The Origins of Civil Society

Gopal Balakrishnan
History of Consciousness
UC Santa Cruz

Asad Haider
History of Consciousness
UC Santa Cruz

The emergence of the category of “civil society” is a pivotal event not only in intellectual history, but also the history of the contemporary market economy. As we turn our attention today to capitalism’s crisis tendencies and the future of market society, a critical examination of this foundational history, in classical political economy and political philosophy, becomes the starting point of the analysis of the present. In conjunction with the History of Consciousness initiative “Crisis in the Cultures of Capitalism,” this Winter 2014 seminar was called “The Origins of Civil Society.” It focused on the work of four scholars who have made outstanding contributions to this field of research: Michael Perelman, Kathi Weeks, Robert Brenner, and Warren Montag. To orient and enrich their readings and weekly discussions, the group invited the above authors to visit UCSC for two special seminars.