Samir Amin, one of the most influential economists today, has produced
another groundbreaking work. Spectres of Capitalism cuts through the
current intellectual fashions that assume a global capitalist triumph,
taking the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Marx and Engels'
classic tract, the Communist Manifesto, to focus upon the aspirations
of the destitute millions of the post-Cold War era. In this succinct
theoretical text, Amin examines the changing notion of crisis in
capitalism; misconceptions of the free market model; the various
distortions of Marx's method; the role of culture in revolutions; the
decline of the « law of value » in economics; the philosophical roots
of postmodernism; how telecommunications affect ideology; and the myth
of « pure economics. » Amin has a broad following among students of
economics, who value his analyses of the intricacies of capitalist
development, both in the major powers and in the third world.
