John Bellamy Foster (born August 15, 1953) is an American
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
of
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
at the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
political economy
Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...
of
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
and
economic crisis
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...
, ecology and
ecological crisis
An ecological or environmental crises occurs when changes to the environment of a species or population destabilizes its continued survival. Some of the important causes include:
* Degradation of an abiotic ecological factor (for example, incr ...
, and Marxist theory. He has given numerous interviews, talks, and invited lectures, as well as written invited commentary, articles, and books on the subject.
Early life
Foster was active in the anti-war and environmental movements before enrolling at
Evergreen State College
The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a p ...
in 1971. He studied
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
in response to what he saw as an unfolding crisis in the
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
economy and US involvement with the
1973 Chilean coup d'état
The 1973 Chilean coup d'état Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006.
In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. Among the par ...
.
In 1976, he moved to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and entered the
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
graduate program at
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...
in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
. He submitted his 1979 paper, ''The United States and Monopoly Capital: The Issue of Excess Capacity'', to
Paul Sweezy
Paul Marlor Sweezy (April 10, 1910 – February 27, 2004) was a Marxist economist, political activist, publisher, and founding editor of the long-running magazine ''Monthly Review''. He is best remembered for his contributions to economic theory ...
of ''Monthly Review''. He also was published in journals such as ''
The Quarterly Journal of Economics
''The Quarterly Journal of Economics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Oxford University Press for the Harvard University Department of Economics. Its current editors-in-chief are Robert J. Barro, Lawrence F. Katz, Nathan N ...
'' and '' Science & Society'', and, in 1986, published ''The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism: An Elaboration of Marxian Political Economy'', based on his Ph.D. dissertation.
Foster was hired in 1985 as a Visiting Member of the Faculty at The Evergreen State College. One year later he took a position as assistant professor of sociology at the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
, and became a full professor of sociology in 2000. In 1989 he became a director of the Monthly Review Foundation Board and a member of the editorial committee of Monthly Review.
''Monthly Review''
Foster published his first article for '' Monthly Review'', "Is Monopoly Capital an Illusion?", while in graduate school in 1981. He became a director of the Monthly Review Foundation Board and a member of the '' Monthly Review'' editorial committee in 1989. Along with Robert McChesney, who had since their days at Evergreen College become a leading scholar of the political economy of the media, Foster joined
Paul Sweezy
Paul Marlor Sweezy (April 10, 1910 – February 27, 2004) was a Marxist economist, political activist, publisher, and founding editor of the long-running magazine ''Monthly Review''. He is best remembered for his contributions to economic theory ...
and
Harry Magdoff
Harry Samuel Magdoff (August 21, 1913 – January 1, 2006) was a prominent American socialist commentator. He held several administrative positions in government during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt and later became co-editor of the M ...
as a co-editor of '' Monthly Review'' in 2000. Two years later, he became president of the Monthly Review Foundation.
After Paul Sweezy's death in 2004, Robert McChesney's resignation as co-editor (while remaining on the board), and Harry Magdoff's death in 2006, Foster was left as sole editor of the magazine.
Work
Foster's initial research centered on Marxian political economies and theories of capitalist development, with a focus on Paul Sweezy and
Paul Baran
Paul Baran (born Pesach Baran ; April 29, 1926 – March 26, 2011) was a Polish-American engineer who was a pioneer in the development of computer networks. He was one of the two independent inventors of packet switching, which is today the dom ...
's theory of monopoly. This was reflected in Foster's early book ''The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism'' and the coedited volume (with Henryk Szlajfer), ''The Faltering Economy: The Problem of Accumulation under Monopoly Capitalism''.
In the late 1980s, Foster turned toward issues of ecology. He focused on the relationship between the global environmental crisis and the crisis in the capitalist economy, while stressing the imperative for a sustainable, socialist alternative. During this period he published ''The Vulnerable Planet: A Short Economic History of the Environment''; his article "Marx's Theory of Metabolic Rift" in the '' American Journal of Sociology''; and ''Marx's Ecology: Materialism and Nature''. His reinterpretation of Marx on ecology introduced the concept of " metabolic rift" and was widely influential. This work led to his receiving the Distinguished Contribution Award of the American Sociological Association's Environment and Technology section. ''Marx's Ecology'' itself received the book award from the ASA's Section on Marxist Sociology. This work was soon followed up by his book ''Ecology Against Capitalism'', which focused on the critique of
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
economics from the standpoint of the environment.
As editor of '' Monthly Review'', Foster returned to his earlier work on the
political economy
Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...
of
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
, but with a renewed focus on the role of U.S. foreign policy following September 2001. His 2006 book '' Naked Imperialism'', along with frequent editorials in the pages of '' Monthly Review'', attempted to account for the growing U.S. military role in the world and the shift toward a more visible, aggressive global projection. Additionally, Foster has worked to expand Sweezy and Baran’s theory of monopoly capital in light of the current financially led phase of capitalism, which he terms "monopoly-finance Capital." In this context he has written several books on the
financialization
Financialization (or financialisation in British English) is a term sometimes used to describe the development of financial capitalism during the period from 1980 to present, in which debt-to-equity ratios increased and financial services acc ...
of
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
and
financial crisis of 2007–08
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
. Drawing on his ecological work, particularly ''Marx’s Ecology'', Foster defends
historical materialism
Historical materialism is the term used to describe Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx locates historical change in the rise of class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. For Marx and his lifetime collaborat ...
as fundamental to a rational,
scientific
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
worldview, against proponents of
Intelligent Design
Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...
ideologies
An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied prim ...
.
Foster's book ''The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology'' (2020) won the Deutscher Memorial Prize for that year. In the book, 'Foster explores how socialist analysts and materialist scientists of various stamps, first in Britain, then the United States, from
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
Rachel Carson
Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose influential book '' Silent Spring'' (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental ...
, and Stephen Jay Gould, sought to develop a dialectical naturalism, rooted in a critique of capitalism.'
Bibliography
* ''The Vulnerable Planet'' (1999)
* ''Marx's Ecology'' (2000)
* ''Ecology Against Capitalism'' (2002)
* ''The Ecological Revolution'' (2009)
* ''The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism'' (2014)
* Foster, J.B., B. Clark, and R. York (2010) ''The Ecological Rift''
* Foster, J.B. and R.W. McChesney (2012) ''The Endless Crisis''
* Foster, J.B. and P. Burkett (2016) ''Marx and the Earth''
* ''Trump in the White House: Tragedy and Farce'' (2017)
*''The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology'' (2020)
*''Capitalism in the Anthropocene: Ecological Ruin or Ecological Revolution'' (2022)
Articles, lectures, and interviews
* 1999. Marx's theory of metabolic rift: classical foundations for environmental sociology. ''American Journal of Sociology'' 105(2):366-405. DOI: 10.1086/210315
* 2016. Marxism in the Anthropocene: dialectical rifts on the Left. ''International Critical Thought'' 6(3):393-421. DOI: 10.1080/21598282.2016.1197787
See also
*
Eco-socialism
Eco-socialism (also known as green socialism or socialist ecology) is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics, ecology and alter-globalization or anti-globalization. Eco-socialists generally believe that the expansi ...