ABSTRACT
In 1976 Frank Pearce published a pioneering intervention that not only calls for a serious engagement with the crimes of the powerful, but also the explanatory potential of Marxism. He cautioned though against deterministic applications of Marx, which fail to engage with the important role agency powers play in driving particular courses of history. Set against this backdrop, the following chapter offers an ontological reading of Capital that teases out the theoretical link between political economy and agency in Marx’s seminal work. To that end, it will be argued that Capital offers explicit insights into the way human potential is historically actualized into concrete agency powers which are essential to the arrangements and events underpinning the crimes of the powerful. To demonstrate the applied relevance of Capital, a case example will be employed drawn from the author’s investigative fieldwork in Papua New Guinea.
