Vivek Chibber
Biographic Data
| ID | 80818 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Vivek Chibber |
| GIVEN NAMES | Vivek |
| FAMILY NAME | Chibber |
| SIGNATURE | CHIBBER V |
| AFFILIATIONS | New York University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 276 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The Class Constraints on Social Democracy
Book Forum on Labor Skills and Migration in India
Introductory Essay: Migration and the Class Question
The Class Matrix: Social Theory after the Cultural Turn
Class Matrix: Social Theory after the Cultural Turn
Does class determine economic options, or is class in our heads-a matter of interpreting symbols and meanings? Cultural theorists have made the second claim, sidelining materialism. Now, amid deepening inequality, Vivek Chibber defends materialist analysis of class power, while arguing that we still have something to learn from cultural frameworks
Introduction to the special issue of Rose
This special issue of the Review of Social Economics is intended to demonstrate, and to partially survey, the state of Marxian theory in the social sciences. As such, the articles have been selecte
East Asian Studies: Economics
Breaking Down the State: Protestors Engaged
Recent years have seen an explosion of protest movements around the world, and academic theories are racing to catch up with them. This series aims to further our understanding of the origins, dealings, decisions, and outcomes of social movements by fostering dialogue among many traditions of thought, across European nations and across continents. All theoretical perspectives are welcome. Books in the series typically combine theory with empirica…
Postcolonial Theory and the Spectre of Capital
DOAJ is a unique and extensive index of diverse open access journals from around the world, driven by a growing community, committed to ensuring quality content is freely available online for everyone
Confronting Postcolonial Theory: A Response to Critics
Review Symposium Commentary
Making sense of postcolonial theory: A response to Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Additional informationNotes on contributorsVivek ChibberVivek Chibber (PhD, University of Wisconsin) is a professor of sociology at New York University, and the author of Postcolonial theory and the specter of capital (Verso, 2013)
Audit Bleak: Comfort Weak
Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital
In recent years, postcolonial theory has emerged as the most influential scholarly explanation for the historical trajectory and social anatomy of the Global South. Its leading proponents - many of whom have become academic superstars - not only reject Enlightenment political and economic theories, especially Marxism, but accuse them of complicity in Europe's imperial project. In this devastating critique, Vivek Chibber offers the most comprehens…
O que vive e o que está morto na teoria marxista da história
Durante as décadas de 1980 e 1990, o debate sobre a teoria marxista da história concentrou-se, em grande medida, no trabalho de Robert Brenner (e sua interpretação centrada nas relações de propriedade), bem como na tentativa de G. A. Cohen de ressuscitar o argumento determinista clássico. Esse artigo examina dois influentes argumentos: o de Erik Wright e seus colegas, e o de Alan Carling, quem, mesmo reconhecendo falhas importantes no trabalho de…
Locked in Place: State-Building and Late Industrialization in India
Why were some countries able to build "developmental states" in the decades after World War II while others were not? Through a richly detailed examination of India's experience, Locked in Place argues that the critical factor was the reaction of domestic capitalists to the state-building project. During the 1950s and 1960s, India launched an extremely ambitious and highly regarded program of state-led development. But it soon became clear that t…
What Is Living and What Is Dead in the Marxist Theory of History
During the 1980s and 1990s, the debate on the Marxist theory of history centred largely around the work of Robert Brenner’s property-relations-centred construal of it, and G.A. Cohen’s attempt to revive the classical, determinist argument. This article examines two influential arguments by Erik Wright and his colleagues, and by Alan Carling, which acknowledge important weaknesses in Cohen’s work, but which also try to construct a more plausible v…
Sidelining the West
Capital Outbound
Vivek Chibber on Ellen Meiksins Wood,Empire of Capital. Three historical forms of imperial dominion—based on land, trade and production—and their end-point in the sway of capital today. The function of territorial states in an extra-territorial system of profit and accumulation
The Return of Imperialism to Social Science
ONE OF THE CURIOUS DEVELOPMENTS in intellectual circles over the past few years is that the subject of imperialism is no longer a bailiwick of the Left. To be sure, so long as colonial empires were in strength, there was no denying the reality of European and American imperial expansion. But over the course of the post-war era, as decolonization rippled through the Third World and the formal mechanisms of colonial control were thrown overboard, a…
Bureaucratic Rationality and the Developmental State
There has been a resuscitation of the view that the state can play an important role in the industrialization process. But, for states to be successful in fostering development, they need a considerable degree of internal cohesiveness, which is generally supplied by the presence of a robust, Weberian bureaucratic corps. This article argues that, while internal cohesiveness is indeed critical, bureaucratic rule following can produce results in the…
