Papers by Harry F . Dahms
Paragrana, Jun 1, 2023
The concept of the Anthropocene reflects a particular meaning of the “human” as it exists in soci... more The concept of the Anthropocene reflects a particular meaning of the “human” as it exists in society, and a specific understanding of freedom, which only became possible at the close of the twentieth century. Whereas Enlightenment thinkers such as Kant, Rousseau, and Adam Smith attempted to grasp the potential for humanity to be changed through society in a self-conscious process of attaining freedom, the “Age of Man” today appears entirely disconnected from human agency. Indeed, the Anthropocene is associated not with the flourishing of life but with the sixth mass extinction. Drawing insight from classical and contemporary critical theory, this paper seeks to explicate the emancipatory potential within the concept of the Anthropocene, and the ways in which this potential is blocked by material circumstances that masquerade as “freedom.”
The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization, Feb 29, 2012
Current Perspectives in Social Theory, Dec 12, 2022
The Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, 2005
Contemporary Sociology, May 1, 1995
The Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, 2005
Current Perspectives in Social Theory, May 5, 2023
Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks, Dec 2, 2013
Springer eBooks, Jul 5, 2018
Ecologically unequal exchange denotes a seemingly inexorable process whose impetus is both global... more Ecologically unequal exchange denotes a seemingly inexorable process whose impetus is both global and planetary. The logic underlying ecologically unequal exchange suggests that rather than moving toward a reconciliation of society and nature, the history of modern capitalist society is pointing toward nature being turned into a “function” of society. Modern society thus appears as a type of socio-economic organization that is characterized by corresponding modes of politics and culture in whose context “nature” is being supplanted, to an ever greater extent, by artificial substitutes. Paradoxically, social, political, and cultural forms are being replaced by modes of “human” and “social” interaction (and corresponding, new institutional structures) that replicate and reinforce organizational, technological, and economic patterns at the heart of capitalism. It may be possible to avert this prospect; if so, equalizing ecological exchange around the globe will be a necessary step along the way. Such equalizing may well be the necessary first step in remedying the world-system’s impetus toward maintaining and amplifying existing forms of inequality that nation-states no longer can contain or alleviate.
Emerald Publishing Limited eBooks, Dec 12, 2022
Published in <b>2019</b>, 2019
At a time of societal urgency surrounding ecological crises from depleted fisheries to mineral ex... more At a time of societal urgency surrounding ecological crises from depleted fisheries to mineral extraction and potential pathways towards environmental and ecological justice, this book re-examines ecologically unequal exchange (EUE) from a historical and comparative perspective. The theory of ecologically unequal exchange posits that core or northern consumption and capital accumulation is based on peripheral or southern environmental degradation and extraction. In other words, structures of social and environmental inequality between the Global North and Global South are founded in the extraction of materials from, as well as displacement of waste to, the South. This volume represents a set of tightly interlinked papers with the aim to assess ecologically unequal exchange and to move it forward. Chapters are organised into three main sections: theoretical foundations and critical reflections on ecologically unequal exchange; empirical research on mining, deforestation, fisheries, and the like; and strategies for responding to the adverse consequences associated with unequal ecological exchange. Scholars as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students will benefit from the spirited re-evaluation and extension of ecologically unequal exchange theory, research, and praxis.
Twenty-First Century Inequality & Capitalism: Piketty, Marx and Beyond, 2017
Current Perspectives in Social Theory, May 5, 2023
Ecologically Unequal Exchange, 2019
North and South are terms that try to capture relationships among countries, falling back on a ge... more North and South are terms that try to capture relationships among countries, falling back on a geographical metaphor which partly obfuscates the complexities of the real world. Some NGOs, especially if based in the South prefer the terms Global North/Global South in recognition of the fact that there are poor people and regions in the geographical North, just as there are rich people and highly sophisticated production systems in the geographical South. However, since the purpose of this paper/chapter is to discuss various aspects of unequal exchange among nations, I am forced to rely on national statistical data which makes concepts such as Global North and Global South difficult to apply. Hence I stick to the imperfect terms North and South and accept a basically geographical division of the globe. I will also apply these concepts interchangeably with Centre and Periphery.
