Capitalism: The Future of an Illusion - part 2
From Guy Rathbun | Part of the IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices series | 29:00
This broadcast is a follow up interview with economic sociologist Fred L. Block. His theory is that capitalist economics are not self-regulating. In other words, markets need constraints and oversight.
An example is the 2007 housing market meltdown, which, he says, would not have happened had the proper regulatory agencies been in place.
The book, Capitalism: The Future of an Illusion, outlines professor Block’s doctrine. The illusion, he argues, is an entire economic social theory that’s in place today. It has become part of society’s common sense, and he adds, that erroneous theory distorts our perceptions, which ties us up in political knots.
In our first discussion, professor Block explained how today’s market economy is seen as autonomous and regulated by its own internal logic. This perception or fantasy, he says, has very deep and dangerous consequences.
Block is Research Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis.
Other books include, The Power of Market Fundamentalism: Karl Polanyi’s Critique co-authored with Margaret Somers, The Vampire State: And Other Myths and Fallacies about the U.S. Economy, and Equal Shares: Making Market Socialism Work co-authored with John E. Roemer.
Capitalism: The Future of an Illusion
From Guy Rathbun | Part of the IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices series | 29:00
Most people believe that capitalist economics are self-regulated. According to UC Davis economic sociologist Fred L. Block, this view is simply an illusion.
- Playing
- Capitalism: The Future of an Illusion
- From
- Guy Rathbun
In his book, Capitalism: The Future of an Illusion, professor Block says that the American political system is caught between center-left Democrats and increasingly extreme-right Republicans.
Consequently, he argues, the average person is caught between a rock and a hard place because it’s considered natural for the market to rise and fall: sometimes drastically.
In his book, Block challengers the idea that the market operates according to its own inner laws.
Block is Research Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis.
Other books include, The Power of Market Fundamentalism: Karl Polanyi’s Critique co-authored with Margaret Somers, The Vampire State: And Other Myths and Fallacies about the U.S. Economy, and Equal Shares: Making Market Socialism Work co-authored with John E. Roemer.