The Political Economy of Localism Greg Sharzer A
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THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF LOCALISM GREG SHARZER A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN POLITICAL SCIENCE YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO DECEMBER 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-88713-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-88713-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada ABSTRACT Localism is an ideology that suggests social change happens most effectively at the micro level, through schemes designed to re-organize the economy to meet social need. Localism criticizes the scale of industrial production, alienation and community and environmental degradation. Localism's roots in nineteenth century classical economics lead it to make unwarranted assumptions about the prospects for small business and the benefits of local production and small-scale technologies. Pro-market localists try to reform capitalism through creating ethical businesses, while anti-market localists try to transcend capitalism through cooperative production and exchange. However, neither address how the inner dynamics of capitalist economic laws mean capital centralizes in a contradictory, crisis-prone process, in its quest to achieve lowest- cost production. These dynamics limit the viability of localist development schemes. Localism promotes urban agriculture as an alternative to industrial agribusiness. However, the tendency of agricultural capital to centralize, and the need for landowners to appropriate rent in the capitalist mode of production, provides a theoretical framework for understanding how social and spatial relations structure urban land uses. These processes impose severe limits on the long-term viability of local agriculture. Localist ideology complements the petty bourgeoisie's position in the social division of labour. Localism is a form of neocommunitarianism, using the social economy to transfer costs of reproduction from capital onto labour. However, when local spaces are connected to a critique of capitalist political economy, they are vital for social movement strategy. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my primary supervisor, Prof. David McNally for his invaluable guidance, patience and support at all stages of the dissertation-writing process. I would like to thank my supervisory committee members, Prof. Greg Albo and Prof. Steven Tufts, for their assistance and feedback. Alan Sears' insights helped me focus and clarify my thoughts in the planning stages. Cathy Boyd-Withers at the Counselling and Disabilities Services centre provided guidance with chapter outlines. Marlene Quisenberry and the staff of the Political Science Department have been helpful and patient throughout. I would like to thank Lesley Lustig for the support, insight and clarity she provided me with over the course of this degree. My friends deserve a huge amount of praise for their kindness that assuaged the frustrations such a big project creates. To my friends Punita and Veronique, who supplied me with commiseration, pints and a regular place to visit; to Yen and Peter, whose friendship, meals and movies have provided welcome respite; to my friends and comrades Andrew, Chris, Clarice, David, Keith and Sabine, whose friendship and political insight has helped me immensely; for Alexi, Anya and Rashmee for being such welcoming, quality people and showing me that there is life beyond grad school; to people I have doubtlessly forgot - thank you. My successes are due to these individuals' help; all errors and obfuscations are, of course, my responsibility. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT iv LIST OF FIGURES ix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: LOCALISM AND CLASSICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY 10 What is the local? 10 What is localism? 12 Localism's solutions 14 The development of classical political economy 16 The nature of labour and labour-power 18 Marx's critique of equal exchange 21 Proudhon's distributional reforms 22 A brief history of capitalism 29 Consumption as a moment of the capital circuit 34 Underconsumption 40 Conclusion 43 CHAPTER TWO: THE APPLICATION OF PRO- AND ANTI-MARKET LOCALISM 46 Localism and value 47 Pro-market localism 50 The idealization of small business 52 The viability of small-scale production 55 How money flows through local spaces 59 Doing away with the middleman 67 Technical limitations of consumer choice 68 Anti-market localism 75 Local Autonomy and an end to inter-local trade 76 Problems of advanced technology 80 Potential of advanced technology 83 Work as freedom 86 LETS, alternative currency schemes and credit 88 Regressive localisms 95 Conclusion 100 CHAPTER THREE: LOCALISM AND URBAN AGRICULTURE 103 The localist critique of large-scale agriculture 105 Social barriers to agriculture 110 Technical barriers to agriculture 113 Urban agriculture in the Global South 121 Cuba's urban farms 123 Belo Horizonte and local food distribution 126 What is rent? 128 vi Classical political economy and rent 129 Absolute rent 131 Monopoly rent 132 Differential rent 132 Marxian DRII 133 The contemporary relevance of rent 135 Pro-market urban agriculture 140 The Markham Foodbelt 142 Anti-market urban agriculture 146 Rent and anti-market urban agriculture 153 Consumer activism 157 Rent as resistance? 161 Conclusion 166 CHAPTER FOUR: THE IDEOLOGY OF LOCALISM 169 How commodity fetishism constructs ideology 175 The historical trajectory of the petty bourgeoisie 179 How to classify the petty bourgeois 181 Petty bourgeois ideology 189 Habitus 194 Morality 198 Voluntary simplicity 201 Voluntarism 203 Community 205 Lifestyle 209 Utopianism 213 Catastrophism 218 Malthusianism 225 Localist moralism: the locavore 229 Petty Bourgeois hegemony 236 CHAPTER FIVE: THE POLITICS OF LOCALISM 241 The limits of distributional reform 242 The rise of neoliberalism 244 Neoliberal urbanism and local spaces 246 Postcapitalist localism 251 Solidarity Economics 256 Solidarity Economics and labour 259 The political trajectory of localism 265 Holloway's critique and capitalist laws of motion 268 Anti-Power 271 Capitalism as contradictory 274 Combined and uneven development 277 How a future socialist society could work 278 Against postcapitalist prefiguration 281 vii For collective prefiguration 287 Learning from the history of Marxism 292 Rosa Luxemburg and social revolution 294 Participatory Budgeting in Toronto 299 Building counter-power in Ontario: the Days of Action and the global justice movement 307 Conclusion 312 CONCLUSION: FURTHER QUESTIONS 317 WORKS CITED 318 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 38 Figure 2 119 Figure 3 119 Figure 4 119 Figure 5 120 Figure 6 120 Figure 7 120 ix INTRODUCTION "Localism, localism, localism." These are the first three words on the "About Us" webpage of the UK government's Department of Community and Local Government, which claims, "A radical localist vision is turning Whitehall on its head by decentralizing central government and giving power to the people" (Crown). At the same time, anarchist localism claims the theory can reinvent collective life by transcending capitalism (Carrlson 252). When two politically opposed viewpoints claim the same term as their own, there is an urgent need for clarification. Localism is an ideology that suggests social change happens most effectively at the micro level, through schemes designed to re-organize the economy to meet social need. It has been popularized recently through the local food movement, which criticizes the factory food system, the entrenched political power of agribusiness and the resulting negative impact on human health, the community and the natural environment. A sample of three authors provides a way to examine localist claims. Nestle suggests that unhealthy food choices come from agribusiness's