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Editors’ Foreword The fundamental changes currently taking place in the national and international science landscapes can no longer be overlooked. Within those changes, reforms do not go ‘as planned’ but, as is always the case with processes of rationali- tion, have a series of unintended effects. At the same time it becomes incre- ingly clear who in this process are the winners and who are the losers, although this is still subject to fluctuation and change. This can be illustrated by two - amples from current events: Where the range of taught courses is concerned, as part of the Bologna Process the new structuring of student study paths and their organisation is aimed at unifying the European area of science to ensure a study that is equally permissive and efficient. However, it is to be deplored that the mobility of s- dents has become more restricted because of an increasing specialisation in the available study paths. Also, bachelor degrees do not meet with the anticipated high response from the labour market in all countries, so that the master’s degree is becoming more or less a ‘must’, while at the same time the number of study places on master’s courses is limited. Instead of the intended reduction in the duration of study time in comparison to the previous German ‘Magister’ and ‘Diplom’, rather a prolongation in the duration of studies has been recorded.

The Library owns the volumes of the American Jewish Yearbook from 1899 - current.

A new Marxist theory of the abstract and impersonal forms of power in capitalism Despite insoluble contradictions, intense volatility and fierce resistance, the crisis-ridden capitalism of the 21st century lingers on. To understand capital’s paradoxical expansion and entrenchment amidst crisis and unrest, Mute Compulsion offers a novel theory of the historically unique forms of abstract and impersonal power set in motion by the subjection of social life to the profit imperative. Building on a critical reconstruction of Karl Marx’s unfinished critique of political economy and a wide range of contemporary Marxist theory, philosopher Søren Mau sets out to explain how the logic of capital tightens its stranglehold on the life of society by constantly remoulding the material conditions of social reproduction. In the course of doing so, Mau intervenes in classical and contemporary debates about the value form, crisis theory, biopolitics, social reproduction, humanism, logistics, agriculture, metabolism, the body, competition, technology and relative surplus populations.

Untangling the long history of neoliberalism Neoliberalism is dead. Again. Yet the philosophy of the free market and the strong state has an uncanny capacity to survive, and even thrive, in times of crisis. Understanding neoliberalism’s longevity and its latest permutation requires a more detailed understanding of its origins and development. This volume breaks with the caricature of neoliberalism as a simple, unvariegated belief in market fundamentalism and homo economicus. It shows how neoliberal thinkers perceived institutions from the family to the university, disagreed over issues from intellectual property rights and human behavior to social complexity and monetary order, and sought to win consent for their project through the creation of new honors, disciples, and networks. Far from a monolith, neoliberal thought is fractured and, occasionally, even at war with itself. We can begin to make sense of neoliberalism’s nine lives only by understanding its own tangled and complex history.

As anyone who has wielded a camera knows, photography has a unique relationship to chance. It also represents a struggle to reconcile aesthetic aspiration with a mechanical process. Robin Kelsey reveals how daring innovators expanded the aesthetic limits of photography in order to create art for a modern world.