A Theory of Capitalist Regulation The US Experience

by Aglietta, Michel; Fernbach, David

• ISBN13: 9781859842683
• ISBN10: 1859842682
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781784782399
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-17
• Publisher: VERSO
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

Aglietta's path-breaking book is the first attempt at a rigorous historical theory of the whole development of US capitalism, from the Civil War to the Carter Presidency. A major document of the 'Regulation School' of Marxist economists, it was received on publication as the boldest work in its field since the classic studies of Baran, Sweezy and Braverman.

Author Biography

Michel Aglietta is Professor of Economic Sciences at the Universite de Paris-X-Nanterre and Scientific Director at the Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales (CEPII).

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Need for a Theory of Capitalist Regulation	9	(28)
Part One The Transformation of the Wage Relation: The Laws of Capital Accumulation
The Production of Capital	37	(74)
The Creation and Accumulation of Surplus-Value	37	(28)
Abstract Labour and the General Equivalent	38	(7)
Rate and Mass of Surplus-Value	45	(7)
Productivity of Labour and Relative Surplus-Value	52	(9)
Accumulation of Capital and Growth in Social Labour-Power	61	(4)
Overview of Capital Accumulation in the United States	65	(46)
General Conditions of Development of the Forces of Production	72	(15)
General Tendencies in the Accumulation of Productive Capital	87	(24)
Transformations in the Labour Process	111	(40)
The Mechanization of Labour	111	(19)
Principles of Taylorism	113	(3)
Taylorism Superseded by Fordism	116	(6)
The Problems Posed by Automation in the Labour Process: Neo-Fordism	122	(8)
The Struggle to Establish a Normal Working Day and the Formation of the Trade-Union Movement	130	(5)
Forms of Wage and Labour Process	135	(16)
Time Wages and the Working Day	138	(3)
Piecework and the Stimulation of Output	141	(6)
The Influence of the Collectivization of Work on Forms of Wages	147	(4)
The Transformation of the Wage-Earners' Conditions of Life	151	(64)
The Capitalist Production of the Mode of Consumption	151	(28)
The Formation and Evolution of a Norm of Social Consumption	152	(17)
The Factors that Differentiate the Wage-Earning Class	169	(10)
The Effects of the Socialization of Consumption on Changing Forms of Wages	179	(7)
The Effects of the Socialization of Consumption on the Long-Run Movement of Wages	186	(29)
The Canalization of Economic Class Struggle by Collective Bargaining	190	(8)
The Determination of the Nominal Reference Wage in the United States and the Long-Run Movement of Wages	198	(17)
Part Two The Transformation of Inter-Capitalist Relations and the Laws of Competition
The Concentration and Centralization of Capital	215	(58)
The Definition of Concentration and its Determinants	215	(12)
The Concentration and Centralization of Industrial Capital	216	(4)
The Influence of Financial Conditions: Waves of Mergers	220	(7)
The Foundations of Financial Centralization	227	(24)
Financial Centralization through the Financing of Fixed Capital	228	(3)
Financial Centralization through the Transformation of the Mode of Consumption	231	(4)
Financial Centralization through Public Expenditure	235	(16)
The Forms of Centralization of Capital: the Giant Corporation and the Financial Group	251	(22)
The Evolution of Modes of Corporate Organization	253	(6)
Planning and Managerial Control	259	(7)
The Predominance of Proprietary Control: Financial Groups	266	(7)
General Rate of Profit and Competition among Capitals	273	(55)
The Conditions of Existence of a General Rate of Profit	273	(15)
The Theoretical Status of Prices	277	(3)
The Expanded Reproduction of Social Capital	280	(8)
The Competition of Individual Capitals on the Basis of the General Rate of Profit	288	(9)
The Modalities of the Division of Capital into Fractions	289	(3)
The Struggle between Capitals in the Transformation of Norms of Production and Exchange	292	(3)
Production Prices and Fluctuations in Market Prices	295	(2)
The Formation of Prices in the Movement of Centralization of Capital	297	(31)
The Role of Surplus Profit under Full and Monopolistic Competition	299	(8)
The Factors that Differentiate Rates of Profit	307	(6)
New Modalities of Devalorization: Planned Obsolescence and Accelerated Amortization	313	(2)
Administered Prices in the United States	315	(13)
Monetary System, Credit and Crises	328	(52)
The Development of Credit and the Organization of the Monetary System	328	(23)
The General Attributes of Money: the Significance of the Monetary Constraint	332	(9)
The Capitalist Attributes of Money: the Formation of a National Money	341	(10)
Financial Crises as Necessary Aspects of Capitalist Regulation	351	(29)
The Over-Accumulation of Capital	353	(12)
The Process of Inflation	365	(15)
General Conclusion	380	(8)
Postface to the New Edition Capitalism at the Turn of the Century: Regulation Theory and the Challenge of Social Change	388	(59)
Index	447