Book Review: The Structure of World History: From Modes of Production to Modes of Exchange, by Kojin Karatani

Kojin Karatani The Structure of World History: From Modes of Production to Modes of Exchange, trans. Michael K. Bourdaghs, Duke University: Durham, 2014, 352 pp: 9780822356769, US $94.95 (cloth) The renowned Japanese theorist Kojin Karatani offers an impressive and thought-provoking approach in this work, which emphasises modes of exchange over modes of production as the basis for understanding world history. Building on his earlier work in Transcritique: On Kant and Marx, Karatani continues with the argument that modern capitalist nations are composed of a tripartite system of capital, nation and state. This capital-nation-state operates as a closed circuit, with each part reinforcing the other. Specifically, this is achieved when a capitalist economy emerges, leading to increased economic inequality and conflict. The nation, emphasising notions of community and equality, uses the apparatus of the state to tax, redistribute, and regulate capital. Karatani argues that this creates a 'Borromean knot', with the three parts so linked that if one is missing, the entire structure falls apart. Karatani continues with this argument by stating that in order to arrive at a better understanding of the structure of world history, social scientists should focus on the modes of exchange as an organising category, and turn away from an over-emphasis on modes of production. By doing so, Karatani argues that there are essentially four modes of exchange. The first (mode A) consists of gift-counter gift reciprocity. This is seen in the social formations of primarily 'archaic societies', where items are given and reciprocated. This includes property, food, land, services, rituals, people, etc. Two important points Karatani makes concerning this mode of exchange are (1) that it does not solely exist in archaic societies, but can continue in general in many different periods; and (2) that mode A is not a form of exchange seen within communities or households. This continues with Marx's challenge of classical political economists, who over-emphasised exchange between individuals. Karatani argues that this mode of exchange occurs primarily as an outward expression between other groups. Also, gifts and trade are not the only ways in which exchange occurs in these communities. Blood feuds, as well as practices such as potlatch, are seen in this mode of exchange, with the result being an absence of centralised power, and an emphasis on communal norms. In the second form of exchange (mode B), a state-like apparatus is seen in which interaction between different communities is required in order to exercise power. One community plundering another is one form this exchange takes, but the plunder itself is not the only form of exchange. As Karatani writes, 'If a community wants to engage in continuous plunder, the dominant community cannot simply carry out acts of plunder ... it must protect the dominated community from other aggressors, as well as foster it through public works ... Herein lies the prototype of the state' (p. 6). The third type of exchange (mode C) is a capitalist economy in which commodities are exchanged. No longer compelled to exchange through the communal obligations found in mode A, or through the violence imposed by mode B, this mode of exchange operates under a principle of 'freedom', with money and commodities exchanging due to the creation of a market. This is the basis of the capitalist society in which we live today. This freedom, of course, does not imply equality. As Karatani argues, the lack of limits for capitalist accumulation, coupled with the decline of the reciprocity found in mode A, leads to unprecedented class divisions in society. These three distinct modes of exchange have different emphases in different time periods and places. …