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Consequences of Capitalism

By: Noam Chomsky,Marv Waterstone
Narrated by: Donald Corren
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Publisher's Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

An essential primer on capitalism, politics and how the world works, based on the hugely popular undergraduate lecture series 'What Is Politics?'

Is there an alternative to capitalism? In this landmark text, Chomsky and Waterstone chart a critical map for a more just and sustainable society.

COVID-19 has revealed glaring failures and monstrous brutalities in the current capitalist system. It represents both a crisis and an opportunity. Everything depends on the actions that people take into their own hands.

How does politics shape our world, our lives and our perceptions? How much of 'common sense' is actually driven by the ruling classes' needs and interests? And how are we to challenge the capitalist structures that now threaten all life on the planet?

Consequences of Capitalism exposes the deep, often unseen connections between neoliberal 'common sense' and structural power. In making these linkages, we see how the current hegemony keeps social justice movements divided and marginalised. And, most importantly, we see how we can fight to overcome these divisions.

©2020 Noam Chomsky (P)2020 Penguin Audio

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So ideological, yet probably still worth the grind

It was frustrating to get through a lot of parts of this book that obviously misconstrued the positions they were attacking. At some point they made a side remark about what Adam Smith's invisible hand quotation was "actually" about, yet googling the original quotation showed the author's interpretation just wrong.

So the litany of small cheap potshots against their straw men enemies sometimes felt like death by a thousand cuts. Additionally the vague confluence of imperialism, capitalism and autocracy into one big bad blob always feels lazy and ideologically convenient.

Yet every now and then I learnt things, or at least questioned some things to look further in to, especially regarding the interventions in south America, and the effects of military imperialism in the middle east in the early 20th century catalysing the issues there afterwards. I also liked the question (paraphrased) "would we have invaded Iraq if it produced asparagus instead of oil?".

However I'm also shocked that this is a lecture course hahahah. Imagining the same course for agitation but for autocracy is hilarious (though they would argue that every hetereodox university course already does just that, in their ideologically possessed way 😅)

Anyway it was still probably worth a read, as much of a grind as it was.

Political disclaimer: I am an Australian centrist

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  • AI
  • 07-07-2022

Must read

Should be a must read for everyone.
Everyone should know what capitalism bringing us. what is the consequences of weighing everything by money.

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Interesting

The only two things I didn't like about this book is the narration and the constant use of the phrase "and so forth" from which I kind of created a drinking game, it's so annoying.
Everything else is very current, insighful and taught me a lot of new things.

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A bit arrogant

This wouldn’t disappoint for Chomsky fans. It is quite hard-hitting and blunt. However, sweeping generalisations and oversimplifications occur. This is particularly annoying when discussing topics the authors clearly don’t understand. Marv Waterstone is the worst offender here. The repeated assertion that the purpose of marketing and advertising is to turn human needs onto wants is embarrassing. Perhaps have a chat with your colleagues over at the business faculty to learn the basics of marketing and how it is not the same as advertising?

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Awesome book for all humans, thank you both.

This book should be read by anyone wanting to know the drivers behind the looming cumulative natural crisis faced by humanity and why relying on governments to find solutions correlates to mass suicide. The consequences of capitalism should be considered and thouroughly discussed in high schools globally.

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Brilliant and enlightening work

Would have been happy for it to be another 30 hours, or more. The two approaches to the information was very helpful in providing the facts, and an emotional arising, so that the questions, and their solutions, could explored. Very inspiring work.

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Great

Fascinating and approachable to someone who is unfamiliar with world politics. Reading George Orwell first will probably improve your experience with Chomsky's writings.

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Brilliant Chompsky !

This is a book that requires the use of multiple 'play it again Sam' moments plus a paper & pencil !
It is for those who wish to understand by listening & studying in an academic mode.
Invest in yourself .. read, mark, learn & inwardly digest .. this book is all about The Human Condition !

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Brilliant… of course

An explanation of the SUA’s national anthem is essentially about the home of brave and the land of the 😂😂😂😂😂🤔🤣🤣🤣🤣🤭 free.
This is my first listen to a book by Noam Chomsky and Marv Waterstone and there are no surprises here for anybody.

Unintentionally, I spend an inordinate amount of time listening to US intellectual’s explain why the US ‘super’ power title is like the US comic book ‘super’ heroes - a myth.
Thank you Noam and Marv for a chortle, guffaw, snort and titter fest, very much appreciated :-)

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Should be mandatory reading

Understanding the concept of "manufacturing consent" and the propaganda model should be mandatory highschool level stuff!

