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Disassembly Required: A Field Guide to Actually Existing Capitalism
"The book’s argument does not rely on ideologies, scapegoats, or heroes. more than anything, Disassembly Required is about a kind of common sense that’s become hard to escape—a common sense of privatization, austerity, and financialization that has invaded virtually every aspect of our lives and communities. 2008 gave many of us a remarkable window toward something different, Mann says, but we don’t need to wait for another market crash to find a way out of capitalism."—Sam Ross-Brown, Utne
“An essential handbook for understanding ‘actually existing’ capitalism, and thus the world as it really is—rather than as it is theorized and justified by the dissembling high priests of mainstream academia, policy, and politics.”—Christian Parenti, Tropic of Chaos
“A brilliantly lucid book. Mann illuminates the basic principles of modern capitalism, their expressions in contemporary economies and states, and their devastating socio-ecological consequences for working people everywhere. This is a must-read if we are to envision ways of organizing our common planetary existence that are not based upon the illusory promises of market fundamentalism and the suicidal ideology of endless economic growth.”—Neil Brenner, New State Spaces
"Geoff Mann is a new breed of monkey-wrencher. He knows that contemporary capitalism has a perverse habit of dismantling itself and gives us a toolkit to build a new, more socially just edifice."—Andy Merrifield, Magical Marxism
"Insightful and incisive, thoughtful and thorough, filled with new avenues for thinking about resistence. Pass this one by at your own peril."—Matt Hern, Common Ground in a Liquid City
To imagine how we might change capitalism, we first need to understand it. To succeed in actually changing it, we need to be able to explain how it works and convince others that change is both possible and necessary. Disassembly Required is an attempt to meet those challenges, and to offer clear, accessible alternatives to the status quo of everyday capitalism.
Originally crafted as a comprehensive overview for younger readers, Geoff Mann's explanation of the fundamental features of contemporary capitalism is illustrated with real-world examples?an ideal introduction for anyone wanting to learn more about what capitalism is and where it falls short. What emerges is an anti-capitalist critique that fully understands the complex, dynamic, robust organizational machine of modern economic life, digging deep into the details of capitalist institutions and the relations that justify them to unearth the politically indefensible and ecologically unsustainable premises that underlie them.
Geoff Mann teaches political economy and economic geography at Simon Fraser University, where he directs the Centre for Global Political Economy. He is the author of Our Daily Bread: Wages, Workers and the Political Economy of the American West (2007) and a frequent contributor to Historical Materialism and New Left Review.
“An essential handbook for understanding ‘actually existing’ capitalism, and thus the world as it really is—rather than as it is theorized and justified by the dissembling high priests of mainstream academia, policy, and politics.”—Christian Parenti, Tropic of Chaos
“A brilliantly lucid book. Mann illuminates the basic principles of modern capitalism, their expressions in contemporary economies and states, and their devastating socio-ecological consequences for working people everywhere. This is a must-read if we are to envision ways of organizing our common planetary existence that are not based upon the illusory promises of market fundamentalism and the suicidal ideology of endless economic growth.”—Neil Brenner, New State Spaces
"Geoff Mann is a new breed of monkey-wrencher. He knows that contemporary capitalism has a perverse habit of dismantling itself and gives us a toolkit to build a new, more socially just edifice."—Andy Merrifield, Magical Marxism
"Insightful and incisive, thoughtful and thorough, filled with new avenues for thinking about resistence. Pass this one by at your own peril."—Matt Hern, Common Ground in a Liquid City
To imagine how we might change capitalism, we first need to understand it. To succeed in actually changing it, we need to be able to explain how it works and convince others that change is both possible and necessary. Disassembly Required is an attempt to meet those challenges, and to offer clear, accessible alternatives to the status quo of everyday capitalism.
Originally crafted as a comprehensive overview for younger readers, Geoff Mann's explanation of the fundamental features of contemporary capitalism is illustrated with real-world examples?an ideal introduction for anyone wanting to learn more about what capitalism is and where it falls short. What emerges is an anti-capitalist critique that fully understands the complex, dynamic, robust organizational machine of modern economic life, digging deep into the details of capitalist institutions and the relations that justify them to unearth the politically indefensible and ecologically unsustainable premises that underlie them.
Geoff Mann teaches political economy and economic geography at Simon Fraser University, where he directs the Centre for Global Political Economy. He is the author of Our Daily Bread: Wages, Workers and the Political Economy of the American West (2007) and a frequent contributor to Historical Materialism and New Left Review.
