Introduction: Confronting Capitalism—Lessons from Marx’s Capital

Abstract

The analysis of capitalist relations that Marx articulated in 1867 remains relevant today in the early decades of the twenty-first century. Using a methodology defined by abstraction, dialectics, and a historicist approach, he was able to highlight the inherent tendencies and internal contradictions of capitalism as a system of production, distribution, and consumption that underlies the modern social, cultural, and political fabric of social life. The necessity of confronting today the crises that have arisen from a now global capitalist political economy means that Marx’s insights are no less important today than they were when he was writing. At the same time, changes that have occurred within the capitalist system over the course of the past 150 years have prompted a rethinking of some basic elements of Marx’s original formulations. Each of the contributions to this volume point to the continued relevance of the insights Marx offered in the three volumes of Capital.