Building a Developmental State: The Korean Case Reconsidered
The unprecedented economic success of South Korea in the latter half of this century has made it a favorite test case for just about every theory of development. Explanations of its transformation have been especially valued since its galloping growth rates stand in such stark contrast to the prolonged stagnation of so many other developing countries. Among such explanations, the one that held sway for nearly two decades starting from the 1970s w…
Breaching the nadu: Lordship and economic development in pre-colonial South India
In this article I present a new framework for the analysis of the South Indian economy over the medieval and early modern epochs, centred on the effects of social property relations. I argue that the overall pattern was one of steady economic development, but with a marked increase in trade and commodity development in the early modern era. This is explained through a transformation of intra-class relations that followed the fall of the Vijayanag…
Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital
In recent years, postcolonial theory has emerged as the most influential scholarly explanation for the historical trajectory and social anatomy of the Global South. Its leading proponents - many of whom have become academic superstars - not only reject Enlightenment political and economic theories, especially Marxism, but accuse them of complicity in Europe's imperial project. In this devastating critique, Vivek Chibber offers the most comprehens…
Locked in Place: State-Building and Late Industrialization in India
Why were some countries able to build "developmental states" in the decades after World War II while others were not? Through a richly detailed examination of India's experience, Locked in Place argues that the critical factor was the reaction of domestic capitalists to the state-building project. During the 1950s and 1960s, India launched an extremely ambitious and highly regarded program of state-led development. But it soon became clear that t…
Building a Developmental State: The Korean Case Reconsidered
The unprecedented economic success of South Korea in the latter half of this century has made it a favorite test case for just about every theory of development. Explanations of its transformation have been especially valued since its galloping growth rates stand in such stark contrast to the prolonged stagnation of so many other developing countries. Among such explanations, the one that held sway for nearly two decades starting from the 1970s w…
Bureaucratic Rationality and the Developmental State
There has been a resuscitation of the view that the state can play an important role in the industrialization process. But, for states to be successful in fostering development, they need a considerable degree of internal cohesiveness, which is generally supplied by the presence of a robust, Weberian bureaucratic corps. This article argues that, while internal cohesiveness is indeed critical, bureaucratic rule following can produce results in the…
The Class Matrix: Social Theory after the Cultural Turn
Breaching the nadu: Lordship and economic development in pre-colonial South India
In this article I present a new framework for the analysis of the South Indian economy over the medieval and early modern epochs, centred on the effects of social property relations. I argue that the overall pattern was one of steady economic development, but with a marked increase in trade and commodity development in the early modern era. This is explained through a transformation of intra-class relations that followed the fall of the Vijayanag…
Making sense of postcolonial theory: A response to Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Additional informationNotes on contributorsVivek ChibberVivek Chibber (PhD, University of Wisconsin) is a professor of sociology at New York University, and the author of Postcolonial theory and the specter of capital (Verso, 2013)
What Is Living and What Is Dead in the Marxist Theory of History
During the 1980s and 1990s, the debate on the Marxist theory of history centred largely around the work of Robert Brenner’s property-relations-centred construal of it, and G.A. Cohen’s attempt to revive the classical, determinist argument. This article examines two influential arguments by Erik Wright and his colleagues, and by Alan Carling, which acknowledge important weaknesses in Cohen’s work, but which also try to construct a more plausible v…
The Class Constraints on Social Democracy
Postcolonial Theory and the Spectre of Capital
DOAJ is a unique and extensive index of diverse open access journals from around the world, driven by a growing community, committed to ensuring quality content is freely available online for everyone
Breaching the nadu: Lordship and economic development in pre-colonial South India
In this article I present a new framework for the analysis of the South Indian economy over the medieval and early modern epochs, centred on the effects of social property relations. I argue that the overall pattern was one of steady economic development, but with a marked increase in trade and commodity development in the early modern era. This is explained through a transformation of intra-class relations that followed the fall of the Vijayanag…
Building a Developmental State: The Korean Case Reconsidered
The unprecedented economic success of South Korea in the latter half of this century has made it a favorite test case for just about every theory of development. Explanations of its transformation have been especially valued since its galloping growth rates stand in such stark contrast to the prolonged stagnation of so many other developing countries. Among such explanations, the one that held sway for nearly two decades starting from the 1970s w…
