38(1) Letter to the Editor
I write to express my surprise at the line taken by the editors in their OPINION, ‘Capitalism is a blunt instrument’ (2012) 37(2) AltLJ 76. The irony of their title perhaps escaped them. Capitalism is indeed a very blunt instrument as millions of the exploited poor and oppressed around the globe will testify.
It is true that ‘capitalism’ explains little in itself at the level of specificity which is needed to analyse its negative effects and plot an alternative path forward. But in recent decades we have learned that what is sometimes referred to as the political economy analytical approach, when married to insights from post-modern thinking, eg, local knowledges and specific practices, is an appropriate instrument for analysing our present condition.