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  • Ioana
  • 31-01-2022

A Necessary Read

Unilateral, though. All those democracies destroyed by the US which never recovered, compared with ones under the iron curtain, which fought to integrate into whichever structure available.
In short, criticizing the US is important, but insufficient. US doesn’t act in a void and democracy is not a one time thing. It is the only reasonable path we have.

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  • H. Miller
  • 10-05-2021

Chomsky finally has his narrator!

I don't normally leave reviews but for this audiobook I had to make an exception.

The book, by Professors Chomsky and Waterstone, comes from their Uni. of Arizona politics course (which I have taken) and it is great to have it in print, and now on audio.

Both professors cover a lot of ground, and their knowledge and occasional humour make it a fascinating and enjoyable read.
I won't go into detail on the contents as you can easily look that up with the print version.

However, what has moved me to write this review is Donald Corren.

Donald Corren's narration is nothing short of exceptional.
He manages not only to read the work, but his tone, inflections, pauses, emphasis, and so on, make it seem like he's the one giving the lecture. It is a remarkable bit of acting. You have complete confidence that Corren understands what he is saying, rather than merely reading aloud.
I also like his voice. He is very clear, warm, and friendly.

I see that Donald Corren has narrated one other of Chomsky's books (Requiem For A Dream), so I will be getting that, and I hope he will narrate many more, as he has the perfect voice for Chomsky's (and Waterstone's) words.




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  • D R Newman
  • 12-05-2022

This relatively new book didn't age well

With the covid narrative unraveling and the war un Ukraine this book needs a rewrite.
It blames capitalism for so many unrelated phenomina and is too anti Trump to take seriously.
Much of the research and observation is good but the conclusions are predictable and left biased.

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  • A_Del
  • 05-09-2021

The correct title is…

… everything wrong with the USA, which is also - to a certain extent and among other things - related to capitalism.

This was an exhausting listen but one must always push oneself to broaden and challenge their world view and Noam Chomsky’s name’s on the cover so I stuck with it. Yes, they highlight the fundamental issues of capitalism, but it’s suffocating under the weight of political views. It’s one sided and hardly constructive - yes, the current form of capitalism sucks, but what could be the alternative or how could we fix the most blatant issues?

the book is also blindly focused on the USA and especially US politics. Thus the opportunity to compare US capitalism to the capitalism of Scandinavian welfare states or Japan, and to China and some failed attempts at socialism is very much lost. Which is a shame as it would add so much more layer and direction to the topic than the excess of US examples highlighting that money drives politics. And beside space there’s the axis of time, we could have explored what the world was like before capitalism. What capitalism changed and what remained unchanged or returned under a new name. Because there are problems that play on repeat in slightly different shapes and forms since the birth of human civilizations so capitalism, albeit heavily flawed and in dire need for refinement, isn’t actually the root of all evil.

At least this is the train of thought I was hoping for. But at least now I know a bit more about the USA than I did - and a lot more than I care.

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  • C. Doyle
  • 05-03-2023

A must listen!

The book itself is an amazingly enlightening read which is both terrifying and timely … and this Audible version conveys both elements majestically. Anybody not familiar with Noam Chomsky would do well to listen to this by way of an introduction - Marv Waterstone as well - to get a sense of his towering intellect.
By way of a commentary on the state of the world without including the current war in Ukraine it stands on its own. The evidence of the inequalities that have led to this state of affairs is laid out and analysed concisely and with clarity … capitalism is broken and we are too scared to fix it.
The message is a clarion call to arms that we ignore at our peril - a masterful book and a super production by Audible.

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  • Sonkay Kamara
  • 30-11-2022

A must-read. It will open up your thoughts

I loved it and it has just let me see the world from a different lens. Beautiful.

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  • Chippy
  • 29-11-2022

Great listen.. Depressing though

Interesting and great book for referencing other people's work of you do want to follow up for more.
Did not like that each chapter is 2 talks, on the same topic but separate talks in the same chapter so you can't tell how long each talk is.

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  • james robertson
  • 06-06-2022

Articulate and informative

This is key knowledge for our current political and societal situation. The authors show how we got to this point, what predicament we are in, and the hopes for the fightback.

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  • taylor
  • 08-05-2022

Revelation, worth every second!

For your own dignity, this is a must read today such a good book

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