259 pages, Paperback
First published March 19, 2013
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June 14, 2017
“Privatize the gains, socialize the losses.” Mantra of the neoliberal era.
First off, excellent excellent book. It does an impeccable job in explaining contemporary financialized and globalized capitalism - the analysis is measured, lucid, incisive, smart, exhibits strong fundamentals and understanding of systems and their historical evolutions. I learned a lot, Mann is very adept in his presentation and makes complex issues accessible and understandable (explanation of subprime implosion is topnotch). I def recommend this one even if you disagree with certain political economic viewpoints in this text because Mann has great analytical ability and knowledge base when it comes to economics.
One thing that must be understood about Mann, and this may turn some people off: he comes at things from an anti-capitalist perspective. He doesn’t smother the text with this (although he does allude to it), but he does explain his position at the end of the book. In spite of his positioning, I do respect that regardless of how he feels about capitalism, he makes efforts to give credit to its power, its ability to innovate and inherent vitality allowing it to ascend as a hegemonic power throughout the globe. He also explains it is not monolithic, it has various iterations, and like any system it has strengths and weaknesses and he is pretty fair in this overall assessment I think.
Personally I'm not anti-capitalist, I'm more a believer in reformed and properly regulated capitalism (some will argue this is impossible), coupled with a certain level of redistribution and socialized aspects like education, healthcare, safety net with a vision of spreading out opportunity to empower the citizenry. I also think there will have to be an exploration and experimentation with the concept of universal basic income - which may be critical depending on how the nature of labor shifts due to the evolution of technology. Many of these things I think are necessary in order to counteract capitalism’s most pernicious tendencies which naturally creates and stokes vast inequalities. I also think we need to find ways to strike balance between labor and capital, things are totally out of whack with financiers and mega-wealthy and mega-corporations dominating power, hijacking policy, dictating and manipulating the rules of the game.
At the end of the book Mann makes the pitch for anticapitalism, and potential visions for what this might entail. This part? Huh, wha? He kind of demands a sort of magical thinking, leaping of logic that defies my abilities. I respect the reasons he feels we need to transcend capitalism, the hegemony of money and markets in our lives, hyperconsumerism, privatizing every last atom to kingdom come, commodification of every aspect of our lives, these things are problematic and erode us spiritually and culturally (not to mention economic aspects this all entails!). And in fact I agree if capitalism keeps being practiced in the current incarnation it might very well implode by destroying earth systems it relies upon to generate wealth and buttress economies. That is a prospect I have a deep fear of. And capitalism is inherently very volatile, and now that it has pursued and developed financialization of the economy to such extraordinary levels - which I think is incredibly risky to system stability - we face a much more amplified (and dangerous) volatility.
Capitalism naturally lends itself to vast inequalities and without guardrails cannibalizes resources and earth systems if they can be monetized in any way. That’s why we need guardrails, otherwise capitalism will destroy itself, imho. But I have an inability to buy into the anticapitalist vision, maybe it is a lack of imagination on my part, or maybe I’m too enmeshed in the current system and status quo worldviews, and maybe I have too much personal stake in this current system. All legit questions which I can’t adequately answer, but I think the inherent problem is that no coherent vision is being offered (at least in this book)! I also think a transition to any other system involves the potential for great suffering, and this is not really touched upon too much, or only at a glance.
Far as I can tell capitalism is the least ugly dog in the line-up. Mann’s knowledge and critique are impressive, but as he stretches his vision he loses me. In my thinking you always have to be careful to not trade tyranny of one system for tyranny of another haha (or plain anarchy)! And you know, to be fair, he cites as warning some of the catastrophic failures of other modes of production and ideological systems that were not capitalist. I do hold hope for a form, and reformed form, of capitalism surviving, just not the current form suffocating humanity and cannibalizing the environment. Capitalism is not monolithic, and if it is to survive it will need to morph into various iterations that find greater harmony with the world and we will need to counterbalance the inherent excesses of this mode with smart policy.