Current Perspectives in Social Theory, 2012
The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory
This is an important issue that I cannot address here in detail; suffice it to say that frequentl... more This is an important issue that I cannot address here in detail; suffice it to say that frequently and erroneously, such forces are being identified in terms of "conspiracies," even though they may be representative of the normal operations of corporate capitalism, as recently scrutinized by Jane Mayer (2016) and Nancy MacLean (2017), or of what I have referred to elsewhere as the "constitutional logic" of modern societies (Dahms 2009, esp. 91-94; 2012;in preparation; and Jalata and Dahms, 2015); neither the "normal"-i.e., internally consistent and predictable-operations of corporate capitalism (see Panageotou 2017), nor the "constitutional logic" of modern societies, is consistent with "common sense" assumptions individuals obtain in the process of socialization and education, nor are they admissible in terms of conventional assumptions; still, many people yearn for more or less easy explanations in an increasingly disorienting world, regardless of whether they have the necessary mindset, training, and skills, or willingness to make the effort to acquire them, or not. Regarding frequent flaws in conspiracies "theories," see, for instance, deHaven-Smith (2014) and Cassam (2019). Dahms
Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2019
ICT and the increasing availability of digital data are dramatically changing the processes of re... more ICT and the increasing availability of digital data are dramatically changing the processes of research and knowledge production in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). Whereas the methodological momentum in digital humanities and computational social sciences is already immense, theory development in the SSH is much less dynamic and consists mainly of digital resurrections of the classics of our fields. The contributions to this virtual special issue of Technological Forecasting and Social Change do, therefore, not constitute efforts at presenting new social theories of the digital transformation, but rather, efforts at digitally transforming social theory. This introduction presents an overview of the topic and the contributions and outlines key elements of a research agenda on the digital transformation of social theory.
Fast Capitalism, 2019
that Goethe played during the initial phase of modern society taking shape. In this regard, espec... more that Goethe played during the initial phase of modern society taking shape. In this regard, especially, Faust played a pivotal role, as an opportunity to address explicitly issues whose lack of resolution burdens us to this day, as well as who we moderns are exactly, and how we exist and coexist. 3 Goethe did not leave much of an intellectual and cultural imprint in most countries outside of continental Europe. Moreover, conservative and reactionary efforts in Germany to celebrate his work and thought as the contribution of utter genius have detracted from Goethe's overall importance, by avoiding and distracting from their critical content and underlying impetus. Yet, Goethe may be most noteworthy for having stood for a commitment to the prospect of an undamaged life and to the imminence of an unalienated existence as both emerged as categorical corollaries and "objective possibilities" with modernity and in modern societies, both in the sense of a person's life, and life (in the sense of nature) in general-depending on which exact form modernity and modern society was going to take, and what kind of developmental trajectory it would follow. 4 For instance, the subtitle of Rüdiger Safranski's recent book on Goethe-a minor literary event in its own right-refers to "life as a work of art," meaning Goethe's life as a successful work of art (Safranski [2013] 2017). At the beginning of his Adorno biography, subtitled "One Last Genius," Detlev Claussen addressed the problematic and paradoxical effort to write any biography, and especially a biography of a "genius," after what Horkheimer and Adorno referred to as "the decline of the individual" (Horkheimer 1947; Adorno [1951] 1974); referring to Goethe, he wrote: Readers who take a look at Adorno's last great work, his Aesthetic Theory... will not need to search far before coming across the name of Goethe. Goethe's name is intimately connected not only with the bourgeois concept of genius but also with the model of a successful life capable of being captured in a biography. For the generation that, like Adorno, was born in the long bourgeois century between 1815 and 1914, Goethe stands at the beginning of this bourgeois epoch, to which even someone born in 1903 could feel he belonged. By the end of this period, of course, Goethe's works had long been buried beneath the Goethe cult dedicated to the worship of the artistic genius. (Claussen [2003] 2008, p. 2) Continuing the theme of Goethe's importance to German culture, as well as to the members of the early Frankfurt School, Claussen turned to Horkheimer: Goethe recurs constantly in Horkheimer's writings ... as the epitome of the successful individual. ... Reverence for Goethe, which [in 1961] ... was still accompanied by a knowledge of his works, continued to play an important role among the educated German middle classes throughout the nineteenth century. The Jews in Germany, however, who took a positive view of assimilation and who experienced their social ascent into the middle classes at this time, saw in Goethe's life a promise of human community made real. ... A familiarity with Goethe's Poetry and Truth belonged to the canon of bourgeois knowledge. (ibid., p. 3) 5
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Papers by Harry F . Dahms