ABSTRACT
This chapter is really an introduction to Chapter 7, where we shall attempt to present and analyze the character of contemporary capitalism. Our emphasis will be on the issue of finance. Following Marx’s analysis we shall attempt to associate finance (its content and recent developments) with the logic of capital. From this perspective, contemporary capitalism is not a parasitical deviation from a hypothetical ideal “productive” version that one should long for; finance is not dysfunctional, superfluous and annoying (although it may become so given the development of class struggle). Our argument will not defend the rise of finance, but it will attempt to clarify its key role in the organization of capitalism, arguing that the structure of our contemporary societies is a development stemming precisely from the innate nature of the capital relation.
