John Bellamy Foster facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Bellamy Foster
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| Born | August 19, 1953 |
| Education | Evergreen State College, B.A., 1975 York University, M.A., 1977, Ph.D., 1984 |
| Occupation | Professor, Editor |
| Employer | University of Oregon |
| Known for | Marxist writings |
| Title | Professor of Sociology |
| Board member of | Monthly Review Foundation |
| Awards | Deutscher Memorial Prize (2020) |
John Bellamy Foster, born on August 19, 1953, is an American professor of sociology at the University of Oregon. He is also the editor of a magazine called Monthly Review. He writes a lot about how money and power work in a system called capitalism. He also studies why the economy sometimes has problems and how these problems affect our planet's environment. His work often uses ideas from Marxist theory, which looks at how society and money are organized.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Before going to college in 1971, John Bellamy Foster was involved in groups that protested against war and worked to protect the environment. He decided to study economics because he saw problems happening in the capitalist economy. He also wanted to understand why the U.S. was involved in events like the 1973 Chilean coup.
In 1976, he moved to Canada to study political science at York University in Toronto. He wrote a paper in 1979 about how big companies can control too much of the market. This paper was sent to Paul Sweezy, who worked at Monthly Review. Foster also wrote for other important journals. In 1986, he published a book called The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism, which was based on his Ph.D. studies.
Foster started teaching at The Evergreen State College in 1985. A year later, he became a professor of sociology at the University of Oregon. By 2000, he was a full professor. In 1989, he joined the board of the Monthly Review Foundation and became part of the Monthly Review magazine's editorial team.
Working at Monthly Review
John Bellamy Foster's first article for Monthly Review was published in 1981, while he was still in graduate school. He became a director of the Monthly Review Foundation Board and joined the magazine's editorial committee in 1989.
In 2000, Foster became a co-editor of Monthly Review. He worked alongside Paul Sweezy and Harry Magdoff. Two years later, he became the president of the Monthly Review Foundation. After Paul Sweezy passed away in 2004 and Harry Magdoff in 2006, Foster became the main editor of the magazine.
Main Ideas and Books
Foster's early work focused on how capitalism develops and the idea of monopoly capital. This is when a few very large companies have a lot of control over the economy. He wrote books like The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism about these ideas.
Ecology and the Environment
In the late 1980s, Foster started focusing on environmental issues. He looked at how global environmental problems are connected to problems in the capitalist economy. He believes we need a more sustainable, socialist way of living to protect the planet.
During this time, he wrote The Vulnerable Planet: A Short Economic History of the Environment. He also wrote an important article called "Marx's Theory of Metabolic Rift." This article introduced the idea of "metabolic rift," which means the growing disconnect between human society and nature. This idea became very influential. His book Marx's Ecology: Materialism and Nature also explored these themes. This work earned him awards for his contributions to environmental sociology. He then wrote Ecology Against Capitalism, which criticized capitalist economics from an environmental point of view.
Capitalism and Global Politics
As editor of Monthly Review, Foster returned to studying the political economy of capitalism. After the events of September 2001, he focused on the role of U.S. foreign policy. His 2006 book Naked Imperialism looked at why the U.S. military was becoming more active around the world.
Foster has also expanded on the idea of monopoly capital. He calls the current phase of capitalism "monopoly-finance Capital." This means that making money from financial activities, like investments, has become very important. He has written several books about how capitalism has become more focused on finance and about the 2008 financial crisis.
Science and Philosophy
Foster also co-authored a book called Critique of Intelligent Design. In this book, he and his co-authors defend a scientific way of looking at the world. They argue against ideas like Intelligent Design, which suggest that life is too complex to have developed naturally. Foster connects these ideas to ancient Greek philosophy and the work of Karl Marx.
His book The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology (2020) won an award called the Deutscher Memorial Prize. In this book, Foster explores how thinkers and scientists, from people like William Morris and Friedrich Engels to Rachel Carson, have tried to understand the relationship between humans and nature. They looked at how capitalism affects this relationship.
See also
In Spanish: John Bellamy Foster para niños
- Eco-socialism
- Environmental sociology
- Metabolic rift
- Social metabolism
