Perspectives on Ethics: Lea Ypi

Perspectives on Ethics

Eleven Theses on Migration in the Capitalist State

For much of the past century, the expansion of the political franchise and the related exercise of political rights meant that citizenship had the potential of being a vehicle of political emancipation. Democratic citizenship was essential to opposing capitalism with radical social reforms; it was one of the cornerstones of egalitarian policy for social democrats around the world. Contemporary trends in the admission of immigrants illustrate that citizenship has become once more increasingly selective, a good to be bought, sold or denied at the will of political elites, accessible once again along class lines. In light of these trends, I argue that citizenship has turned from a vehicle of political emancipation to one of social oppression.  I focus on contemporary practices of migrant integration and try to show how they are instrumental to consolidating the oligarchical character of the capitalist state and to entrenching its class divisions.

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Lea YpiLea Yp
London School of Economics
Professor in Political Theory
Department of Government

Tue, Sep 18, 2018
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
200 Larkin