David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles

By Democracy at Work - David Harvey

What's David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles about?

David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is a bi-weekly podcast that looks at capitalism through a Marxist lens. Support the show on Patreon and get early access to episodes and more: https://www.patreon.com/davidharveyacc

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David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles episodes:

04.06.2023
Housing in a Broken System
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey shares major lessons he learned while studying the housing issue in Baltimore in the late 1960s and asking the questions: Why is housing quality so appalling in low-income areas? Why had...
03.23.2023
Daniel Ellsberg, Government Dishonesty & Nuclear Weapons
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey explores the contributions made by Daniel Ellsberg, the political activist known for releasing the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Ellsberg gave the public a look into the ways in which the US government...
03.09.2023
The Circulation of Fictitious Capital
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey explains Marx’s analytical techniques of presupposition and posit and applies them to today’s capital circulation system and the crises that may emerge from the ever-growing fictitious capital investments. By looking at the...
02.23.2023
The Impact of War on Civilians
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey focuses on the impact of war on civilians, both today in Ukraine and historically. While it is a war crime to attack civilian populations, there is a long, deadly history of it....
02.09.2023
Applying Marx’s Theories to Contemporary Struggles
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey focuses on the concept of totality, conceptualized in Marx’s Grundrisse, and the importance of situating theoretical frameworks within on-the-ground struggles. Harvey explains how he’s spent his life’s work attempting to do this,...
01.26.2023
Making Sense of Today’s Inflation - Debt, Austerity and Tax Cuts
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey uses the diagram of capital’s circulatory processes, shared in the last episode, and applies it to the pressing issue of inflation today. Harvey draws parallels to how inflation was handled during...
01.12.2023
Capital in Motion
Welcome to Season 5! In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey discusses the ever-expanding circulatory systems of capital. He shares a diagram, designed by fellow d@w host Miguel Robles-Duran (Cities After…), which illustrates capital in motion. Like the human...
12.15.2022
Mainstreaming Marxism & Redefining Capitalism
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey considers the hostility and glorification of ignorance—a legacy of McCarthyism—towards the teachings of Marx, especially within academia and the mainstream media. Academia has become a money-making institution and even liberal mainstream media,...
12.01.2022
Pedagogy of the Emancipated Laborer
As more and more people begin to recognize the pitfalls of the systems we're entrenched in—capitalism, neoliberalism, consumerism, and more—we are often left without clear directions for instilling change. In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey addresses the question...
11.17.2022
Religion's Impact on Politics
Join d@w for virtual event Marxism For This Moment: A Conversation with Richard Wolff & David Harvey on Friday, November 18th at 1pm ET (New York, UTC-4). Buy your tickets here: https://www.democracyatwork.info/marxism_for_this_moment_richard_wolff_david_harvey **If you cannot make the live event but want to support d@w, consider purchasing...
11.03.2022
Metabolic Relations Between Markets and Politics
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey explores the relationship between markets and the state. Drawing on examples such as Britain in the 1970s, France in 1981 under Mitterrand, and Bill Clinton in the 1990s, Harvey argues that, under...
10.20.2022
Metabolic vs. Independent Relations
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey explores the importance of delineating between metabolic and independent relations. Bourgeois economics believes the process of production, distribution, consumption, realization and exchange are all independently related, yet Marx reveals that they are...
10.06.2022
Marx’s Historical Materialism
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey uses Marx’s theory of historical materialism as a means of tackling large societal problems such as climate change. Marx asserts that there are seven distinctive aspects of society which coexist and coevolve...
09.08.2022
Facing the Stick of Dynamite in the Ukraine-Russian Conflict
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles (ACC), Prof. Harvey reflects on the current Ukraine-Russia conflict and shares his conflicting feelings about the ongoing war.
06.16.2022
Path Dependency, Ukraine, and Nuclear War
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey explores how geopolitical conflicts escalate into war, both historically and today with the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Harvey looks at NATO’s role in escalating this crisis, lessons to be learned from the...
05.05.2022
US Labor - Supply vs. Demand
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey looks at the conditions of labor in the US today: the supply and demand as well as the characteristics capital requires from its labor force. If those characteristics are not met, Harvey...
04.07.2022
Capitalist Growth and Finite Resources
In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey talks about the ever rising mass - the rising quantity of money, debt, GDP, military expenditures, greenhouse gas emissions, plastic waste, etc. - and asks what are the qualitative transformations and the...
03.24.2022
War - Who Benefits From It?
“The one sector of government that doesn’t experience austerity is the military budget.” In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey looks at the role of military expenditures in contemporary capitalism in the US and how it affects the rest...
03.10.2022
When Technology Becomes A Business…
Technology has become the largest industry in the world. In this episode of Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey picks up where he left off from the previous episode to further explore the implications of technology as a business. To do this, Harvey...
02.24.2022
Technological Dynamism
Technological dynamism comes in various forms: the organizational form, used to improve social productivity, such as the just in time system implemented by the automobile industry; the software of production which centers around keeping employees happy and motivated; and the...
12.02.2021
Monopolistic Competition
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey speaks about monopolistic competition and its impact on market pricing and location. All monopolistic competition is spacial competition that creates a highly unstable economy and has a tendency to produce conglomerations in rich...
11.18.2021
The Coercive Laws of Competition
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey examines 2 schools of thought within the Marxist tradition, one that focuses on the falling rate of profit, and the other that explores the rising mass. Harvey argues that both schools miss an...
11.04.2021
Capital in the Attic
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey talks about the real players in our capitalist society who operate outside of the market system and are accumulating massive amounts of wealth. Players like Carlos Slim, the Koch brothers, Stephen A. Schwarzman,...
10.21.2021
The Education of an Educator
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey talks about what inspired and motivated him both personally and professionally. He quotes the poem "Burnt Norton" by T.S. Elliot.
