COVID-19 and the Planetary Crisis Multiplicity: From Marxist Crisis Theory to Planetary Assemblage Theory

Main author: Albert, Michael
Format: Journal Article           
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Summary: The COVID-19 crisis gives us occasion to reflect on the insights and limitations of Marxist crisis theory. While ecological Marxists in particular have made incisive analyses of these crises, I argue that traditional Marxist frameworks are insufficient for conceptualizing twenty-first century global crises, which emerge from complex material entanglements across multiple socio-ecological systems and take on self-organizing dynamics that exceed human agency. I therefore suggest that an encounter between ecological Marxism and Deleuzian assemblage theory can provide a more productive theoretical foundation for understanding the COVID-19 crisis and mapping what I call the broader "planetary crisis multiplicity."
Language: English
Published: Johns Hopkins University Press 2022