Crack Capitalism reviewed in the Guardian, what do you think? Free book up for grabs!

Whether you agree with him or not, Steven Poole of the Guardian does review a decent amount of Pluto books, and we’re grateful. Here’s his latest: Crack Capitalism by John Holloway:

Assuming, for the sake of argument, that you want to bring down capitalism, how should you go about it? Holloway urges readers to create “cracks” in the edifice: in lieu of “alienated labour”, choose to do something you think is necessary or interesting. Just reading a book in a park is a good crack, and a person who does this, on Holloway’s analysis, is on a continuum with more apparently impressive dissidents such as guerrilla gardeners, rioting Greek students or his beloved Zapatistas.

The slight German-philosophy-in-translation feel of some of the prose (what are the hyphens doing in “clock-time is the time-in-which we live”?) is perhaps excused by the rather lovely suggestion Holloway floats that, because nouns (“car”, “wall”, “food”) hide the activity that gave rise to them, “anti-capitalist literature should abandon nouns and just use verbs”. The author hastens to add: “but that would be very difficult to write and probably difficult to understand.” That “probably” is infectiously optimistic, much like the suggestion that we should use a car “as a receptacle for planting flowers or carrots”. Guardian readers are urged to try this and report the results.

Some people find this review a bit patronising, but I rather like it. What does everyone else think about it? In the comments, Keith Flett says “John Holloway is a major left-wing thinker and his new book Crack Capitalism deserves more than a rather flippant review by Steve Poole” but I think that it fits in with the spirit of Holloway’s work rather well. I haven’t asked John (perhaps he will chime in here) but I think that being a major left-wing thinker isn’t as relevant to him as the opportunity to get his ideas some mainstream exposure, particularly the (very attractive in this miscellaneous and unfocused age) idea that you don’t have to be an out and out political activist to resist capitalism.

Enough from me, let’s talk. Have you read the book and think the review represents it poorly? Does the review make you want to read the book, or turn you off it? Do you think that low key or ‘part-time’ resistance can really make a difference? The best comment will get a free copy of Crack Capitalism, or another book if you’ve already got that one. Everyone else can resist capitalism through, errr, shopping:

Crack Capitalism John Holloway £17.99 only £16 on the Pluto site

Ben Fine on BBC Radio 4′s Thinking Allowed

Ben Fine was recently on the BBC Radio 4 programme Thinking Allowed. Click here to check it out on iPlayer.

Once you’ve done that you’ll almost certainly want to buy this:

Theories of Social Capital Researchers Behaving Badly Ben Fine Forcibly demonstrates how social capital has expanded across the social sciences only by degrading the different disciplines it touches. ‘Ben Fine is the world’s most thorough and indefatigible critic of the abuse of the concept of capital that follows from adding “social” to it. … Here he … explore[s] the reasons behind the chaos this causes and the consequences of the penetration of notions of profit into every nook and cranny of our lives. A must-read for all irritated and irritable thinkers in social science.’ – Barbara Harriss-White, Oxford University £27.50 only £21.99 on the Pluto site

Book Review: Theories of Social Capital

This review originally appeared in the current issue of JAPE.

Theories of Social Capital Researchers Behaving Badly Ben Fine Forcibly demonstrates how social capital has expanded across the social sciences only by degrading the different disciplines it touches. ‘Ben Fine is the world’s most thorough and indefatigible critic of the abuse of the concept of capital that follows from adding “social” to it. … Here he … explore[s] the reasons behind the chaos this causes and the consequences of the penetration of notions of profit into every nook and cranny of our lives. A must-read for all irritated and irritable thinkers in social science.’ – Barbara Harriss-White, Oxford University £27.5 only £21.99 on the Pluto site