Ultimately, my view is that the great existential test for late capitalism will be the environmental crisis and inequality crisis we are facing (not necessarily completely separate problems). Both of these things could turbocharge instability leading to implosion. I have to say, in regards to inequality, I have a worry we may keep seeing the top 20% (full disclosure I'm part of this class, or at least it is my background and this critique can fully apply to me) walling themselves off, further consolidating resources, opportunities, and power, further distancing themselves from collective problems humanity faces (even though they are better resourced and positioned to tackle some of the major issues). This prospect, of elites purposefully walling themselves off, is a great fear I have (and a theme consistently explored in various dystopias, I’m a bit of a moth to flame with that stuff haha). It would represent a great abdication in my mind. Hopefully those in power will assume some responsibility and agency, but as things stand I am not confident the turn can be made before it is too late, if it's not already too late (which isn't an excuse for all of us to give up or do nothing of course!). When you are rich, you can buffer yourself from problems and avoid, ignore, deny them (people can be incredibly creative with the mental somersaults they do to maintain illusions!) for longer than the rest of people who are more exposed, but eventually they catch up to you and by this moment the opportunity for effective action may have passed.
I believe Keynesianism saved capitalism from its worst tailspin (a tailspin caused by its worst qualities), and it will take deep and various experimentation to figure out how to make capitalism work if it is to survive. Various ideas will need to be explored, maybe need to inbuild mechanisms that counteract capitalism’s very nature which is to create inequality and consolidation of economic power in the hands of the few, and find ways to counteract the sometimes extreme volatility of its cycles. Maybe this involves inbuilding adjustable tax rates, higher tax rates when economy heats up and lower tax rates as economy cools down, pegging tax rates to the economic cycle and including tailored progressive tax policies to recapture some of the wealth that consolidates at the top.
Hegemony of markets, corporations, oligarchs, and financiers will have to be tackled. Is that doable who knows, but Teddy Roosevelt provided a blueprint that some form of curtailment was possible via government power. As it stands the power of mega-corporations and oligopolies is still waxing, fully captured gov, and is gaining greater and greater control over our lives in the process (highly recommend this read: https://cryptome.org/2015/07/big-othe...). I also think missions of corporations will need to broadened with a dedication to multiple stakeholders, expanding beyond the domination of the shareholder to include community, workers, management, consumer, environment.
As I said, in my eyes the big tests for capitalism will be how it confronts the environmental and inequality crises, the seeds of its destruction or salvation are planted in those things. If there is implosion, who knows what comes after, it might just be a more fragmented and fractionalized form of current systems or it could be something different (the black box, who knows what you’re going to get, devil you know vs devil you don’t). But we will be left to pick up the pieces, and clean up the mess, which could be beyond our capacity, depending on what the outcome is for environment and its systems.
Random note: Mann’s comparison between Chicago school and Austrian school was interesting and insightful for me, there is important variance in their view of the free market (I mistakenly lumped them together). He has a lot of wonderful analysis of economic history, economists, various economic schools of thought. This was a real highlight of the book for me.
Regardless of how I feel about anticapitalism and Mann’s position on this, I feel he treated the material with an even-handedness that I really respect. He has a humility and honesty about his own views and analysis that I found refreshing, in spite of the subject matter he wasn't moralizing, preaching, self-congratulating. The text helped me think about economic issues and systems more deeply, it helped broaden my thinking but also helped me bone up on some economic and historical fundamentals.
I’d be interested to hear what others think on this one.
First off, excellent excellent book. It does an impeccable job in explaining contemporary financialized and globalized capitalism - the analysis is measured, lucid, incisive, smart, exhibits strong fundamentals and understanding of systems and their historical evolutions. I learned a lot, Mann is very adept in his presentation and makes complex issues accessible and understandable (explanation of subprime implosion is topnotch). I def recommend this one even if you disagree with certain political economic viewpoints in this text because Mann has great analytical ability and knowledge base when it comes to economics.
One thing that must be understood about Mann, and this may turn some people off: he comes at things from an anti-capitalist perspective. He doesn’t smother the text with this (although he does allude to it), but he does explain his position at the end of the book. In spite of his positioning, I do respect that regardless of how he feels about capitalism, he makes efforts to give credit to its power, its ability to innovate and inherent vitality allowing it to ascend as a hegemonic power throughout the globe. He also explains it is not monolithic, it has various iterations, and like any system it has strengths and weaknesses and he is pretty fair in this overall assessment I think.
Personally I'm not anti-capitalist, I'm more a believer in reformed and properly regulated capitalism (some will argue this is impossible), coupled with a certain level of redistribution and socialized aspects like education, healthcare, safety net with a vision of spreading out opportunity to empower the citizenry. I also think there will have to be an exploration and experimentation with the concept of universal basic income - which may be critical depending on how the nature of labor shifts due to the evolution of technology. Many of these things I think are necessary in order to counteract capitalism’s most pernicious tendencies which naturally creates and stokes vast inequalities. I also think we need to find ways to strike balance between labor and capital, things are totally out of whack with financiers and mega-wealthy and mega-corporations dominating power, hijacking policy, dictating and manipulating the rules of the game.
