The Transition Toward a Post-capitalist Economic Rationality

Abstract

The concept of productive/unproductive work is relevant for better understanding the current capitalist economy. As the contradiction between production and the appropriation of surplus value by financial capital becomes more pronounced as it expands, it exerts intense pressure on the appropriation and redistribution of the surplus value. It puts different factions of capital into growing conflict with each other and defines the boundaries of the current geopolitical map of power. The maximization of profits in the productive sector carries on until the possibilities of greater profits are exhausted and the rationale of the capitalist system of exploitation becomes virtually meaningless. The current level of technology with Artificial Intelligence eliminates at the same time any technical impediment to planning an economy. It also has the potential to create the objective conditions for making the move to the most democratic forms of participation in planning.

Citation

Dierckxsens, W., Piqueras, A. and Formento, W. (2021), "The Transition Toward a Post-capitalist Economic Rationality", Herrera, R. (Ed.) Imperialism and Transitions to Socialism (Research in Political Economy, Vol. 36), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 77-93. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0161-723020210000036005