Social Formation in Bangladesh: An Essay on The Political Economy of State, Class and Capitalism

The paper offers a theoretical discussion on the social formation in Bangladesh. Taking a political economic approach, it traces the role of the British Raj (1757- 1947) in reshaping the Indian socio-economic and political structures through exploitation, plundering, and exclusion. Then the paper focuses on the Pakistan period (1947-71) to examine how Pakistan, as a newly born state, played a significant role to reconstruct its class and capitalism. During the Pakistan period, we notice that West Pakistan tended to colonize East Pakistan and exploited the latter economically, politically, and socially. In West Pakistan, a capitalist class thrived on the process of capital accumulation from East Pakistan through plundering wealth and resources and appropriating potential surpluses. Finally, the paper explores the formation of state, class and capitalism in Bangladesh since 1971. It shows that the present pattern of state formation is the product of colonial rule as well as the penetration of neoliberal economic policies. The paper stresses that the “businessmen-politician oligarchy” creates a “political mode of production” which determines the state-class relationship, dominates capitalist relations and reshapes social structure through its own image.