Clark to Host Global Capitalism and Democracy Conversations

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Ashley Klann, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Keynote speaker Immanuel Wallerstein.

Thirty-five U.S. scholars will join in the 36th annual Political Economy of the World System (PEWS) Conference, “Labor, Democracy and Global Capitalism” at Clark University. The conference will run from April 20th to the 22nd and will cover topics ranging from labor and worker rights to Occupy Wall Street and social movements.

In keeping with Clark’s mantra of facilitating discussion on current events and challenging conventional habits, the conference will deliberate and examine many ongoing issues pertaining to equality and the economy on a global scale.

Keynote speaker, Immanuel Wallerstein, will deliver his public address “Labor vs. Capital?” on Friday, April 20, at 12:30 p.m. in Tilton Hall, 2nd floor of the Higgins University Center, 950 Main St.

Wallerstein, a Senior Research Scholar at Yale University, is a renowned social scientist and world-systems analyst. His theories include a rejection of the concept of a third-world in favor of one unified global system held together economically. He is also the former president of the International Sociological Association and a recipient of the Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award (2003) from the American Sociological Association.

His most recent publication, The Modern World-System, vol. IV: Centrist Liberalism Triumphant, 1789–1914, is the fourth installment in a series that he began in 1974 with Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century.

Other panels in the conference include discussion of the hazardous waste industry, the global auto industry, gender inequalities as they relate to global labor, and the policies of fair trade, among others.

The conference will also include a performance by comedian Jimmy Tingle, titled “Jimmy Tingle for President: The Funniest Campaign in History,” on Saturday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Jefferson Academic Center, Room 320.

The PEWS conference has been organized by Clark professor of sociology and director of the International Studies Stream, Robert J.S. Ross, and is co-sponsored by the Clark Women and Gender Studies Program; the Departments of Political Science, Sociology, and Geography; ISS; the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise and the Office of the Provost.