At the end of the book Mann makes the pitch for anticapitalism, and potential visions for what this might entail. This part? Huh, wha? He kind of demands a sort of magical thinking, leaping of logic that defies my abilities. I respect the reasons he feels we need to transcend capitalism, the hegemony of money and markets in our lives, hyperconsumerism, privatizing every last atom to kingdom come, commodification of every aspect of our lives, these things are problematic and erode us spiritually and culturally (not to mention economic aspects this all entails!). And in fact I agree if capitalism keeps being practiced in the current incarnation it might very well implode by destroying earth systems it relies upon to generate wealth and buttress economies. That is a prospect I have a deep fear of. And capitalism is inherently very volatile, and now that it has pursued and developed financialization of the economy to such extraordinary levels - which I think is incredibly risky to system stability - we face a much more amplified (and dangerous) volatility.
Capitalism naturally lends itself to vast inequalities and without guardrails cannibalizes resources and earth systems if they can be monetized in any way. That’s why we need guardrails, otherwise capitalism will destroy itself, imho. But I have an inability to buy into the anticapitalist vision, maybe it is a lack of imagination on my part, or maybe I’m too enmeshed in the current system and status quo worldviews, and maybe I have too much personal stake in this current system. All legit questions which I can’t adequately answer, but I think the inherent problem is that no coherent vision is being offered (at least in this book)! I also think a transition to any other system involves the potential for great suffering, and this is not really touched upon too much, or only at a glance.
Far as I can tell capitalism is the least ugly dog in the line-up. Mann’s knowledge and critique are impressive, but as he stretches his vision he loses me. In my thinking you always have to be careful to not trade tyranny of one system for tyranny of another haha (or plain anarchy)! And you know, to be fair, he cites as warning some of the catastrophic failures of other modes of production and ideological systems that were not capitalist. I do hold hope for a form, and reformed form, of capitalism surviving, just not the current form suffocating humanity and cannibalizing the environment. Capitalism is not monolithic, and if it is to survive it will need to morph into various iterations that find greater harmony with the world and we will need to counterbalance the inherent excesses of this mode with smart policy.
Ultimately, my view is that the great existential test for late capitalism will be the environmental crisis and inequality crisis we are facing (not necessarily completely separate problems). Both of these things could turbocharge instability leading to implosion. I have to say, in regards to inequality, I have a worry we may keep seeing the top 20% (full disclosure I'm part of this class, or at least it is my background and this critique can fully apply to me) walling themselves off, further consolidating resources, opportunities, and power, further distancing themselves from collective problems humanity faces (even though they are better resourced and positioned to tackle some of the major issues). This prospect, of elites purposefully walling themselves off, is a great fear I have (and a theme consistently explored in various dystopias, I’m a bit of a moth to flame with that stuff haha). It would represent a great abdication in my mind. Hopefully those in power will assume some responsibility and agency, but as things stand I am not confident the turn can be made before it is too late, if it's not already too late (which isn't an excuse for all of us to give up or do nothing of course!). When you are rich, you can buffer yourself from problems and avoid, ignore, deny them (people can be incredibly creative with the mental somersaults they do to maintain illusions!) for longer than the rest of people who are more exposed, but eventually they catch up to you and by this moment the opportunity for effective action may have passed.
I believe Keynesianism saved capitalism from its worst tailspin (a tailspin caused by its worst qualities), and it will take deep and various experimentation to figure out how to make capitalism work if it is to survive. Various ideas will need to be explored, maybe need to inbuild mechanisms that counteract capitalism’s very nature which is to create inequality and consolidation of economic power in the hands of the few, and find ways to counteract the sometimes extreme volatility of its cycles. Maybe this involves inbuilding adjustable tax rates, higher tax rates when economy heats up and lower tax rates as economy cools down, pegging tax rates to the economic cycle and including tailored progressive tax policies to recapture some of the wealth that consolidates at the top.
