Housing Provision and Class Relations Under Capitalism: Comment on Christophers and Aalbers

Brett Christophers and Manuel Aalbers have offered a spirited argument for developing a political economic analysis of housing in contemporary capitalist societies. More ambitiously, they claim that housing - as both use value and exchange value - occupies such a pivotal position in the capitalist economy that its exclusion or decentring impoverishes political economy as a valid scientific project. The first claim is relatively uncontroversial, since similar claims have been made over the past 40 years or so. The second claim is more contentious and requires some teasing out. My comments below attempt to cast some light on both strands of their argument.