This work examines the complex, detailed relationship between the theory of wealth and the theory of power, both subsumed as they are under the overarching mantle of capitalist ideology, ever distorting real connections and evading critical issues. It examines various theories of class, state, and power either explicitly or implicitly avowed in the diverse social science disciplines of politics, economics, and sociology. In illuminating the subtle machinations of ideology, it boldly reveals the realist ontology of capitalism which produces illusory theory. The essays employ transcendental realism, emphasizing the primacy of ontology over epistemology as a mode of critique, necessarily going beyond traditional Marxian arguments in many cases. Although intended only as an analytical critique, the project is emancipatory of necessity, for it allows, ultimately, for an increased purchase on reality.
Biography
Rajani Kannepalli Kanth was educated at the Delhi School of Economics, Columbia University, and the New School for Social Research, with degrees in Economics and Social Anthropology. His teaching career, spanning two decades, began at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 1971–1974, interrupted by a stint at the United Nations in New York, only to be continued at the State University of New York and then on to the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City where he is currently based. Author of Political Economy and Laissez-Faire (1986) and co-editor of Explorations in Political Economy (1991), he has held Visiting Fellowships at Oxford University, England, and the University of Bielefeld, Germany. His teaching and research interests include political economy and social theory.