Hegemony of markets, corporations, oligarchs, and financiers will have to be tackled. Is that doable who knows, but Teddy Roosevelt provided a blueprint that some form of curtailment was possible via government power. As it stands the power of mega-corporations and oligopolies is still waxing, fully captured gov, and is gaining greater and greater control over our lives in the process (highly recommend this read: https://cryptome.org/2015/07/big-othe...). I also think missions of corporations will need to broadened with a dedication to multiple stakeholders, expanding beyond the domination of the shareholder to include community, workers, management, consumer, environment.
As I said, in my eyes the big tests for capitalism will be how it confronts the environmental and inequality crises, the seeds of its destruction or salvation are planted in those things. If there is implosion, who knows what comes after, it might just be a more fragmented and fractionalized form of current systems or it could be something different (the black box, who knows what you’re going to get, devil you know vs devil you don’t). But we will be left to pick up the pieces, and clean up the mess, which could be beyond our capacity, depending on what the outcome is for environment and its systems.
Random note: Mann’s comparison between Chicago school and Austrian school was interesting and insightful for me, there is important variance in their view of the free market (I mistakenly lumped them together). He has a lot of wonderful analysis of economic history, economists, various economic schools of thought. This was a real highlight of the book for me.
Regardless of how I feel about anticapitalism and Mann’s position on this, I feel he treated the material with an even-handedness that I really respect. He has a humility and honesty about his own views and analysis that I found refreshing, in spite of the subject matter he wasn't moralizing, preaching, self-congratulating. The text helped me think about economic issues and systems more deeply, it helped broaden my thinking but also helped me bone up on some economic and historical fundamentals.
I’d be interested to hear what others think on this one.
July 4, 2017
This book is absolutely stellar and I wish everyone would read it. I'm not going to write any more about it because the other reviews are quite thorough. I'll just leave this quote, from the last chapter:
At my most generous, I might grant that capitalism, relative to what came before, is among the better ways developed thus far, but [...] why would we accept something because it is the best "so far"? Imagine if we had stopped at leeching or slavery because they were the best methods for medicine and agriculture we had developed "so far".
At my most generous, I might grant that capitalism, relative to what came before, is among the better ways developed thus far, but [...] why would we accept something because it is the best "so far"? Imagine if we had stopped at leeching or slavery because they were the best methods for medicine and agriculture we had developed "so far".
June 25, 2018
OK but not as well written as other books covering similar ground.
November 17, 2016
As a non-economist, I found this a very readable description of capitalism. Mann went over the historical routes and philosophical underpinnings, as well as the current world economic system. I would definitely recommend it for that. I guess the only reason I didn't give it four stars is because I was let down by the end of the book. I kept anticipating some ideas about how we are going to disassemble the current system and there isn't anything of substance there.
September 3, 2013
Whether you agree with his politics or not, an extremely lucid critique of the modern economic policy and beliefs. No one goes unscathed in this largely contrarian view of modern capitalism and regardless of your viewpoint it is food for thought. At a minimum readers will get a much better understanding how the current system works and what its issues are.
Highly recommended. This book deserves significantly more attention than it so far has garnered.
Highly recommended. This book deserves significantly more attention than it so far has garnered.
March 16, 2020
So, this book is pretty alright. It starts with a primer on different accounts of capitalist political economy (Classical, Marxian, Neoclassical and Keynesian) and then examines the role of state power and the process of money creation in shaping market outcomes. The first section of the book, which mostly focuses on the abstract, ends here.
I found the second much more engaging, as it provides an overview of the economic history of the post-WWII era, up until the 2008 Global Financial Crisis — laser-focused on the Global North, I must add. Mann explains why the successes of the "golden age of capitalism" before the crisis of the 70s, namely full employment and an expanded welfare state, squeezed the profits going to capital, and thus led to a "capitalist strike" which significantly slashed investment rates, unraveling a global period of stagflation and social unrest.
The failure of the Keynesian economic orthodoxy in the 1970s necessitated a new regime of growth to restore corporate profitability. This, of course, is the perfect context for the ascent of finance and the emergence of the current hyper-financialised form of capitalism. Perhaps nobody plays a role as pivotal as the then Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, in this massive overhaul — not even Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. By 1981, To curb the upsurge of inflation, he raises interest rates to as high as 21.5%, instantly causing a freeze in investment and, predictably, a recession. The plan worked as intended, and it would not be an overstatement to suggest that the world that we inhabit today is greatly shaped by its consequences. Volcker not only killed inflation, but also by appreciating the value of the Dollar amidst a deep recession, he made American manufacturing exports significantly less competitive. The resulting job losses crushed organised labour forever. Meanwhile, financiers were busy making profits on their extremely high-interest rate loans. With Bretton Woods-era financial regulations and capital controls now being a part of history, the ascent of finance became imminent.
