Conference On Capitalism & Contention

The goal of this conference is to facilitate dialogue and debate among scholars and students who are working at the intersection of political economy and social movement studies.

Keynote speaker: Vivek Chibber (New York University), “Movements and the Many Lives of Capitalism”

Where: New York University, Department of Sociology, New York City (in the historic Puck Building, Houston Street @ Lafayette)

When: March 13-15 (Friday, March 13, 5 to 7 pm; Saturday, March 14, 9 am to 6 pm; Sunday, March 15, 9 am to 1 pm)

Conference organizers: Jeff Goodwin (NYU) and Nada Matta (Drexel)

We are calling for papers which address the following questions: How have capitalism and capitalist states catalyzed, but also constrained, workplace resistance, labor movements, “identity movements,” environmental movements, rebellions, revolutions, and other forms of political contention around the globe over the past century? How and to what extent have these various forms of contention shaped capitalism and capitalist states in turn? Also, how have recent transformations of capitalism, and of class relations, altered the possibilities for and the nature of contentious collective action in the contemporary period? How have, and should, social movements relate to political parties and elections in pursuit of their goals? What are the prospects for radical change in contemporary capitalist societies? To what extent does social movement theory help us answer these questions, and to what extent does it need to be recast, perhaps radically?

Abstracts (300-400 words) are due on December 31, 2019. They should be sent to capitalismandcontention@gmail.com. Authors of papers accepted for presentation at the conference will by notified by January 7. Conference papers are due on March 1.