THE NEW CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC AND THE METABOLIC CONTRADICTIONS OF CAPITAL

Abstract

The aim of the article is to characterize the historical context in which the new coronavirus pandemic emerged and its organic links with the metabolic contradictions of capital. At first, these critical reflections stemmed from our study of work and human aging in the 21st century, carried out in 2018 at the postdoctoral stage at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). At that time, we were discussing the impacts on the world of work of global population aging due to falling fertility rates in countries around the world. The new demographic metabolism indicates that the 21st century will be the century of aging of human populations, expanding what we call “gerontariat”, the new social layer of the proletariat in the era of global capitalism in its phase of structural crisis.