It is not remotely surprising that dramatic transformation unleashed excessive risk-taking by financial actors, leading to a plethora of financial crises. Traders, for instance, could bet against the value of a developing country's currency or sell its debt on the bond market en masse, causing enormous economic havoc and triggering events such as the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Similarly, with the evaporation of trade unions and decent manufacturing jobs in the Global North, the only way to keep the previous standards of living was a dramatic expansion in credit provided by financial institutions to households and firms. Mann's account of the processes that led to the explosion of debt in the lead-up to the 2008 Crisis is both superb and highly depressing. I won't get into the details, but if you're looking for a place to understand the dynamics that led to the ultimate collapse, this is a great place to start.
Overall, I am not sure if this book fulfills the ambition that it sets up for itself in the title, as it simply does not cover a vast range of topics essential to understanding the functioning of modern capitalist economies. Nonetheless, it is a relatively short book that contains plenty of insights, both theoretical and historical, regarding the only economic system currently in place on planet Earth; making it a nice, but perhaps not essential, read.
I found the second much more engaging, as it provides an overview of the economic history of the post-WWII era, up until the 2008 Global Financial Crisis — laser-focused on the Global North, I must add. Mann explains why the successes of the "golden age of capitalism" before the crisis of the 70s, namely full employment and an expanded welfare state, squeezed the profits going to capital, and thus led to a "capitalist strike" which significantly slashed investment rates, unraveling a global period of stagflation and social unrest.
The failure of the Keynesian economic orthodoxy in the 1970s necessitated a new regime of growth to restore corporate profitability. This, of course, is the perfect context for the ascent of finance and the emergence of the current hyper-financialised form of capitalism. Perhaps nobody plays a role as pivotal as the then Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, in this massive overhaul — not even Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. By 1981, To curb the upsurge of inflation, he raises interest rates to as high as 21.5%, instantly causing a freeze in investment and, predictably, a recession. The plan worked as intended, and it would not be an overstatement to suggest that the world that we inhabit today is greatly shaped by its consequences. Volcker not only killed inflation, but also by appreciating the value of the Dollar amidst a deep recession, he made American manufacturing exports significantly less competitive. The resulting job losses crushed organised labour forever. Meanwhile, financiers were busy making profits on their extremely high-interest rate loans. With Bretton Woods-era financial regulations and capital controls now being a part of history, the ascent of finance became imminent.
It is not remotely surprising that dramatic transformation unleashed excessive risk-taking by financial actors, leading to a plethora of financial crises. Traders, for instance, could bet against the value of a developing country's currency or sell its debt on the bond market en masse, causing enormous economic havoc and triggering events such as the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Similarly, with the evaporation of trade unions and decent manufacturing jobs in the Global North, the only way to keep the previous standards of living was a dramatic expansion in credit provided by financial institutions to households and firms. Mann's account of the processes that led to the explosion of debt in the lead-up to the 2008 Crisis is both superb and highly depressing. I won't get into the details, but if you're looking for a place to understand the dynamics that led to the ultimate collapse, this is a great place to start.
Overall, I am not sure if this book fulfills the ambition that it sets up for itself in the title, as it simply does not cover a vast range of topics essential to understanding the functioning of modern capitalist economies. Nonetheless, it is a relatively short book that contains plenty of insights, both theoretical and historical, regarding the only economic system currently in place on planet Earth; making it a nice, but perhaps not essential, read.
December 8, 2023
A brilliant, well-considered read about how capitalism actually functions, from a critical point of view. If you want to defeat or drastically change capitalism to serve everyone and not just the few, it is vital to know how it works, including its successes and failures, plus a big dose of history. Economic textbooks are written by those entrenched in the status quo, so they do not report on the reality of capitalism, but in capitalism-as-theory, which requires belief in rational actors and other such nonsense. I never appreciated how deep capitalism has turned to finance as its ultimate moneymaker, eschewing industry that actually provides jobs for workers. Instead, capitalism says, invest in sercurities that have no real purpose or meaning. As this book eloquently states, in capitalism you “privatize the gains and socialize the losses.” The madness must end, and reading this book is a great start.
