Mute Compulsion

Not a day goes by without a question imposing itself on the minimally sane mind: how can all this shit around us just go on? In this masterful study, Soren Mau methodically drills into the core of the matter: the deeply entrenched power of some people over others, and of capital over everyone. It is this power that drives the disasters of our time, and it is a specific form of power, one rooted in the most basal layers of existence-the economy, where human bodies are (supposed to be) sustained. Written with verve and clarity, analytically sharp and dialectically shrewd in equal measure, Mute Compulsion reinvigorates historical materialism for the mid-twenty-first century. Through close readings of Marx and critical dialogues with contemporary theory, it throws up fresh insights for a new generation of Marxists, as well as for long-time connoisseurs. A big red book to cherish. -- Andreas Malm, author of <i>Fossil Capital</i> (Verso, 2016), <i>The Progress of this Storm</i> (2018) and <i>How to Blow Up a Pipeline</i> (2021). An instant classic. The best introduction to Marx's thought in any language. -- Aaron Benanav This is the first in-depth investigation of a key concept used in Marx's Capital: mute compulsion. Far beyond a purely philological exercise, Soren Mau shows the centrality of this concept for a better understanding of capitalist class rule, subsumption and biopolitics. If we take the findings of Soren Mau's book seriously, it will considerably change our views on the "power of capital" and the political strategies to fight against this power. -- Michael Heinrich Mute Compulsion manages to do something quite extraordinary: it puts a definitive end to accusations of economic reductionism levelled against Marx through an argument which is both complex, and yet very simple. By proposing that capital's domination operates through a form of economic power that subordinates our everyday life, Mau underscores the need to throw our gaze not only at what happens in the workplace, but particularly outside of it. A tour de force through some of the key Marxist concepts and debates. -- Sara R. Farris, author of <i>In the Name of Women's Rights. The Rise of Femonationalism</i> (Duke UP, 2017)

Soren Mau is a communist philosopher and postdoctoral researcher based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is an editor of the journal Historical Materialism and a member of the board of the Danish Society for Marxist Studies.