Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and the Accumulation of Capital
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Jason W. Moore
Publisher: Verso
Year: 2025
Format: Paperback
Size: 353 pages
ISBN: 9781804298329
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Integrating both social and historical factors, this radical analysis of the development of capitalism reveals the ever-deepening relationship between capital and ecology
Finance. Climate. Food. Work. How are the crises of the twenty-first century connected? In Capitalism in the Web of Life, Jason W. Moore argues that the sources of todayās global turbulence have a common cause: capitalism as a way of organizing nature, including human nature. Drawing on environmentalist, feminist, and Marxist thought, Moore offers a groundbreaking new synthesis: capitalism as a āworld-ecologyā of wealth, power, and nature. Capitalismās greatest strengthāand the source of its problemsāis its capacity to create Cheap Natures: labor, food, energy, and raw materials. That capacity is now in question.
Rethinking capitalism through the pulsing and renewing dialectic of humanity-in-nature, Moore takes readers on a journey from the rise of capitalism to the modern mosaic of crisis. Capitalism in the Web of Life shows how the critique of capitalism-in-natureārather than capitalism and natureāis key to understanding our predicament, and to pursuing the politics of liberation in the century ahead.
Finance. Climate. Food. Work. How are the crises of the twenty-first century connected? In Capitalism in the Web of Life, Jason W. Moore argues that the sources of todayās global turbulence have a common cause: capitalism as a way of organizing nature, including human nature. Drawing on environmentalist, feminist, and Marxist thought, Moore offers a groundbreaking new synthesis: capitalism as a āworld-ecologyā of wealth, power, and nature. Capitalismās greatest strengthāand the source of its problemsāis its capacity to create Cheap Natures: labor, food, energy, and raw materials. That capacity is now in question.
Rethinking capitalism through the pulsing and renewing dialectic of humanity-in-nature, Moore takes readers on a journey from the rise of capitalism to the modern mosaic of crisis. Capitalism in the Web of Life shows how the critique of capitalism-in-natureārather than capitalism and natureāis key to understanding our predicament, and to pursuing the politics of liberation in the century ahead.
What People Are Saying
āIf nothing else, the climate crisis demonstrates that the history of capitalism is a thoroughly āenvironmentalā one. This energizing book proposes an inventive framework for making sense of that past, and for orienting ourselves as we get down to the business of changing the future.ā Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine
āThe achievement of Mooreās book is to move past a metaphysical concept of nature towards an historical one ā¦ Such a rich historical understanding of world-ecological regimes is going to be of vital importance.ā McKenzie Wark, Public Seminar
āCapitalism in the Web of Life seeks to analyze the root cause of this impasse for environmentalism: the widely-shared view that āthe environmentā is a separate and unique part of existence outside of capitalism that capitalism devalues.ā New Inquiry
āNature is not a foundation, container, or resource; it is us. As Moore tells us, we must live history as if nature matters.ā Donna Haraway, University of California at Santa Cruz
āIf youāre interested in cutting-edge ecological thinking, Capitalism in the Web of Life is a must-read. Mooreās scope is vast, and few could pull off as ambitious an analytical achievement as he has here. Thereās enough scholarship, wit and insight to leave your copy with margin notes on every page, and ideas for a lifetime. A landmark book.ā Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved
āMooreās radical and rigorous work is, and richly deserves to be, agenda-setting.ā China MiĆ©ville
āAn exciting major work that puts forward a new paradigm of āworld-ecology.āā Immanuel Wallerstein, author of World-Systems Analysis
āA superb and much needed book, rigorous, groundbreaking, yet accessible.ā Christian Parenti, author of Tropic of Chaos
āProbably the most significant work of eco-Marxism out there.ā Benjamin Kunkel, author of Utopia or Bust
āThe type of theory we should all be pursuing ā¦ If you donā²t have a copy of this thing already, you should get one.ā Samuel Fassbinder, Daily Kos
āA magisterial rethinking of world environmental history. It makes for a major work of synthesis and theory.ā Michael Watts, University of California, Berkeley
āJason Mooreās Capitalism in the Web of Life is, above all else, an ambitious book ā¦ Moore sets out to do nothing less than to articulate, under the name of world-ecology, a ānew paradigmā for critical scholarship on capitalism, world history, and environmental thought that will transcend, once and for all, the dualism that for him is the singular source of all of the violence of modernity.ā Sara Nelson, Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography
āMooreās theoretical contribution, and it is major, is his insistence that value is determined by, and capitalism is dependent upon, what he calls the āFour Cheapsā ā¦ His examples are wide-ranging and historical. Moore is at his best in this book when he not only ranges across centuries but also ranges across numerous fields of thought, most notably laboring to overcome the divide between Marxist value theory and ecology.ā Juliana Spahr, Mediations: Journal of the Marxist Literary Group
āNot only does Moore provide an exceptionally powerful sense of the dystopian impact of capitalism ā¦ he also reveals a compelling dialectical grasp not just of how it might have to come to an end, but why it would be deplorable even if there were no limits to its continuing.ā Kate Soper, Radical Philosophy
āFor nearly two decades, environmental historian Jason Mooreās āworld-ecologyā theorisation has crossed the boundaries of sociological, historical, environmental, economic and literary disciplines. His monograph, an amalgamation of decades of research and critical writing as well as cross-disciplinary engagement in the humanities and social sciences, is likely to become central to future environmental theorisation.ā Michael Paye, Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism
