Futures of Capitalism

Special Issue of Futures Journal

Guest Editors Dr Michal Izak University of Lincoln Dr Samuel Mansell University of St Andrews Professor Ted Fuller University of Lincoln

The purpose of this special issue is to examine the possible futures of capitalism and its relationship to the economic, environmental and social futures of humankind.

Capitalism is a system that legitimises the pursuit of economic growth through the reinvestment of surplus. In this respect private ownership of capital is legitimate and often lies in separate hands from those which control the means of producing wealth. It could be argued that both wage earners and capitalists are in a precarious position: the former because they lack ownership of the fruits of

their labour, and the latter, because the ongoing accumulation process in which they are involved is prone to crises and disruptions, making their position also perilous. Arguably, societies have managed the relationship between this system of economic value creation and other systems necessary for human survival and development through various forms of governance. As recent events have reminded us, capitalist systems can go wrong. Even when capitalism works as expected, the externalities can be disastrous, such as the effects of unregulated speculation on world food prices.

Some would argue (e.g. the Chicago School, see Zingales, 2012) that capitalism, albeit in several forms, has been very successful in increasing wealth and well-being globally and that while not perfect is the 'best' approach available. It could be claimed that capitalism has also co-evolved with society and its structures, seats of power and organisation of activities to the extent of becoming

unrecognisable compared to two hundred years ago (e.g. Ricardo, 1817). According to some accounts (Boltanski and Chiapello,

2005), the major force driving this evolution is capitalisms ability to respond to its critics by re-organizing the value system it depends upon.

Acknowledging that there are differences in how capitalism is manifested in various cultural contexts, this call for papers invites reflections unrestricted by any status quo and focused on exploring the future directions which capitalism may take, as well as the potential social, economic and organizational implications.

We seek to address the following questions:

1. What is capitalism vulnerable to? Does it threaten its own existence? Can a line be drawn between practices internal to capitalism which render it vulnerable and non-capitalist practices that threaten the system from the outside?

2. What is the ontology of capitalism? In other words, what do we take capitalism to mean, what characteristics does it have and in particular, how does it not only accommodate, but actually thrive from multiple critiques?

3. What are the dynamics driving the evolution of capitalism?

4. What alternative forms of capitalism are possible in societies? For example, is soft capitalism (Thrift, 1997) based upon new discourses of management in which emotional labor (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1993), 'play' (Costea, et al., 2007)
3

and

spirituality

(Dehler

and

Welsh, a

1994)

can

have

increasingly

important

roles

serious

and

durable

reformulation of organizational design in the capitalist system, or yet another fad?

5. If, as Peter Drucker (1992) suggests, the centrality of economic wealth is marginalised in favour of the centrality of human capital, then what form(s) of capitalism would we expect to emerge?

6. Corporations are the flagship tool of capitalism. the possible futures for corporations?

What are

7. What is the relationship between capitalism and forms of political structure (which provide legitimacy and protection)? How and why is this relationship maintained?

8. Have anti-capitalist social movements the potential radically to alter the future of global capitalism, or to negate it altogether?

9. Will post-bureaucratic forms of organisation have a place in the future of capitalism?

10. What is the future of finance capitalism in the wake of the 2007-08 banking crisis? To what extent can improved

regulation and governance prevent future crises, if at all?

11. Do

the

recent among

critiques, students,

highlighting labor

the

consumerist analysis of

tendencies

process

academic work and dissatisfaction with "the very purpose of the university [which becomes] grossly distorted by the attempt to create a market in higher education" (Thomas, 2012 in: timeshighereducation.co.uk), suggest that the role of academia in the capitalist system should be re-

conceptualized?

Submissions Papers should follow the normal format for Futures Journal (see link to guide below). Each paper will be double blind peer reviewed.

Editors reserve the right to ask potential authors to contribute to review process. The papers should address the aims of the call and be consistent with the mission of Futures Journal which seeks the rigorous examination of possible and alternative futures of all human endeavours. The recommended length for a paper is 50008000 words.

Timetable for submission of articles Authors are invited to submit abstracts to the editors to signal their intention to submit a paper. Editors will give feedback on these and in particular state whether the article appears to be in scope of the journal. 1. Submission of initial Abstracts should be made direct to mizak@lincoln.ac.uk between 1st March 2013 and 14th May 2013 Feedback to authors by 16th June 2013 2. Submission of articles to Futures Journal will open on June 1st 2013 and close on 30th September 2013. Upload the paper for blind review and also enter additional information at: http://ees.elsevier.com/futures/. Submit Article / Submit New Manuscript / chose Article Type/ SI:Capitalism Further information can be found in the Guide to Authors

<http://www.elsevier.com/journals/futures/0016-3287/guide-forauthors> Key dates Initial Abstracts From March 1st to 14th May 2013 to

mizak@lincoln.ac.uk
6

Feedback on Abstracts by 16th June 2013 Articles submitted between 1st June and 30th September 2013 to: http://ees.elsevier.com/futures/ Feedback from review and decisions by 15th November 2013: Period for revisions of papers accepted subject to amendments: 15th November 2013 to 31st Dec 2013 Final decisions January 2014 Publication: first half of 2014

Bibliography: Ashforth, B. E., and Humphrey, R. H. (1993) Emotional labor in service roles: the influence of identity, Academy of Management Review, 18(1), 88-115. Boltanski, L., Chiapello, E. (2005) The New Spirit of Capitalism. London-New York: Verso, Costea, B., Crump, N. and Holm, J. (2007) The spectre of Dionysus: play, work, and managerialism, Society and Business Review. 2(2):153-165,

Dehler, G. and Welsh, M.A. (1994), Spirituality and organizational transformation: implications for the new management paradigm, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 9(6):17-26. Drucker, P.F. (1992), The post-capitalist world, The Public

Interest, Fall, New York, NY, pp. 89-100. Fidei defensores (2012) Times Higher Education, online at: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26& storycode=421722&c=2, accessed 12/12/2112 Ricardo, D. (1817/1951) On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Thrift, N. (1997) The rise of soft capitalism, Cultural Values 1(1): 2957. Zingales, L. (2012) A Capitalism for the People: Recapturing the Lost Genius of American Prosperity. New York: Basic Books.