ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the way that economists in the Marxist tradition have brought the environment into their worldview. What the writers included in this chapter share is a view that the source of the environmental problem is to be found in the structure of the globalized capitalist economy, and particularly in the issue of who owns and controls its powerful economic organizations. This chapter begins by exploring how economists who are in the Marxist tradition have woven the environmental concern into a Marxist analysis, focusing especially on the ‘second contradiction of capitalism’. It then discusses the contribution of economists who have for the most part been significantly influenced by the Marxist critique, and how they have sought to extend Marx’s analysis of economic power to describe a world dominated by global corporations. The chapter includes consideration of the work of critics of capitalism who have sought ways to re-include the interests of the excluded and disempowered – specifically women and the poor of the Global South – in the economic debate. Finally, it outlines the proposal for participatory economics as a socially just way to organize economic life.
