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Transitions: Methods, Theory, Politics
Methods, Theory, Politics
Series: - Studies in Critical Social Sciences, Volume: 230
Author:
The focus of this volume is on political discourse about the pattern and desirability of economic development, and how/why historical interpretations of social phenomena connected to this systemic process alter. It is a trajectory pursued here with reference to the materialism of Marxism, via the mid-nineteenth century ideas about race, through the development decade, the ‘cultural turn’, debates about modes of production and their respective labour regimes, culminating in the role played by immigration before and after the Brexit referendum. Also examined is the trajectory followed by travel writing, and how many of its core assumptions overlap with those made in the social sciences and development studies. The object is to account for the way concepts informing these trajectories do or do not alter.
Tom Brass (DPhil 1982) formerly lectured in the SPS Faculty at Cambridge University and directed studies for Queens’ College. He edited
The Journal of Peasant Studies for almost two decades, and has published extensively on agrarian issues and rural labour relations, including
Marxism Missing, Missing Marxism (Brill, 2021).
Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables
Introduction (Steps Forward or Backwards?)
Reified Notions, Fantasmic Representations?
Transition, Critique, Silence
Marxist Methodology?
A Lesser Status and a Distant Place?
A Distant Place as a Greater Status
Themes
part 1
Travelling On
1 Racisms (Home and Away)
Introduction: A Place in the World
Blood of the Founders
The Good Things of This World
Music, Speech, Passion
A Faint Uneasy Movement
They Are Our Brothers
One’s Own Free Will
To See with Distorted Vision
Avoiding the Question
Samuel Smiles Revisited
A Dearth of Workers
Steady Work, Job Security
Conclusion
2 Anti-capitalisms (Lessons Unlearned by Postmodernists)
Introduction: The Anti-capitalism of Pro-slavery Discourse
For the Mutual Benefit of Both
Pro-slavery and/as (Conservative) Anti-capitalism
Forging New Chains for Themselves
All Capital Is Created by Labour
(Pro-slavery) Contradictions, (Postmodern) Similarities
Pro-slavery, Postmodernism, and Identity Politics
Empowering Populism
Conclusion
3 Transitions (Real and Imagined)
Introduction: Simple Transitions?
The Parting to Come?
Trading Places
Feudalism, but Not Yet …
Free but Tied?
Workers, or Tenants?
Modes and Beams
How Do We Know?
Since the Beginning of the World
Conclusion
4 Trajectories (to and from Unfreedom)
Introduction: Quo Vadis, Domine?
1950 to 1980
1980 to 2000
2000 to the Present
Theory, Methods, Problems
India: 18th Century Onwards
India: 1960s Onwards
UK: 2015 Onwards
Conclusion
part 2
On Travel
5 Travellers, or Tourists? (Journeys Outside Europe)
Introduction: An Instinctive Simplicity, a Thoughtless Idealism
Hello, I Must Be Going
Tourists Who Are Not Tourists
The Ruin(s) of Time, the Time of Ruin(s)
Is Your Journey Really Necessary?
Traveller’s Tales
Ragpickers of History
Unevolved People
Pristine Other, Untouched Land
Conclusion
6 Tourists, or Travellers? (European Journeys)
Introduction: Songs of Travel
City and Countryside
Class, Race, Blood
Away from Home
Always Defeated?
Land, Politics, Fascism
Peasants, Ancient and Modern
Conclusion
7 Arrivals, Not Departures (on Never Leaving Venice)
Introduction: Venice, Tourism and the Agrarian Myth
The Ox Spoke
It Is Not Easy to Do One’s Duty
Loaded Pistols, Ominous Chatter
Real and Loveable?
A Dream Long Lost
Conclusion
8 Other Worlds (Neo-populist Journeys)
Introduction: Worlds of Difference?
Chayanov: The Economic Case
Chayanov: The Economic Case Against
Chayanov: The Political Case Against
Undiscovered Country?
Journeys: Space, Time, Politics
Valuable Warnings, Wholesome Reprimands
Conclusion
Conclusion (Better Worlds?)
Bibliography
Author Index
Subject Index
List of Figures and Tables
Introduction (Steps Forward or Backwards?)
Reified Notions, Fantasmic Representations?
Transition, Critique, Silence
Marxist Methodology?
A Lesser Status and a Distant Place?
A Distant Place as a Greater Status
Themes
part 1
Travelling On
1 Racisms (Home and Away)
Introduction: A Place in the World
Blood of the Founders
The Good Things of This World
Music, Speech, Passion
A Faint Uneasy Movement
They Are Our Brothers
One’s Own Free Will
To See with Distorted Vision
Avoiding the Question
Samuel Smiles Revisited
A Dearth of Workers
Steady Work, Job Security
Conclusion
2 Anti-capitalisms (Lessons Unlearned by Postmodernists)
Introduction: The Anti-capitalism of Pro-slavery Discourse
For the Mutual Benefit of Both
Pro-slavery and/as (Conservative) Anti-capitalism
Forging New Chains for Themselves
All Capital Is Created by Labour
(Pro-slavery) Contradictions, (Postmodern) Similarities
Pro-slavery, Postmodernism, and Identity Politics
Empowering Populism
Conclusion
3 Transitions (Real and Imagined)
Introduction: Simple Transitions?
The Parting to Come?
Trading Places
Feudalism, but Not Yet …
Free but Tied?
Workers, or Tenants?
Modes and Beams
How Do We Know?
Since the Beginning of the World
Conclusion
4 Trajectories (to and from Unfreedom)
Introduction: Quo Vadis, Domine?
1950 to 1980
1980 to 2000
2000 to the Present
Theory, Methods, Problems
India: 18th Century Onwards
India: 1960s Onwards
UK: 2015 Onwards
Conclusion
part 2
On Travel
5 Travellers, or Tourists? (Journeys Outside Europe)
Introduction: An Instinctive Simplicity, a Thoughtless Idealism
Hello, I Must Be Going
Tourists Who Are Not Tourists
The Ruin(s) of Time, the Time of Ruin(s)
Is Your Journey Really Necessary?
Traveller’s Tales
Ragpickers of History
Unevolved People
Pristine Other, Untouched Land
Conclusion
6 Tourists, or Travellers? (European Journeys)
Introduction: Songs of Travel
City and Countryside
Class, Race, Blood
Away from Home
Always Defeated?
Land, Politics, Fascism
Peasants, Ancient and Modern
Conclusion
7 Arrivals, Not Departures (on Never Leaving Venice)
Introduction: Venice, Tourism and the Agrarian Myth
The Ox Spoke
It Is Not Easy to Do One’s Duty
Loaded Pistols, Ominous Chatter
Real and Loveable?
A Dream Long Lost
Conclusion
8 Other Worlds (Neo-populist Journeys)
Introduction: Worlds of Difference?
Chayanov: The Economic Case
Chayanov: The Economic Case Against
Chayanov: The Political Case Against
Undiscovered Country?
Journeys: Space, Time, Politics
Valuable Warnings, Wholesome Reprimands
Conclusion
Conclusion (Better Worlds?)
Bibliography
Author Index
Subject Index
Those with an interest in political economy and development studies, with particular reference to debates about the link between capitalism, travel, and culture.