World Talk Series: The Devil Take the Hindmost, or Why We Should Like to Read Karl Marx Today

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Delivered by experts from Cardiff University’s School of Modern Languages, the World Talk Lecture Series is a new series of talks on topics of current interest in various countries around the world. Aimed primarily at AS and A Level students to stimulate interest in, and gain a better understanding of, current political, social and cultural developments around the world, the talks will be approximately 45 minutes in length and be followed by a 30-minute question and answer session.

In this lecture, Heiko Feldner will take a closer look at how useful Karl Marx’ understanding of capitalism still is two-hundred years after his birth on May 5th, 1818.

Abstract

The time to rail about the madness of capitalism is over. Today, habitual moaning about its illogical, irrational and hopelessly contradictory nature gives way to a piercing critique of its logic, rationality and devastating consistency. This shift in attitude has not come out of the blue, far from it. The insight that we may need alternatives to capitalism, rather than capitalist alternatives, grew out of the unsolicited experience that we no longer face a partial crisis, but an all-out crisis of our way of life as such. If you think this is not actually a description of where we are today, you are quite right. But then, new ages do not begin all of a sudden, do they?

This talk puts Marx in our shoes. What would the famous critic of capitalism make of the eco-economic catastrophe that is unfolding in uncanny slow motion before our eyes? What would he think of digital automation, AI and a carbon-free economy? If his unsettling story is true that capitalism’s unprecedented productivity gains are tethered to an economic expansion disorder destined to condemn us to a perverse scenario in which perishing in the face of plenitude is a distinct possibility, what can we do? The lecture will give an accessible introduction to an on-going research project while simultaneously inviting you to join in the exploration of new ways of capitalising on Marx@200.

Biography

Heiko Feldner is a Reader in German and co-director of the Centre for Ideology Critique and Žižek Studies in the School of Modern Languages. A former fellow at the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA) project, he has put his interpretations of Marx to the test in a variety of fields. While his recent work focused on the 2008 global economic crisis, he is currently working on a future history of capitalism, entitled The Meaning of 1989.

Simultaneous Translation

The event will be delivered in the medium of English. You are welcome to ask questions in the medium of Welsh during the QandA session. If you intend to do this, please contact mlang-events@cardiff.ac.uk by Thursday 18 October to request simultaneous translation. Please note that 10% or more of those planning to attend will need to request this provision in order for it to be sourced and will be subject to resource availability.

Registration

We apologise that the entire registration page is not available in the medium of Welsh, unfortunately, the platform we use does not offer this service.