āMoore calls for āa new ontological politicsā to subvert the metaphysical and moral imagination of capitalist nature ā¦ Affirms historical materialism as the basis for the solution to our ecological crisis.ā Eugene McCarraher, Commonweal
āJason Moore ā¦ has produced a text that is required reading. Moore ā¦ seeks to bring nature to the centre of historical change and a dialectical understanding of capitalism to the heart of the analysis.ā Marx and Philosophy Review of Books
āCapitalism in the Web of Life is required reading for all those with an interest in the patterns of development of agriculture in capitalism, both historical and contemporary.ā Henry Bernstein, Journal of Agrarian Change
āFew books published today have such a broad scope or are as forceful in their claims, and Capitalism in the Web of Life is certain to spark productive conversations in upper-level political ecology and critical development seminars, as well as among faculty working in a range of disciplines.ā Eric H. Thomas, Journal of Political Ecology
āThe achievement of Mooreās book is to move past a metaphysical concept of nature towards an historical one ā¦ Such a rich historical understanding of world-ecological regimes is going to be of vital importance.ā McKenzie Wark, Public Seminar
āCapitalism in the Web of Life seeks to analyze the root cause of this impasse for environmentalism: the widely-shared view that āthe environmentā is a separate and unique part of existence outside of capitalism that capitalism devalues.ā New Inquiry
āNature is not a foundation, container, or resource; it is us. As Moore tells us, we must live history as if nature matters.ā Donna Haraway, University of California at Santa Cruz
āIf youāre interested in cutting-edge ecological thinking, Capitalism in the Web of Life is a must-read. Mooreās scope is vast, and few could pull off as ambitious an analytical achievement as he has here. Thereās enough scholarship, wit and insight to leave your copy with margin notes on every page, and ideas for a lifetime. A landmark book.ā Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved
āMooreās radical and rigorous work is, and richly deserves to be, agenda-setting.ā China MiĆ©ville
āAn exciting major work that puts forward a new paradigm of āworld-ecology.āā Immanuel Wallerstein, author of World-Systems Analysis
āA superb and much needed book, rigorous, groundbreaking, yet accessible.ā Christian Parenti, author of Tropic of Chaos
āProbably the most significant work of eco-Marxism out there.ā Benjamin Kunkel, author of Utopia or Bust
āThe type of theory we should all be pursuing ā¦ If you donā²t have a copy of this thing already, you should get one.ā Samuel Fassbinder, Daily Kos
āA magisterial rethinking of world environmental history. It makes for a major work of synthesis and theory.ā Michael Watts, University of California, Berkeley
āJason Mooreās Capitalism in the Web of Life is, above all else, an ambitious book ā¦ Moore sets out to do nothing less than to articulate, under the name of world-ecology, a ānew paradigmā for critical scholarship on capitalism, world history, and environmental thought that will transcend, once and for all, the dualism that for him is the singular source of all of the violence of modernity.ā Sara Nelson, Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography
āMooreās theoretical contribution, and it is major, is his insistence that value is determined by, and capitalism is dependent upon, what he calls the āFour Cheapsā ā¦ His examples are wide-ranging and historical. Moore is at his best in this book when he not only ranges across centuries but also ranges across numerous fields of thought, most notably laboring to overcome the divide between Marxist value theory and ecology.ā Juliana Spahr, Mediations: Journal of the Marxist Literary Group
āNot only does Moore provide an exceptionally powerful sense of the dystopian impact of capitalism ā¦ he also reveals a compelling dialectical grasp not just of how it might have to come to an end, but why it would be deplorable even if there were no limits to its continuing.ā Kate Soper, Radical Philosophy
āFor nearly two decades, environmental historian Jason Mooreās āworld-ecologyā theorisation has crossed the boundaries of sociological, historical, environmental, economic and literary disciplines. His monograph, an amalgamation of decades of research and critical writing as well as cross-disciplinary engagement in the humanities and social sciences, is likely to become central to future environmental theorisation.ā Michael Paye, Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism
āMoore calls for āa new ontological politicsā to subvert the metaphysical and moral imagination of capitalist nature ā¦ Affirms historical materialism as the basis for the solution to our ecological crisis.ā Eugene McCarraher, Commonweal
āJason Moore ā¦ has produced a text that is required reading. Moore ā¦ seeks to bring nature to the centre of historical change and a dialectical understanding of capitalism to the heart of the analysis.ā Marx and Philosophy Review of Books
āCapitalism in the Web of Life is required reading for all those with an interest in the patterns of development of agriculture in capitalism, both historical and contemporary.ā Henry Bernstein, Journal of Agrarian Change
āFew books published today have such a broad scope or are as forceful in their claims, and Capitalism in the Web of Life is certain to spark productive conversations in upper-level political ecology and critical development seminars, as well as among faculty working in a range of disciplines.ā Eric H. Thomas, Journal of Political Ecology
About the Author
Jason W. Moore is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Binghamton University, and Coordinator of the World-Ecology Research Network. He writes frequently on the history of capitalism in Europe, Latin America, and the United States, from the long sixteenth century to the neoliberal era. His research has been recognized with many international awards.
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