Bureaucratic Rationality and the Developmental State
There has been a resuscitation of the view that the state can play an important role in the industrialization process. But, for states to be successful in fostering development, they need a considerable degree of internal cohesiveness, which is generally supplied by the presence of a robust, Weberian bureaucratic corps. This article argues that, while internal cohesiveness is indeed critical, bureaucratic rule following can produce results in the…
The Return of Imperialism to Social Science
ONE OF THE CURIOUS DEVELOPMENTS in intellectual circles over the past few years is that the subject of imperialism is no longer a bailiwick of the Left. To be sure, so long as colonial empires were in strength, there was no denying the reality of European and American imperial expansion. But over the course of the post-war era, as decolonization rippled through the Third World and the formal mechanisms of colonial control were thrown overboard, a…
Capital Outbound
Vivek Chibber on Ellen Meiksins Wood,Empire of Capital. Three historical forms of imperial dominion—based on land, trade and production—and their end-point in the sway of capital today. The function of territorial states in an extra-territorial system of profit and accumulation
Sidelining the West
Locked in Place: State-Building and Late Industrialization in India
Why were some countries able to build "developmental states" in the decades after World War II while others were not? Through a richly detailed examination of India's experience, Locked in Place argues that the critical factor was the reaction of domestic capitalists to the state-building project. During the 1950s and 1960s, India launched an extremely ambitious and highly regarded program of state-led development. But it soon became clear that t…
What Is Living and What Is Dead in the Marxist Theory of History
During the 1980s and 1990s, the debate on the Marxist theory of history centred largely around the work of Robert Brenner’s property-relations-centred construal of it, and G.A. Cohen’s attempt to revive the classical, determinist argument. This article examines two influential arguments by Erik Wright and his colleagues, and by Alan Carling, which acknowledge important weaknesses in Cohen’s work, but which also try to construct a more plausible v…
O que vive e o que está morto na teoria marxista da história
Durante as décadas de 1980 e 1990, o debate sobre a teoria marxista da história concentrou-se, em grande medida, no trabalho de Robert Brenner (e sua interpretação centrada nas relações de propriedade), bem como na tentativa de G. A. Cohen de ressuscitar o argumento determinista clássico. Esse artigo examina dois influentes argumentos: o de Erik Wright e seus colegas, e o de Alan Carling, quem, mesmo reconhecendo falhas importantes no trabalho de…
Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital
In recent years, postcolonial theory has emerged as the most influential scholarly explanation for the historical trajectory and social anatomy of the Global South. Its leading proponents - many of whom have become academic superstars - not only reject Enlightenment political and economic theories, especially Marxism, but accuse them of complicity in Europe's imperial project. In this devastating critique, Vivek Chibber offers the most comprehens…
Confronting Postcolonial Theory: A Response to Critics
Review Symposium Commentary
Making sense of postcolonial theory: A response to Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Additional informationNotes on contributorsVivek ChibberVivek Chibber (PhD, University of Wisconsin) is a professor of sociology at New York University, and the author of Postcolonial theory and the specter of capital (Verso, 2013)
Audit Bleak: Comfort Weak
East Asian Studies: Economics
Breaking Down the State: Protestors Engaged
Recent years have seen an explosion of protest movements around the world, and academic theories are racing to catch up with them. This series aims to further our understanding of the origins, dealings, decisions, and outcomes of social movements by fostering dialogue among many traditions of thought, across European nations and across continents. All theoretical perspectives are welcome. Books in the series typically combine theory with empirica…
Postcolonial Theory and the Spectre of Capital
DOAJ is a unique and extensive index of diverse open access journals from around the world, driven by a growing community, committed to ensuring quality content is freely available online for everyone
Introduction to the special issue of Rose
This special issue of the Review of Social Economics is intended to demonstrate, and to partially survey, the state of Marxian theory in the social sciences. As such, the articles have been selecte
The Class Matrix: Social Theory after the Cultural Turn
Class Matrix: Social Theory after the Cultural Turn
Does class determine economic options, or is class in our heads-a matter of interpreting symbols and meanings? Cultural theorists have made the second claim, sidelining materialism. Now, amid deepening inequality, Vivek Chibber defends materialist analysis of class power, while arguing that we still have something to learn from cultural frameworks
Book Forum on Labor Skills and Migration in India
Introductory Essay: Migration and the Class Question
The Class Constraints on Social Democracy
Political science (13 works) · Sociology (10 works) · History (9 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Political Economy and Marxism (9 works) · Economics (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Political economy (6 works)