Akademiforelesningen i humaniora og samfunnsvitenskap 2013

Bilde

Foto: Marit Hommedal/Scanpix og Holbergprisen

Jürgen Kocka er historiker med fokus på dagens Tyskland og Europa og er spesielt interessert i komparative perspektiver, sosialhistorie og tverrfaglig samarbeid med samfunnsvitenskap. Kocka er professor ved Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung og visepreses i Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie derWissenschaften.

Abstract:
For decades, social scientists and historians have largely avoided the concept "capitalism". They regarded it as too polemical, too broad and too vague. After the end of the Cold War and under the influence of the recent financial crises the concept seems to come back, both in scholarly contexts as well as in public debates. What is the meaning of this renaissance, and what can the concept be good for? - Kapitalismuskritik is as old as capitalism itself, at least in the West. It is a field in which intellectuals, social movements and political conflicts interact. It does not only highlight crucial problems of capitalism, but also preferences of the cultures in which it is raised. The critique of capitalism has deeply changed, over the centuries. How is it changing under the present conditions of globalization? - The relationship between the economic and the political spheres, more specifically between markets and states, has been central for concepts of and debates about capitalism, its varieties and possible alternatives. What can be learned from the historical record if one wants to reconsider and perhaps redefine this relationship? In most periods and cases, markets and states were closely related and very interdependent, even when the relative autonomy of both spheres was stressed. If well constructed this interdependence can help to compensate for limits and instabilities built into each of these spheres. - The speaker will relate findings from the century-old history of capitalism to topics and problems of the present time.