory seeks to explore alternative social-economic systems, critical theories of capitalism, social classes and inequality, public/private ownership and new contours of ‘the commons’, economic and financial crises, ecology, globalization, migration and citizenship, gender oppression, alienation, and cultural critique. The result is an eclectic, but focused and informative, set of scholarly interventions that provide original research, inspires significant conversations for today, and appeals to a diverse international audience.
The Laboratory for Alternative Theories brings together research activities on original investigations of contemporary issues of capitalism and their possible alternatives, push the boundaries of accepted interpretations and existing literatures, bring different concepts and thinkers into new relationships, and inspire significant conversations for today.
— Marcello Musto
Videos
Karl Marx’s Writings on Alienation
Event Date: 19 March 2022
Debate Marx’s Writings on Alienation with Marcello Musto and Michael Hardt. Marking the publication of “Karl Marx’s Writings on Alienation,” Marcello Musto joins Michael Hardt to consider the import, meanings, and content of the concept of alienation over the course of Marx's entire body of work.
Marx's Writings on Alienation
Event Date: 16 September 2020
Marcello Musto's Franke Seminar (Yale University) on Karl Marx's Concept of Alienation. See more information on Franke Seminar: Karl Marx’s Capital.
Rethinking Alternatives with Marx
Event Date: 18 December 2021
Panel Discussion between Marcello Musto and H. Bannerji, S. Federici, G. Claeys, M. Brie on Rethinking Alternatives with Marx.
New Publication
Over the past few years, Marx’s Capital has received renewed academic and popular attention. This volume is dedicated to the history of the making, the theoretical evaluation, and the analysis of the dissemination and reception of an almost unknown version of Capital: the French translation, published between 1872 and 1875, to which Marx participated directly.
Book Series
Marx, Engels, Marxisms
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
LThe Marx renaissance is underway on a global scale and this series represent a unique collection of multidisciplinary volumes that appeals to a diverse and international audience. Our main areas of focus include the oeuvre of Marx and Engels, Marxist authors and traditions of the 19th and 20th centuries, labour and social movements, Marxist analyses of contemporary issues, and the reception of Marxism in the world.
Critiques and Alternatives to Capitalism
Publisher: Routledge
This series publishes scholarly works dedicated to the problems of capitalist society and its mode of production; alternatives to capitalism that address contemporary social issues; and 19th and 20th centuries anti- capitalist ideas and practical experiments. We offer new perspectives on a number of subject matters and geographical areas, and aim to be an eclectic collection that inspires significant conversations for today.
July 26, 2023
Marx’s View of the Global South
September 20, 2022
When Marx Translated Capital
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