New Books Network William I. Robinson, "Epochal Crisis: The Exhaustion of Global Capitalism" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
Apr 30, 2026
William I. Robinson, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at UC Santa Barbara and prolific writer on global capitalism. He discusses capitalism’s 1970s structural crisis, globalization as a counteroffensive, and how overaccumulation, social reproduction breakdown, and ecological collapse interact. He also covers militarized accumulation, collapsing transnational hegemony, and prospects for revolt and systemic change.
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Structural Crises Repeat And Now Become Systemic
- Capital crises recur with structural ones about every 40–50 years and systemic crises mean the whole system may fail.
- Robinson locates the 1970s structural crisis and the 2008 collapse as successive waves, arguing current failures push beyond structural limits.
Why Accumulation Dynamics Fuel Recurring Crises
- Capital requires endless expanded accumulation and faces two expansion modes: extensive (conquest) and intensive (commodifying new social spheres).
- Rising organic composition of capital (more machinery, less living labor) lowers profit rates and drives investment stagnation.
Lights-Out Factory And Massive Amazon Automation
- Robinson cites Xiaomi's lights-out smartphone factory and Amazon's plan to replace 500,000 warehouse workers with robots as concrete examples.
- These cases illustrate how automation both raises organic composition and threatens mass purchasing power.
