Dependency Theory, Imperialism, and the Production of Surplus Value On a World Scale

Bibliographic Data

ID4500690
AuthorsGary Nigel Howe (American University in Washington, D.C., corresponding author)
Year1981
Volume8
Issue3-4
Pages82-102
Publication date1981-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-582X • E-ISSN: 1552-678X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0094582x8100800304
OpenAlexW2133022521
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited17

Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Enzo Faletto (1979: xxiii) have announced what has long been suspected, i.e., that dependency theory is no more. This should give rise to few regrets. Its well known emphasis upon relations among nations rather than among classes (cf. Roxborourgh,, 1979: 46) and its characteristic definition of modes of production in terms of circulation (Laclau, 1977: 15-50) marked it as a theory which sought to understand the dynamics of capitalism without a grasp of its basic organizational units. However, the demise of dependency theory has left a vacuum in the theory of the international capitalist system, for the turn to local class relations does not provide an alternative to the general systematics of the dependency school. Neither does the classical theory of imperialism fill the gap. On the contrary, both the theory of imperialism and dependency theory are strongly circulationist in character, and neither can come to terms with transformations in the system of division of labor. We will provide an alternative based on the global organization of the production of surplus value, attempting to periodize the international capitalist system in terms of internal contradictions in systems of production (in both core and periphery) giving rise to transformations in the structure of production in both areas in a complementary fashion involving the articulation of modes of production on a global scale. What follows will attempt to provide a framework for an analysis based on contradictions within complex, unevenly developed systems of production of surplus value as well as to indicate some of the fundamental issues giving rise to the theories of dependency (especially in the Brazilian case) and imperialism as perspectives incapable of realizing in thought the changing forms of capitalist production and accumulation on a world scale

Articulation (sociology) · Capitalism · Economic system · Economics · Hegemony · Microeconomics · Neoclassical economics · Political science · Production (economics) · Production theory · Relations of production · Returns to scale · Sociology · Surplus value · Value (mathematics) · Asian Industrial and Economic Development · Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism · International Business and FDI · Law · Mathematics

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