ON THE CONCEPTION OF FINANCIAL CAPITAL AND DEMOCRACY

Abstract

Our objective is to investigate the conception of financial capital, from the theory of Karl Marx and theories influenced by his thought, and its relation with democracy. It approximates the notion of financial capital, a paradoxical notion in political economy, an investigation of its relationship and influence in the context of democracy, politics and the State. In this sense, we raise aspects of Marx's critique of capitalism by analyzing the conception of fictitious capital and interest-bearing capital. The unfolding of this theory in Hilferding and this author's contribution in theorizing the concept of financial capital and its hegemony in the early twentieth century. In addition, we approach a second moment of hegemony of finance capital from 1970 onwards, with neoliberalism and its policy of liberalization and deregulation, which resulted in the capture of the State via public debt, the financialization of investment choices, a series of measures against workers worldwide. In Brazil, this program will promote a movement of deindustrialization, reprimarization of the economy and fiscal austerity, which has accentuated the forced exploitation of Brazilian workers and an increasingly precarious condition of existence, which interferes in the modes of subjectivation.