Régulation et crises du capitalisme

Aglietta, Michel

doi:10.3917/cale.aglie.1982.01

Cited by 230 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Although there is a recognition of the need to be less in thrall to dominant paradigms (Quist and Vergragt, 2006: 1030), this remains circumscribed by the imperative of expanding business planning horizons to encompass major regime shifts (Quist, 2007: 55). Now, from a business standpoint, this would indeed make perfect sense: the horizons of mainstream economics truly neglect large-scale structures such as the accumulation regimes described by regulation theory (Aglietta, 1976), long-term shifts between them, and crucially , the specific energy profile each regime tends to have . But the problem remains that, given the embedded path-dependencies of speculative finance capital and militarism (Biel, 2012), a green future may need to free itself from the capitalist mode of production, and even class society as a whole, not just one structural phase of it; a futurology which truly steps outside dominant paradigms must at least pose this question.…”

Section: Backcasting: a Critical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Visioning a Sustainable Energy Future: The Case of Urban Food-Growing

Biel

2014

Theory, Culture & Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:We outline a future where society re-energises itself, in the sense both of recapturing creative dynamism, and of applying creativity to meeting physical energy needs. Both require us to embrace self-organising properties, whether in nature or society. We critically appraise backcasting as a methodology for visioning, arguing that backcasting's potential for radical, outside-the-box thinking is restricted unless it contemplates a break with class society, connects with existing grassroots struggles (notably over land) and dialogues with utopian socialist tradition. We develop a case study of food, starting from the physical parameters of combatting the entropy expressed in the loss of soil structure, and apply this to urban food-growing. Drawing upon 'real utopias' of existing practice, the paper proposes a threefold categorisation: subsistence plots, an urban forest, and an ultra-high productivity sector. We emphasise the emergent properties of such a complex system characterised by the 'free energy' of societal self-organisation. Barling et al, 2008), backcasting, in contrast, begins from a desired outcome and then assesses the steps by which it may be reached. The methodology has particular relevance to the theme of this special issue because backcasting has, since its origins, had a special focus on energy. Any visioned future must make clear where its energy will come from, and backcasting arose as a response to Lovins' emphasis on the centrality of 'soft' energies, which include not just renewables but the advantages of small scale (Lovins, 1976); the essential point is that, since such a future will be radically different from what we have now, it cannot adequately be forecast from the present (Robinson, 1982). Compared to other methodologies, backcasting thus opens up a stronger understanding of sustainability (Mulder and Biesiot, 1998).I will argue that, underlying energy inputs is a deeper issue of flows and the management of entropy. Energy is conserved, and what flows into any system is what flows out. But, following the Second Law of thermodynamics, it is degraded in the sense that it loses the order which makes it useful (De Rosnay, 1979). At the most basic level, even the solar transition can be seen in this way: since the earth is not a closed system, its own entropy is offset by importing low entropy in the form of solar energy (Georgescu-Roegen, 1975); although conventionally we think we absorb energy from the sun, in reality the energy dissipated by the earth is equivalent to that entering it, the point being that the incoming energy has lower entropy (Penrose, 2010: 78-9). If we moreover remove the artificial distinction between energy and matter, the useable (ordered) input can be termed exergy (negative entropy) (Dincer, 2002). In a future solar economy entropy will be dissipated safely, in contrast to today's flows, where scarce exergy sources (whose extraction moreover degrades local ecosystems) are transformed into pollution and greenhouse gas emission and degrade the wider ea...

show abstract

Section: Backcasting: a Critical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Visioning a Sustainable Energy Future: The Case of Urban Food-Growing

Biel

2014

Theory, Culture & Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this sense, the economy is somewhat reified and international political economy is only addressed to the extent that it falls into the categories of international relations theory – that is, the ‘classic’ triad of realism, liberalism and Marxism. Other approaches – such as that of the French Regulation School, which emphasizes the destabilizing contradictions within capitalism itself (Aglietta, 1976), or Susan Strange’s (1998: 43–119) four power structures – are neglected. Again, I am certainly not interested in criticizing the securitization approach, but simply seek to show that Buzan and colleagues approach the boundary between finance and security from a specific direction that illuminates certain aspects, thereby leaving other aspects unnoticed.…”

Section: Security and Finance: A Problematic Relationship?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond sectors, before the world

Kessler

2011

Security Dialogue

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While security and finance are certainly different social spheres, the fact that we can detect similar shifts in both points to the existence of something that precedes these 'realities'. If finance and security are said to be different, intertwined and related, the question then arises as to what it is that constitutes the differences and similarities between them. This article argues that further inquiry into the boundary between the two leads us to understand processes of securitization and financialization as constitutive processes by which actors, behaviours, practices or communications are considered to be economic or securitized. To capture processes of financialization, the article draws on systems theory in general and the concept of functional differentiation in particular.

show abstract

“…Yet it is neither the systems nor the programmes that characterize our European social approach. It is rather the collective decisions on the labour-income nexus (or 'rapport salarial' -see Boyer, 1990;Aglietta, 1997) which underpin the welfare systems that are of importance. Some simple indicators help to make the point, beginning with a comparison between the European Union and the United States.…”

Section: The European Social Model: Illusion or Firm Foundation For 'Social Europe'?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction: EU social (exclusion) policy revisited?

Begg

Berghman

2002

Journal of European Social Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Since the mid-1990s, several steps have been taken towards an integration of social policy in the EU. Yet there is reluctance in many quarters to go further. This article introduces the special issue on integration of EU social policy and explores the case for more comprehensive `Europeanization'. We argue that the norms that underlie the European model provide the rationale for integration, and that the usual focus on the undoubted differences between countries in the approaches to, and delivery mechanisms of, the welfare state are not as great an obstacle as is often assumed. With the advent of EMU and with many common problems to confront, the EU countries have good reasons to adopt a common approach to social policy, even if implementation remains at the national level. The open method of coordination provides the means of reconciling these aims and the article concludes with a discussion of how it might evolve to achieve a more integrated EU policy.

show abstract

Régulation et crises du capitalisme

Cited by 230 publications

References 0 publications

Visioning a Sustainable Energy Future: The Case of Urban Food-Growing

Visioning a Sustainable Energy Future: The Case of Urban Food-Growing

Beyond sectors, before the world

Introduction: EU social (exclusion) policy revisited?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About