Book Review: Analyzing Haiven's Crises of Imagination and Power

This book review analyzes Max Haiven's 'Crises of Imagination, Crises of Power: Capitalism, Creativity and the Commons', published in 2014. The review explores the core arguments of the book, which examines the ongoing conflict between financial interests, societal well-being, and environmental sustainability. It discusses the impact of capitalism on human values, work ethics, and the planet, highlighting issues such as inequality, climate change, and the role of governments and social movements. The review also touches on the book's critique of global value systems and the challenges in balancing individual desires with collective well-being. It summarizes the factors affecting the future of work, including imperialism, globalization, and gender disparities. The review concludes by emphasizing the book's contribution to understanding the crises of imagination and power within the context of capitalism and creativity, pointing out the need for greater attention to the commonness related to capitalism.

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Crises of imagination, crises of power- capitalism, creativity and the commons by Max
Haiven
The book was first published in 2014 by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF, UK
and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA.
The book begins with few lines from Cohen’s, ‘The Energy of Slaves’ which throws light
on the fact that there is an ongoing war between money and our planet, people and capital and
stupidity associated with greed along with the flexible originality of human race (Haiven, 2014).
It can be mentioned after a giving a thorough reading of the book that some day in the future the
people will destroy their own planet for the sake of profit. It might happen that ‘the body or soul
of the people’ can be disrupted as a result of working on a ‘baseless and tyrannical task’. This
can be criticized on the basis of Sandberg (2000) that people had always thought of building a
fair and just world by utilizing the government norms along with the help of technological tools.
But it was contradicted that people tend to work less and enjoy more leisurely life. This is
because the people get de- motivated as a result of exhaustion for working less long hours.
The issues in general with the planet evolve around ‘inequality, climate crisis and war
and militarism’. If work can be considered as a solution in this case then people should start
working in a ‘smart and hard way’ so that a new and modified planet can be developed. At this
juncture, the question might arise that what can be considered as good for the people. It was
gathered from the book that sometimes people have to make negotiation between their moral and
happiness and comfort and survival which becomes unbearable for survival (Borodulin et al.,
2016). The writer had mentioned in his write- up that an individual has to be extremely fortunate
or else greedy because the most beloved belongings of an individual’s life is determined by

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capitalism directly or indirectly. The matter of concern is that capitalism has fallen in the trap of
crisis which is intrinsic and infinite. But the crisis has not taken place due to lack of ‘government
regulation or individual greed but it is the lack of global value’. Thus, it can be confirmed that
what is good for an individual depends on his ideals and values. For saving the economy as well
as the planet, the goals must be amended by putting a ‘higher value on the life quality’ and not
focusing on the consumption of quantity of goods (Layland, Hill & Nelson, 2017).
The solution to the issue mentioned above is being resisted against progress and social
movements. The polluters and the profiteers from this social issue are pushing their priorities by
moving ahead of the government through ‘tax cutting, deregulation and privatization’ (Toepoel,
2013). The instance of the new president of USA, Donald Trump was used in the course to
highlight if his tactics and strategies will backfire. The outcome of the shock tactics can either
demoralize people or encourage them. Thus, it can be said as a preventive measure resistance
cannot be the best option. It can be used whenever necessary but there should be a better plan as
an alternative in order to be constructive (Stebbins, 2015).
To summarize the readings of the book, the factors that hamper the future of work are
‘imperialism, colonialism, staples trade, immigration, globalization, government role and gender
and racial disparities’. ‘The struggle between capital and labor is decisive’ and influences the
politics of different countries and the lives of the working people which is counter argued with
industrial pollution being responsible for destroying the planet. From bringing the debate to a
temporary halt the book has been helpful in providing the necessary information about the failure
world leaders’ assembly on one hand and the ‘evolution of a number of crises’ at different point.
The book has marvelously portrayed the relevant factors of imagination and power crises in
association with capitalism and creativity. The commonness related to capitalism needed more

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attention in the book to make the reading richer for the readers. Moreover, the author was still
struggling to find the ‘rhetoric of values’ for developing a theory on the variance of values
among the living and non- living objects.

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Reference
Borodulin, K., Sipilä, N., Rahkonen, O., Leino-Arjas, P., Kestilä, L., Jousilahti, P., & Prättälä, R.
(2016). Socio-demographic and behavioral variation in barriers to leisure-time physical
activity. Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine, 44(1), 62-69.
Haiven, M. (2014). Crises of imagination, crises of power: Capitalism, creativity and the
commons. Zed Books Ltd..
Layland, E. K., Hill, B. J., & Nelson, L. J. (2017). Freedom to explore the self: How emerging
adults use leisure to develop identity. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1-14.
Sandberg, J. (2000). Understanding human competence at work: an interpretative
approach. Academy of management journal, 43(1), 9-25.
Stebbins, R. A. (2015). Between work and leisure: The common ground of two separate worlds.
Transaction Publishers.
Toepoel, V. (2013). Ageing, leisure, and social connectedness: how could leisure help reduce
social isolation of older people?. Social indicators research, 113(1), 355-372.