10.07.2021
Chinese Property Markets & Affordable Housing
In the episode of ACC, Prof. David Harvey talks about the crisis of affordable housing on a global level, with particular emphasis on China and the US. Harvey argues that providing affordable housing for people cannot be accomplished by the...
09.23.2021
Whither China?
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey examines what is happening in China today, the many changes taking place within (the formation of a billionaire class, uneven geographical development between metropolitan cities and rural areas, a cultural revolution), and highlights...
09.09.2021
The Primary Abstractions of Capital
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey discusses some of the contradictions that Marx uncovered as he examined the abstractions of capital. He explores the contradiction between the rate of change and the mass of value, and the crises that...
08.26.2021
How Are We "Ruled by Abstractions?"
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey examines Marx’s use of the notion of abstractions to develop a general theory of capital and his critique of capitalism. Harvey identifies different levels of abstraction used by Marx: scale, perspective of production,...
07.29.2021
The Monopolization of Everything
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey asserts that capital is becoming ever more centralized. The monopolization of power is inevitable in capitalism. However, according to Harvey, there are significant barriers to the continuity of capital accumulation. People are growing...
07.15.2021
The Ruling Ideas of a Billionaire Class
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey contends that what we are experiencing is the raw exercise of ruling class power in ruling ways. He references Marx's Grundrisse to help understand how ideas are born and the impact they have...
07.01.2021
The Urbanization of China
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey argues that the circulation of interest-bearing capital and financialization, both necessary for the disposal of surplus capital and surplus value, are implicated in the acceleration of turnover time, especially in areas like tourism...
06.17.2021
Dumping Surplus Capital
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey talks about the changing dynamics of capital accumulation since Marx's analysis in the Grundrisse. The disempowerment of workers as part of the Neoliberal strategy of the 1980s to the present day, led to...
06.03.2021
The Politics of Austerity of the 70s and 80s
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey talks about the birth of the neoliberalism following the crisis of the 1970s. The vast government spending of the 1960s was replaced with fierce austerity measures imposed on the population, in an effort...
05.20.2021
The Legitimation Crisis of the late 1960s
In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey takes us through the political agitations that occurred in the US in the 1960s. The various social movements, the Civil Rights movement, the student movement, the labor movement, the women's movement and the...
04.22.2021
Absolute Contradictions of the Post-War Era
On this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey applies Marx's theory of absolute contradictions to the post-war period. He draws parallels with 1860s France under Bonaparte's rule and the pressures that led to his demise. The post-war boom facilitated by Roosevelt's...
04.08.2021
The Golden Age of Post-War Capital
In this part 2 of the 4-part series, Prof. Harvey examines the development of capital in the period after WW2 through the 1970s, made possible through the repression of left-wing ideologies and an economic development model that promoted a certain...
03.25.2021
How Capital Evolves
This episode is part 1 of a 4-part series. Prof. Harvey explores the evolution of capital throughout history and examines the shifts to finance from commodity production and trade, and the transfer of power that followed. He draws from Marx,...
03.11.2021
China's Economic Rise - Part 2
This episode is part 2 of 2. It is a compilation of Prof. Harvey's 3 most popular shows on the People's Republic of China. Harvey explains the rise and significance of China as an economic power and the growing tension...
02.25.2021
China's Economic Rise - Part 1
This part 1 of 2 episodes is a compilation of 3 of Prof. Harvey's most popular shows. Harvey explains the rise and significance of China as an economic power and the growing tension with the US.
12.03.2020
Science and Authority
On this episode of David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof, Harvey argues that what is being done politically to deal with the propagation of the virus excludes the social circumstances in which propagation of the virus occurs. There is a long...
11.19.2020
The U.S. Presidential Election
On this episode of David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof, Harvey presents his analysis of the 2020 U.S. elections.
11.05.2020
The Essence of a Capitalist Society
On this episode of David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof, Harvey argues that the transformation of the productive forces under capitalism require major adjustments in thinking. He believes that much can be learned from China and repurposed to gain a much...
10.08.2020
Stock Market Booms While Americans Face Economic Disaster
On this episode of David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, Prof. Harvey talks about the economic uncertainty Americans are experiencing: job loss, indebtedness, inflation. The stock market is flourishing, but only the top 10-20% of the US population have investments and are...
09.24.2020
Economic Uncertainty and Moral Imperative
On this first episode of Season 3, Prof. Harvey argues that the economic and social consequences of COVID-19 have most seriously impacted the bottom 10-20% of the population. The crises of housing, public health, education is further deepening the inequalities....
07.23.2020
The Working Person as Political Subject
On this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey continues his analysis of this circulation of value-creating capacity within a capitalist system. He tackles the question of how political consciousness and political subjectivity emerge and form.
07.09.2020
The Buying and Selling of Labour Capacity
On this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey looks at the ways in which the various processes at work within a capitalist mode of production intersect and interact with one another. In particular, he examines the circuit which delivers labor...
06.25.2020
Race and Class
On this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey talks about the integration of race and class. He argues that wealthy elites in the US have weaponized white racism to gain political power and amass excessive wealth. He believes we are living...
06.11.2020
Pandemic, Protests and Economic Disaster
On this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey talks about the recent events in Minneapolis, the assassination of George Floyd, the coronavirus and the fragile state of the US economy. What we have, her argues, is a collision of forces that...
05.28.2020
The Evolutionary Concept of Totality - Part 2
In this part 2 of 2, Prof. Harvey continues his talk about the totality of our capitalist economy. He contends that totality is not something that pre-exists, that can be uncovered through investigation. Rather it is something that is created...
04.30.2020
Revolutionary Transformation Requires a Collective Response
In this episode, Prof. Harvey argues that we cannot survive this viral crisis without a radical reconfiguration of the social and institutional arrangements. Any revolutionary transformation of society has to operate across all dimensions: technology, relation to nature, social relations,...

