"If you, like Joan Robinson and like me before I read this book, are inclined to dismiss Marx’s theory of value and fetishism as ‘gobbledygook’, Desmond McNeill’s beautifully written and very accessible book should persuade you otherwise. It deals with one of the most fundamental of social science issues: why we must distinguish (but generally don’t) ‘value’ from ‘price’.  Without this distinction we are bound to superficial explanations of the basic structure of capitalist society, and of major current problems relating to the ‘financialization of everyday life’ and treatment of the environment as a commodity.  McNeill shows how to go deeper." "This book provides a compelling account of the qualitative nature of Marx’s value theory, drawing upon a wide range of sources. The relevance for contemporary thought and debates is expertly addressed ranging, for example, over the role of value in understanding the environment and financialisation. Discussion throughout is extraordinarily accomplished, well-written, well-informed, a pleasure to read, insightful and of considerable synthetic originality, whilst also connecting the abstract conceptualisation of value to contemporary scholarship and issues." “Desmond McNeill’s deep and broad learning brilliantly illuminates his exegesis of Marx’s relevance to our understanding of the contemporary capitalist world of neo-liberalism. His application of the themes of fetishism, value, and rent to the understanding of financialization and the plundering of nature are subtle, lucid, and unsurpassed. If I had to choose a single ‘local-tracker’ to help me navigate the contemporary world system, he might well be the best guide. “ “Desmond McNeill’s volume revisits and extends his earlier intellectual history of Marx’s theory of labour value, basic to Marx's analysis of surplus value or capitalist exploitation. The unexpectedly etymological route of his defence begins with Marx’s use of fetishism as metaphor for the social relations of capitalism. McNeill’s extended epilogue considers the contemporary relevance of such analysis for nature and financialization, arguably the two Achilles heels of contemporary capitalism in the early 21st century.”          weiterlesen