By building on new approaches to regulation theory, that emerged in the late 1970s and explained the functioning of capitalist structures and processes through accumulation regimes, regulation, and crisis, the author critically questions the classical approach as well as its adaptation to various other social science theory approaches, such as the neo-Gramscian. From the perspective of development research and by considering different examples of contemporary processes of social transformation and emancipatory experiments in Latin America, the author points out that regulation theory remains a valuable basis for analysing contemporary capitalism; however, a shift of emphasis is necessary.