Ellen Meiksins Wood: An Opposing View of Markets and Globalization

What is Meiksins Wood’s argument

• Prof’s argument: capitalist economy - market economy, labour…

  • Investment in cash crops system

• Wood’s argument: relationship between producers and capital is what’s important

How is her theory different than Wallerstein's?

• Capitalism: when the actual producers don’t own the means of production, surplus they make is taken through market mechanism (not coercion)

• Most of the population purchases their necessities on the market

• Important in the relations in rural England→ 1st emerges here

• This relationship is determinative of what capitalism is - Marxist perspective

• 15th century

How does her different concept of capitalism affect her view of globalization?

• Spanish + Portuguese: snatch and grab → no investment

  • Imperial expansion was not motivated by capitalism because it hadn’t happened yet; not what motivated them

• England

  • Ireland: land reforms → profit motive + investment in production

    • Development of agricultural production

Ideology and Social Action

What is ideology?

• Different definitions

• All definitions share some patterns

  • Ideas

  • Reason why these ideas exist

  • Connects to general social group

  • Stabilizes society

  • System of beliefs/thoughts

• Systems developed so that we interact with the world

• Intentionally constructed ones

  • Ex: legal ideology

• Ones that exist in a Darwinian situation, society-wide

  • Ex: patriarchal worldview → allowed men to maintain their positions of power

What is ideology critique?

• Talk about theory on 2 grounds:

  • Theory is false, doesn’t represent the world correctly

  • Here is its social function

    • Track how social functions change = really useful

How does it work, what should you focus on?

• Ideas about what is good or bad

• Reflect views of the dominant social group

Ideology and Globalization

Some examples of ideologies that helped with building the modern, globalized world

• Theory of property

• Imperial glory

• Free trade - mercantilism

• Economic thought

• Dehumanization of Indigenous people

• Wood's criticism of Locke:

  • Locke’s theory of property: apply moral right to property after you mix your labour with it. If they do not doing this → no right to their land

  • Very advantageous for a market economy

  • Social role: okay to take the land

  • Ideology of improvement!!

    • Reflection of the status quo and stabilizes what empires are doing

    • Not the bad guy

Examples:

• Shariah bank systems: take medieval concept and apply it in the modern world

  • Organize the economy of Islamic world → have a purpose

• Slave ideology in the U.S.

  • Dred Scott Case

    • Judges wanted to reinforce the system of racial domination

• Paper: what ideas and ideologies were used to advance globalization

  • What about this ideology gives you an advantage