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A batch of the best highlights from what Jophin's read, .
In my book, I argue that economic power is a form of power that can neither be reduced to violence nor ideology. In contrast to violence and ideology, economic power doesn’t directly address the subjugated part in a relationship of domination. Instead, it addresses the environment of the subject, which means that it functions by shaping the material and social environment in a way that forces people to act in a certain way.
This is distinct from violence, which addresses the subject directly as a body, as well as from ideology, which addresses the subject by shaping the way in which it thinks or perceives itself and its surroundings.
Capitalism Makes Everyone Bend to Its Will, Rich and Poor Alike
Søren Mau
In 2006, expert economists calculated that one life was statistically worth exactly $1,266,037 in the United States, and just as exactly $5,248 in Bangladesh. Are we to conclude that the ‘benefit’ of saving a Bangladeshi life is about 241 times less than that of saving an American life? It is estimated that a quarter of Bangladesh could be under water by the end of the century; this country is at the forefront of the current ecological disaster. Will a country-by-country rebate be used to calculate the overall vital ‘benefits’ of reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Or should we fix an average universal price on human life? But on what ‘scientific’ basis will we do so?
The Ungovernable Society
Grégoire Chamayou
In an age defined by a chasm between those who have power and those who don’t, elites have spread the idea that people must be helped, but only in market-friendly ways that do not upset fundamental power equations.
Winners Take All
Anand Giridharadas
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