February 1, 2019
*chefs kiss* howa to learna bouta capitalismo efficiently but a precisely
May 12, 2014
Well organized, Disassembly Required puts capitalism in the perspective of how it fits into the current world. It briefly discusses the alternate economies that have been most proposed, like Adam Smith's belief that since nothing should hinder the interacting factors that stimulate commerce, Marx's interpretation of all profit coming from over-work, and Keynes' take that the state has to empower the worker to help them keep the capitalist system going. In addition, Geoff Mann also argues that the belief that Capitalism and Democracy go hand in hand is incorrect as Capitalism and Fascism and human rights violation (such as in State Capitalism) is very much a reality. There is also a slight rehash of David Graeber's analysis of debt by linking it to money and banks and governments' "creation" of money out of thin air in order to pay for something. This, and delinking it from something concrete like the US dollar and gold (as the book explains in the Bretton Woods pact), creates inflation.
From a worker and consumer's perspective, in order to live in an accepted Capitlism economy, they must subject themselves to powerful corporations' constantly competing with each other and aggressively killing competition in order to maximize their profits. In addition, as long as the bottom line is all that matters, why should morality hinder this? Don't unions harm profits by their very definition?
Geoff man also gives us an account of Capitalism overcoming the collapse it encountered post-great depression, post-World War II, post- the crisis of 2008 (all unforeseen by Marxists), and the current austerity-bases system of the European union. All of this, of course is only possible with widespread state intervention in order to proclaim socialism for the rich once things are tough so that the capitalist system that caused the disaster can be maintained.
The solution? Unfortunately, Mann doesn't have many, but believes that changing our view of money is a good way to start fighting the crisis-laden system of capitalism. How important is money and must everything be exchanged through monetary systems? Also important is the need for our institution to take seriously the alternatives to neo-liberal and austerity-like measures when dealing with economic crises.
This, Mann claims, is how we start disassembling process. It's worth the risk, because the alternatives will back fire. It's all capitalism does.
From a worker and consumer's perspective, in order to live in an accepted Capitlism economy, they must subject themselves to powerful corporations' constantly competing with each other and aggressively killing competition in order to maximize their profits. In addition, as long as the bottom line is all that matters, why should morality hinder this? Don't unions harm profits by their very definition?
Geoff man also gives us an account of Capitalism overcoming the collapse it encountered post-great depression, post-World War II, post- the crisis of 2008 (all unforeseen by Marxists), and the current austerity-bases system of the European union. All of this, of course is only possible with widespread state intervention in order to proclaim socialism for the rich once things are tough so that the capitalist system that caused the disaster can be maintained.
The solution? Unfortunately, Mann doesn't have many, but believes that changing our view of money is a good way to start fighting the crisis-laden system of capitalism. How important is money and must everything be exchanged through monetary systems? Also important is the need for our institution to take seriously the alternatives to neo-liberal and austerity-like measures when dealing with economic crises.
This, Mann claims, is how we start disassembling process. It's worth the risk, because the alternatives will back fire. It's all capitalism does.
January 6, 2015
Geoff delivers an excellent introduction to the world of global finance and its discontents with Disassembly Required. For those of you who read the Shock Doctrine and were left feeling angry and bewildered at the pernicious and subtle influence of capitalism and its brash infiltration into every sector of life, Geoff does a lot to explain the appeal of this system beyond the obvious explanation of ravenous greed. I would recommend this to any activist or compassionate thinker hoping to accurately size up the challenge of unravelling global capitalism.
January 25, 2019
I think this was perhaps the best explanation of how money works and its function in capitalism that I've read. As well, we get an overview of the economic history of the 20th century and subprime crisis in 2008 (I feel like maybe I kind of finally understand what happened in it). All throughout, Mann's prose is lucid and readable, and not at all dry.
Mann approaches the subject matter as an anti-capitalist and the book's intent to discuss some of the inherent flaws in capitalism as a system. The 2008 crisis wasn't an accident or capitalism gone awry. It -- and crises like it -- are inevitable and part-and-parcel of the system.
Mann doesn't have answers, unfortunately, this is not a plan for how to take down capitalism. At best, Mann sees the end of capitalism (if it isn't ended by environmental catastrophe) as arising from a variety of actions all over the world, with resistance and change (hopefully) coming on a variety of fronts.
Mann approaches the subject matter as an anti-capitalist and the book's intent to discuss some of the inherent flaws in capitalism as a system. The 2008 crisis wasn't an accident or capitalism gone awry. It -- and crises like it -- are inevitable and part-and-parcel of the system.
