John Bellamy Foster | |
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| Born | (1953-08-19)August 19, 1953 (age 72) |
| Education | York University,M.A., 1977,Ph.D., 1984 |
| Occupations | Professor, Editor |
| Employer | University of Oregon |
| Known for | Marxist writings |
| Title | Professor of Sociology |
| Board member of | Monthly Review Foundation |
| Awards | Deutscher Memorial Prize (2020)[1] |
| Website | johnbellamyfoster |
| Notes | |
John Bellamy Foster (born August 19, 1953) is an Americanprofessor ofsociology at theUniversity of Oregon and editor of theMonthly Review. He writes aboutpolitical economy ofcapitalism andeconomic crisis, ecology andecological crisis, andMarxist theory.[4]
In 1976, Foster moved toCanada and entered thepolitical science graduate program atYork University inToronto. He submitted his 1979 paper,The United States and Monopoly Capital: The Issue of Excess Capacity, toPaul Sweezy ofMonthly Review. He also was published in journals such asThe Quarterly Journal of Economics andScience & Society, and, in 1986, publishedThe Theory of Monopoly Capitalism: An Elaboration of Marxian Political Economy, based on his Ph.D. dissertation.[5]
Foster was hired in 1985 as a Visiting Member of the Faculty atEvergreen State College. One year later he took a position as assistant professor of sociology at theUniversity of Oregon, 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.[6]
Foster published his first article forMonthly 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 theMonthly Review editorial committee in 1989. Along withRobert McChesney, who had since their days at Evergreen College become a leading scholar of the political economy of the media, Foster joinedPaul Sweezy andHarry Magdoff as a co-editor ofMonthly 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.
Foster's initial research centered on Marxian political economies and theories of capitalist development, with a focus on Paul Sweezy andPaul Baran's theory of monopoly. This was reflected in Foster's early bookThe Theory of Monopoly Capitalism and the coedited volume (withHenryk Szlajfer),The Faltering Economy: The Problem of Accumulation under Monopoly Capitalism.[5][7]
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 publishedThe Vulnerable Planet: A Short Economic History of the Environment; his article "Marx's Theory of Metabolic Rift" in theAmerican Journal of Sociology; andMarx's Ecology: Materialism and Nature.[8][9] 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 theAmerican Sociological Association's Environment and Technology section.Marx's Ecology itself received the book award from the ASA's Section on Marxist Sociology.[10] This work was soon followed up by his bookEcology Against Capitalism, which focused on the critique ofcapitalist economics from the standpoint of the environment.[11]
As editor ofMonthly Review, Foster returned to his earlier work on thepolitical economy ofcapitalism, but with a renewed focus on the role of U.S.foreign policy following September 2001. His 2006 bookNaked Imperialism, along with frequent editorials in the pages ofMonthly Review, attempted to account for the growing U.S. military role in the world and the shift toward a more visible, aggressive global projection.[12] Additionally, Foster has worked to expandSweezy andBaran's theory ofmonopoly capital in light of the currentfinancially led phase of capitalism, which he terms "monopoly-finance Capital." In this context he has written several books on thefinancialization ofcapitalism and the2008 financial crisis.[13][14]
Critique of Intelligent Design, Foster's book co-authored withBrett Clark and Richard York, is a continuation of his research onmaterialist philosophy and the relationship between ancient Greek philosopherEpicurus andKarl Marx. Drawing on his ecological work, particularlyMarx’s Ecology, Foster defendshistorical materialism as fundamental to a rational,scientific worldview, against proponents ofintelligent design and other non-materialistideologies.[15]
Foster's bookThe Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology (2020) won theDeutscher 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, fromWilliam Morris andFriedrich Engels toJoseph Needham,Rachel Carson, andStephen Jay Gould, sought to develop a dialectical naturalism, rooted in a critique of capitalism."[16]
| External videos | |
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 Official US Policy: We Can ‘Win’ a Nuclear War onYouTube |
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by Brett Christophers | Deutscher Memorial Prize 2020 | Succeeded by |
