Michael Albert
COVID-19 and the Planetary Crisis Multiplicity: From Marxist Crisis Theory to Planetary Assemblage Theory
Albert, Michael
Authors
Abstract
The COVID-19 crisis gives us occasion to reflect on the insights and limitations of Marxist crisis theory. While ecological Marxists in particular have made incisive analyses of these crises, I argue that traditional Marxist frameworks are insufficient for conceptualizing twenty-first century global crises, which emerge from complex material entanglements across multiple socio-ecological systems and take on self-organizing dynamics that exceed human agency. I therefore suggest that an encounter between ecological Marxism and Deleuzian assemblage theory can provide a more productive theoretical foundation for understanding the COVID-19 crisis and mapping what I call the broader "planetary crisis multiplicity."
Citation
Albert, M. (2022). COVID-19 and the Planetary Crisis Multiplicity: From Marxist Crisis Theory to Planetary Assemblage Theory. Theory and Event, 25(2), 332-363. https://doi.org/10.1353/tae.2022.0015
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | May 20, 2021 |
Publication Date | Apr 13, 2022 |
Deposit Date | Jun 24, 2021 |
Publicly Available Date | Jul 29, 2022 |
Journal | Theory and Event |
Electronic ISSN | 1092-311X |
Publisher | Johns Hopkins University Press |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 25 |
Issue | 2 |
Pages | 332-363 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1353/tae.2022.0015 |
Publisher URL | https://muse.jhu.edu/article/852388 |
Files
COVID19 and Planetary Crisis Multiplicity (final version).pdf
(466 Kb)
PDF
Copyright Statement
This is the version of the article accepted for publication in Theory & Event, 25 (2). pp. 332-363 (2022) published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Copyright © 2022 Johns Hopkins University Press
Downloadable Citations
About SOAS Research Online
Administrator e-mail: outputs@soas.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2025
Advanced Search