ABSTRACT

The term ‘COVID capitalism’ designates the ways capitalism and the novel coronavirus alter and amplify one another. In this paper, I look at four major features that characterize this relationship so far. (1) Capitalist extraction and urbanization increase exposure to new viruses. (2) Capitalism increases the spread of infectious disease. (3) COVID amplifies inequalities that benefit capitalists. (4) COVID has led to profits, bailouts, and deregulation for capitalists.

The increasing frequency of COVID and other pandemics not only amplifies existing capitalist structures but feeds back into those structures and becomes an advantage to capitalism. I argue here that COVID is not a threat to capitalism but rather a mutagen altering and magnifying it.

摘要

“COVID 资本主义”一词指的是资本主义和新型冠状病毒相互改变和放大的方式。在本文中，我着眼于迄今为止表征这种关系的四个主要特征。(1) 资本主义抽取和城市化增加了对新病毒的接触。(2) 资本主义加剧了传染病的传播。(3) COVID 扩大了有利于资本家的不平等现象。(4) COVID 为资本家带来了利润、救助和放松管制。

COVID 和其他流行病的频率增加不仅放大了现有的资本主义结构，而且反馈到这些结构中并成为资本主义的优势。我在这里争辩说，COVID 不是对资本主义的威胁，而是改变和放大它的诱变剂。