Principles of Biopolitical Economics
Pengpeng Liu
Abstract
Principles of Biopolitical Economics proposes a theoretical framework that analogizes the structure and functioning of human societies to the biochemical organization of living organisms. Pengpeng Liu argues that just as proteins, nucleic acids, saccharides, lipids, and membranes coordinate life processes, their conceptual counterparts (people, social relations, currency, capital), and means of production — (shape economic and political activity). Drawing on molecular biology, the article suggests that societies can be viewed as multi-level organisms with autonomous forms of “collective consciousness,” whose stability and efficiency depend on fitness, specialization, and regulated resource flow. Liu contrasts this approach with Foucault’s biopolitics, emphasizing instead a bidirectional, illustrative (but not repetitive) comparison between biological and social systems. Positioned explicitly within a Marxist political standpoint, biopolitical economics aims to clarify how labor division, class structures, and material conditions determine the evolution, resilience, and contradictions of complex economic entities.
Keywords
Marxism, political economy, systems theory, means of production, class structure, labor division, material conditions, biopolitics, China, socialism, Pengpeng Liu
