Economic and political problems are never only about economics or politics

Evidence

In the social production of their life men enter into relations with each other which are determined, necessary and independent of their will, that is into relations of production, which correspond to a given level of development of the material forces of production. The ensemble of these relations constitutes the economic structure of society, in other words the real base on top of which is raised a political and juridical superstructure and to which correspond given social forms of consciousness. … At a given point in their development, the material productive forces of society enter into contradiction with the pre-existing relations of production (that is the property relations, which is the juridical equivalent of that expression) within which these forces had previously moved. These relations of production, from a form of development of the productive forces, are converted into an obstacle to them. And then there arrives an age of social revolution. With the change in the economic base the colossal overhanging superstructure is revolutionised and collapses more or less rapidly … A social formation does not perish until all the productive forces for which there is room in it have been developed and new relations of production do not take their place until the material conditions of their existence have matured in the womb of the existing society. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1628 (#complicates, via linked claim)

The problematic of the economy is by no means the logical completion of the great problematic of sovereignty through which eighteenth century juridical-political thought stroveto show how, by starting from individual subjects of natural right, one could arrive at the constitution of a political unity defined by the existence ofan individual or collective sovereign who is the holder of Part of the totality of these individual rights and at the same time the principle of their limitation. The economic problematic, the problematic of economic interest, is governed by a completely different configuration, by a completely different logic, type of reasoning, and rationality. In fact, from the eighteenth century the political-juridical world and the economic world appear as heterogeneous and incompatible worlds. The idea of an economic-juridical science is strictly impossible and what is more it has never in fact been constituted. — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1454 (#complicates, via linked claim)

My understanding of these industries is informed by two fields of study: political economy of media and cultural studies. The former is more oriented toward organizational structures and broad social relations, while the latter often focuses on the text, the audience, and the rich affordances of both, especially when they interact. Both are interested in power, but political economy of media conceives of power in its material, hierarchical form, while cultural studies sees power as fluid and contingent and potentially immaterial. — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 29 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Economic and political systems pose exactly reversed governance problems — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 577; Economic problems are political problems about how social power is distributed — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 38; Cultural and ideological factors shape social problems rather than merely reflecting economics — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1040 (+13 more)

Broader Connections

• A society’s economic base determines its political and juridical superstructure. #complicates (0.78) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1628
• Economic and juridical-political thought are heterogeneous and incompatible worlds #complicates (0.76) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1454
• Political economy and cultural studies conceive of power in fundamentally different forms #complicates (0.75) — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 29