Mann doesn't have answers, unfortunately, this is not a plan for how to take down capitalism. At best, Mann sees the end of capitalism (if it isn't ended by environmental catastrophe) as arising from a variety of actions all over the world, with resistance and change (hopefully) coming on a variety of fronts.
June 15, 2018
Starts out excellent - excellently insightful analyses of current developments in capitalism. However, it falls short on delivering its central thesis (that you will be given a full field guide or manual) and fails to really deliver any evident "way forward" (what to do next) even though this seems to be what it thinks it does, by the end.
Excellent insight and worth a read, but not as effectively insightful as one could hope.
Excellent insight and worth a read, but not as effectively insightful as one could hope.
July 17, 2020
Maybe I'm not the intended audience for this book. I'm as socialist as they come, but for fucks sake this is just academic blathering. One belabored point after another with little actual substance.
Socialist ideas need to be accessible beyond people with philosophy and economics degrees, otherwise I'm not sure what useful purpose this book serves.
Socialist ideas need to be accessible beyond people with philosophy and economics degrees, otherwise I'm not sure what useful purpose this book serves.
May 18, 2021
Mann does a good job of explaining more complicated macroeconomic concepts. He also makes a great case for why more anti-capitalists (or post-capitalists as I like to call them) should learn about how modern capitalism has come into being if they want to do the work of dismantling it.
January 4, 2018
Useful though overly centered on capitalism in ‘first world’ without proper accounting for peripheries/colonization.
June 8, 2019
A governmental bureaucrat gives his support to his powerful employer: like Mann, Capitalism and everybody else should become a small obedient cog in the state machine.
February 11, 2021
A really nice introduction to the Marxian approach to political economy. Perfect for people who don't know anything about economics, not even what a bond is.
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August 6, 2015http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2013/1...
Review by Aaron Leonard
Who are you hoping to reach with this book?
Disassembly Required is ultimately aimed at anyone who wants to understand how modern capitalism actually works, and in particular at those who suspect it is not the best we can do. I wrote it with two particular groups of people in mind.
The first is senior high school students and undergraduate students (or non-students of that age), who feel like all things to do with finance or economics are extremely technical and/or mathematical, and who are therefore scared off by crucial discussions in modern politics and political economy.
The second [is] people who are intelligent [and] critical, but still feel the same as those undergraduate students with respect to things "economic." [They are] certain that capitalism is not all it's cracked up to be, but unfamiliar with its recent history, how it works and what all the fancy economic terms and acronyms mean, and therefore uncertain of where and what to critique.
The book is meant to give [these] people some detailed knowledge of the way modern capitalism is organized and the reasoning behind it to help them formulate the questions they want to and should feel confident asking and to show them other alternatives that become visible with this knowledge.
Read more here: http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2013/1...
Review by Aaron Leonard
Who are you hoping to reach with this book?
Disassembly Required is ultimately aimed at anyone who wants to understand how modern capitalism actually works, and in particular at those who suspect it is not the best we can do. I wrote it with two particular groups of people in mind.
The first is senior high school students and undergraduate students (or non-students of that age), who feel like all things to do with finance or economics are extremely technical and/or mathematical, and who are therefore scared off by crucial discussions in modern politics and political economy.
The second [is] people who are intelligent [and] critical, but still feel the same as those undergraduate students with respect to things "economic." [They are] certain that capitalism is not all it's cracked up to be, but unfamiliar with its recent history, how it works and what all the fancy economic terms and acronyms mean, and therefore uncertain of where and what to critique.
The book is meant to give [these] people some detailed knowledge of the way modern capitalism is organized and the reasoning behind it to help them formulate the questions they want to and should feel confident asking and to show them other alternatives that become visible with this knowledge.
Read more here: http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2013/1...
May 18, 2016
This is a very interesting take on the state of Capitalism world-wide. While there were points that went over my head due to lack of background knowledge in political economics, Mann did his best to keep it simple enough for the common reader to understand. Moving on from Capitalism is inevitable as he suggests, but it will be a difficult task at hand. I highly suggest this for anyone who questions the economic status and system alive today.
January 4, 2015
You probably need a degree in economics or finance to appreciate this book. However, it is an interesting deconstruction of capitalism and suggests a number of inherent issues as well as alternatives.
January 27, 2014
deep and a bit difficult, though the difficulty is due to the subject matter, not the writing, which is pretty darn clear.
December 29, 2013
a good book but a less than satisfying ending direction.
July 31, 2015
So useful!
March 23, 2015
Is capitalism working for you? If you are not sure you should read this book.
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