Unveiling Lines Behind Dichotomies_Warsaw 4/2016

Presentation in Warsaw, April 6th 2016:

International Conference

Precarious Places: 

Social, Cultural and Economic Aspects of Uncertainty and Anxiety in Everyday Life

The recording of the presentation can be found here

Abstract

A fundamental methodological problem is the specific relevance of one of the antagonisms of capitalism, though not replacing the meaning of class-conflict but redefining and classifying it in the light of the developmental stage of the means of production: Far too little attention is paid to the contradictory character of individualisation and socialisation as it is inherent in the political economic system.
Polányi’s main argument of disembedding is inherently linked to the somewhat contradicting tendency of colonialisation which can also be seen as specific form of embedding.
The juxtaposition or dichotomisation of individualisation-socialisation is a different presentation of control of the underlying process. The term inner colonialisation gains special meaning not least in the understanding of the land grab and its metaphoric use as matter of “commons”. As such it will be used in the presentation as means for investigating 5 major myth and 5 major tensions that allow us to go beyond considering the 5 giant evils (Beveridge) that guide the welfare state debate.
[The author gratefully acknowledges the generous financial support from Zhejiang University Fund, Hangzhou, PRC and Bangor College China, Changsha, PRC]