What's David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles episodes:

Housing in a Broken System

Daniel Ellsberg, Government Dishonesty & Nuclear Weapons

The Circulation of Fictitious Capital

The Impact of War on Civilians

Applying Marx’s Theories to Contemporary Struggles

Making Sense of Today’s Inflation - Debt, Austerity and Tax Cuts

Capital in Motion

Mainstreaming Marxism & Redefining Capitalism

Pedagogy of the Emancipated Laborer

Religion's Impact on Politics

Metabolic Relations Between Markets and Politics

Metabolic vs. Independent Relations

Marx’s Historical Materialism

Facing the Stick of Dynamite in the Ukraine-Russian Conflict

Path Dependency, Ukraine, and Nuclear War

US Labor - Supply vs. Demand

Capitalist Growth and Finite Resources

War - Who Benefits From It?

When Technology Becomes A Business…

Technological Dynamism

Monopolistic Competition

The Coercive Laws of Competition

Capital in the Attic

The Education of an Educator

Chinese Property Markets & Affordable Housing

Whither China?

The Primary Abstractions of Capital

How Are We "Ruled by Abstractions?"

The Monopolization of Everything

The Ruling Ideas of a Billionaire Class

The Urbanization of China

Dumping Surplus Capital

The Politics of Austerity of the 70s and 80s

The Legitimation Crisis of the late 1960s

Absolute Contradictions of the Post-War Era

The Golden Age of Post-War Capital

How Capital Evolves

China's Economic Rise - Part 2

China's Economic Rise - Part 1

Science and Authority

The U.S. Presidential Election

The Essence of a Capitalist Society

Stock Market Booms While Americans Face Economic Disaster

Economic Uncertainty and Moral Imperative

The Working Person as Political Subject

The Buying and Selling of Labour Capacity

Race and Class

Pandemic, Protests and Economic Disaster

The Evolutionary Concept of Totality - Part 2

Revolutionary Transformation Requires a Collective Response