Intellectuals and Transnational Capital

Abstract

It has become a commonplace in discussions of the international political situation during the 1970s and 1980s to argue that socialism, defined both in terms of a series of doctrines and arguments as well as social movements and political parties, has been on the defensive. Socialism has appeared to retreat and move towards a position of intellectual retrenchment in the face of the onslaughts of the restructuring of capital and the social relations of production on a global scale. The changes which have taken place have helped to reinforce the positional advantage of the dominant ideologies within the capitalist system. This has appeared to shift the terrain of contestability in prevailing political discourse to the right, with the ostensible return to dominance of ideologies of economic liberalism, and cold war (at least for much of the 1980s). This has been linked to the neo-liberal advocacy of the reconstitution of state power to restore a more hospitable world-wide investment climate for capital, especially financial capital.