Carbon Capitalism : Energy, Social Reproduction and World Order

Modern civilization and the social reproduction of capitalism are bound inextricably with fossil fuel consumption. But as carbon energy resources become scarcer, what implications will this have for energy-intensive modes of life? Can renewable energy sustain high levels of accumulation?? Or will we witness the end of existing capitalist economies? This book provides an innovative and timely study that mobilizes a new theory of capitalism to explain the rise and fall of petro-market civilization. Di Muzio investigates how theorists of political economy have largely taken energy for granted and illuminates how the exploitation of fossil fuels increased the universalization and magnitude of capital accumulation. He then examines the likelihood of renewable resources providing a feasible alternative and asks whether they can beat peak oil prices to sustain food production, health care, science and democracy. Using the capital as power framework, this book considers the unevenly experienced consequences of monetizing fossil fuels for people and the planet. Contents 8 Preface 10 Ch01. Carbon Capitalism and Petro-Market Civilization 12 Ch02. The Political Economy of Petro-Market Civilization 32 Ch03. The Birth of Petro-Market Civilization in Britain 58 Ch04. The Expansion of Petro-Market Civilization in the United States 96 Ch05. Global Carbon Capitalism 126 Conclusion 164 Bibliography 184 Index 210 Carbon capitalism and the petro-market civilization The political economy of a petro-market civilization The birth of petro-market civilization in Britain The expansion of petro-market civilization in the United States Global carbon capitalism Conclusion: the post-carbon era and the general crisis of social reproduction. As fossil fuels deplete, what happens to capitalist political economies they support? This book examines a new theory for understanding energy, social reproduction and capitalism.