In this brilliant reimagining of Marx's concept of forces of production, Graham shows that the power of fossil capital, not technological deficiency, enfetter any green-transition.
In Forces of Production, Climate Change and Canadian Fossil Capitalism, Nicolas Graham reinterprets the concept of forces of production from an ecological standpoint and in the context of the deepening climate crisis. He argues that ecological knowledge itself, as well as associated developments in renewable energy technology and green infrastructure, represent advancements in productive forces. However, such "green productive forces" are fettered by capitalist relations of production, including the power of carbon capital.In addition to a conceptual and theoretical reinterpretation, case studies focusing on Canadian fossil capitalism provide a concrete-complex analysis of the deepening of fossil-fuelled productive forces and the process of fettering in both renewable energies and in the development and application of ecological knowledge.
Nicolas Graham is a sessional instructor at the University of Victoria. His previous work has appeared in journals such as Capitalism Nature Socialism, Studies in Political Economy and Canadian Review of Sociology.
Features in Critical SociologyPromotion targeting progressive Sociological JournalsPublicity and promotion in conjunction with the author's speaking engagements
In Forces of Production, Climate Change and Canadian Fossil Capitalism, Nicolas Graham reinterprets the concept of forces of production from an ecological standpoint and in the context of the deepening climate crisis. He argues that ecological knowledge itself, as well as associated developments in renewable energy technology and green infrastructure, represent advancements in productive forces. However, such "green productive forces" are fettered by capitalist relations of production, including the power of carbon capital. In addition to a conceptual and theoretical reinterpretation, case studies focusing on Canadian fossil capitalism provide a concrete-complex analysis of the deepening of fossil-fuelled productive forces and the process of fettering in both renewable energies and in the development and application of ecological knowledge.
Nicolas Graham's important analysis of the influence of Canadian fossil industries (coal / oil / natural gas) is both an in-depth case study, and an attempt to generalize about the ways in which the entrenched power of these existing Capitalist firms are the primary block on developing alternatives that don't endanger the continued existence of the human species.