Dialectical Utopianism

["Ulhas Joglekar" <joglekarulhas@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

EPW

Book Review

May 4, 2002

Dialectical Utopianism
Spaces of Hope by David Harvey; Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2000;
pp 293, £ 14.95.
Praveen Kumar

Harvey has tried to imagine his kind of ideal society by reiterating his
faith in Marxism. If necessary correctives are added, he feels, and the task
which he has taken unto himself, the Marxian vision could be a useful guide
in overcoming the problems of capitalism in the present day 'globalising'
society. Relying heavily on Capital and Manifesto, he makes the point that
Marx had the vision to foresee the predicament of humankind at this
historical juncture. At the same time, he places his confidence in the
capacity of man, who is seen by him as a 'resurgent architect' (p 235) and
capable of changing the world at a given moment in history for the benefit
of mankind. Thus, he writes, "There is a time and place in the ceaseless
human endeavour to change the world, when alternative visions, no matter how
fantastic, provide the grist for shaping powerful political forces for
change. I believe we are precisely at such a moment" (p 195).
Harvey has continued his association with geography and carried forward his
arguments regarding city structures in his earlier writings like The Urban
Experience and The Urbanisation of Capital in the light of Marxism. But what
moment is Harvey referring to here and what changes are to be brought about?
What is the method to be employed? What is the alternative he wants to
propose for society?
The present moment is characterised by societal turmoil due to extreme
inequality, which is the outcome of the process of capitalist development
culminating in the phenomenon of globalisation (p 8). He sees globalisation
as a 'powerful tool' in the disempowerment of national and local working
class movement and trade union power (p 13). Herein lies the importance as
well as shortcomings of Marxist vision, feels Harvey. Marx was forthright in
seeing capitalism culminating in a global phenomenon. But, 'capitalism is
not a physical thing but a social relation', emphasises Harvey (p 28). He
stretches seven different points to show the critical relevance of Manifesto
and points out missing links which include the 'geography of Manifesto' and
lack of attention to territorial organisation' among others (p 39). Thus
revolution would not come by a homogeneous class at the international level
by violent means as Marx has envisaged, but there has to be association of
the working class with different community institutions at different levels
to get the desired objective (p 50). This is necessitated by the growing
differentiation created by capitalism along 'cultural distinctions, gender
relations, ethnic predilection and religious beliefs' (p 40). Since the
class struggle cannot be carried out in the traditional manner, the working
out of this alternative mode of organisation needs a different approach to
suit the requirements of the present moment, what Harvey calls
'historical-geographical materialism' (p 55). This takes care of space in
the analysis of capitalism, primarily a geographical phenomenon to Harvey.
This approach has another advantage over traditional historical materialism.
It would provide an instrument to the left to fight capital at both spatial
scales national as well as supra-national. Although nation state as an
entity is still relevant, its boundaries are blurred by the advancement of
capitalism. This can be seen in the formation of international organisations
like NAFTA. This way the historical-geographical dialectic provides an
analysis by interlinking particularity with universality. If globalisation
is the most macro of all discourses then body is the most micro. He sees
body as an unfinished project with certain inerasable quality, evolutionary
and responsive to both internal and external factors. Secondly, it is not a
closed or sealed entity but a relational thing (p 98). And the Harvian
approach is to understand social and political life by integrating them more

closely. This is already evident in the human rights movements,
environmental movements and gender question, among others.
Harvey dreams a utopia and this concerns emancipation of human beings from
the restrictions imposed by the inequality, which, he feels, is the result
of the capitalist mode of production. An emancipated man is both rule maker
and rule breaker with reasonable impunity (p 205). He has named this utopia
'dialectical utopianism'. This would integrate social processes and spatial
form (p 195). The ideal society this way come into existence when man will
play the role of an insurgent architect that means he would be both creator
and the creature. Still man would be more like other species when it comes
to modifying the environment while adapting further to the environments they
themselves help construct (p 207). But they also have species-specific
qualities, power which helps us organise and communicate. The resurgent
architect has also enough space for 'private and personal' (p 235) and the
process is also political to him as it is the party of the decision-making
and action and is also a social construct. In the overall process, Harvey
also considers that the public institutions are important factors.
Harvey's latest book tries to put forth the inconsistencies of the
present-day capitalist society and points out to the dangers of scarcity in
abundance if profit motives were allowed to be followed unhindered. This he
has pointed out by taking up the case study of Baltimore city, where the
people below poverty line have to struggle for the security cover they are
generally entitled to. Even the acts of charity are intervened if the space
is seen to be occupied by a non-capitalist entity. But here the importance
of community organisations like the church becomes important, which plays an
important role but only to be intervened by the dominant capitalists at a
later stage.
The importance of Harvey's work for present-day societies cannot be
overlooked, but a few things can be pointed out while explaining his work.
First, the influence of Kantian liberalism is evident in this work when he
talks of resurgent architect as the creator and the creature and as the
maker as well as breaker of rules with reasonable impunity. Here he can be
found closer to Rawlsian 'self' who is capable of revising her preferences.
Secondly, he swears by Marxism but the influence of liberal democratic
polity is quite evident on him when he talks of man being a part of the
decision-making process and also when he reiterates the importance of public
institutions and showing the relevance of nation state. He does not talk of
relative autonomy as was held by Polountzas. Thirdly, the importance of
traditional values and community institutions is accepted by him and this
way he can be seen clearly moving closer to a liberal-communitarian
framework. This way one would find enough ambiguities in locating his latest
work ideologically, although it would serve as a critical guide to the
liberal democracies following free market economy.

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