Marxism, Class Analysis and Socialist Pluralism (RLE Marxism)
Marxism, Class Analysis and Socialist Pluralism (RLE Marxism)

Author: Les Johnston

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-04-17

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1317502612

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This book, first published in 1986, presents a radical challenge to socialist orthodoxy, subjecting a key component of that orthodoxy – Marxism – to sustained criticism. Les Johnston argues that Marxism cannot provide the foundations for a rigorous socialist theory or an effective socialist politics. A fundamental element of this criticism is the suggestion that the problem of ‘reductionism’ which has preoccupied Marxists is a red herring. Marxism’s problem is not its reductionism but its theoretical incoherence. Marxism is not ‘deterministic’, for there is invariably an indeterminate relationship between the materialism it invokes and the forms of politics it adopts. However, materialism is an obstacle to socialist theory. The contradictions and failures of Marxist class analysis suggest that the class concept is inadequate to the demands that socialists continue to place on it. It is not merely class which is problematic, however, but the conception of political interests which is associated with it. Even recent Marxist ‘revisionists’ who dispense with class primacy are unwilling to come to terms with the question of how socialist political interests are constituted. Socialist theory has to recognise the varied forces and interests on ‘the left’, and an effective socialism will have to be a pluralistic one. This means there can be no general theory of socialism, since a pluralistic socialism has to be able to adjust to varying social conditions.

Marxism, Class Analysis, and Socialist Pluralism
Marxism, Class Analysis, and Socialist Pluralism

Author: Les Johnston

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781315712840

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This book, first published in 1986, presents a radical challenge to socialist orthodoxy, subjecting a key component of that orthodoxy - Marxism - to sustained criticism. Les Johnston argues that Marxism cannot provide the foundations for a rigorous socialist theory or an effective socialist politics. A fundamental element of this criticism is the suggestion that the problem of 'reductionism' which has preoccupied Marxists is a red herring. Marxism's problem is not its reductionism but its theoretical incoherence. Marxism is not 'deterministic', for there is invariably an indeterminate relation.

Marx's Proletariat (RLE Marxism)
Marx's Proletariat (RLE Marxism)

Author: David W. Lovell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-04-24

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1317497783

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George Orwell wrote in Nineteen Eighty Four that ‘If there is hope, it lies in the proles.’ A century earlier Marx was unequivocal: the future belonged to the proletariat. Today such confidence might seem misplaced. The proletariat has not yet fulfilled Marx’s expectations, and seems unlikely ever to do so. How could Marx have entertained the notion that the proletariat would emancipate humanity from capitalism and from class rule itself? This book, first published in 1988, attempts an explanation by examining the sources and development of Marx’s concept of the proletariat. It contends that this was not only a crucial element in Marx’s theory but a significant departure in socialist thought. By examining this concept in detail the book uncovers a major contradiction in Marxian thought: although the proletariat is assigned a momentous task it is chiefly depicted as the class of suffering which is why, historically, it has preferred security to enterprise.

Marx and the New Individual (RLE Marxism)
Marx and the New Individual (RLE Marxism)

Author: Ian Forbes

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-04-17

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 131750321X

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In what is the first sustained analysis of Marx’s attitude to the puzzle of the individual in history and society, this book, first published in 1990, challenges received views on the importance of class analysis and the place of a theory of human nature in Marx’s thought. The radical possibilities of individual agency in society are explored within a Marxian framework, and without recourse to the current fashions of methodological individualism or rational choice theory. In the context of the apparent antagonism between collectivist and individualist approaches to political explanation and social change, the author establishes that a ‘New Individual’, of singular importance for the understanding of contemporary society, can be identified. For the first time, the Grundrisse provides the basis of a major analysis of Marx’s thoughts on the individual. By illustrating the nature of the connections between collective existence and individual experience, Ian Forbes makes an important contribution towards the revitalization of socialist thought. He also develops a valuable counterpoint to rational actor models of politics and liberal theories of justice alike, by establishing the importance of a political theory that values human agency as much as it understands social and historical processes.

Marxism, Class Analysis and Socialist Pluralism (RLE Marxism)
Marxism, Class Analysis and Socialist Pluralism (RLE Marxism)

Author: Les Johnston

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-04-17

Total Pages: 149

ISBN-13: 1317502604

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This book, first published in 1986, presents a radical challenge to socialist orthodoxy, subjecting a key component of that orthodoxy – Marxism – to sustained criticism. Les Johnston argues that Marxism cannot provide the foundations for a rigorous socialist theory or an effective socialist politics. A fundamental element of this criticism is the suggestion that the problem of ‘reductionism’ which has preoccupied Marxists is a red herring. Marxism’s problem is not its reductionism but its theoretical incoherence. Marxism is not ‘deterministic’, for there is invariably an indeterminate relationship between the materialism it invokes and the forms of politics it adopts. However, materialism is an obstacle to socialist theory. The contradictions and failures of Marxist class analysis suggest that the class concept is inadequate to the demands that socialists continue to place on it. It is not merely class which is problematic, however, but the conception of political interests which is associated with it. Even recent Marxist ‘revisionists’ who dispense with class primacy are unwilling to come to terms with the question of how socialist political interests are constituted. Socialist theory has to recognise the varied forces and interests on ‘the left’, and an effective socialism will have to be a pluralistic one. This means there can be no general theory of socialism, since a pluralistic socialism has to be able to adjust to varying social conditions.

Marxism (RLE Marxism)
Marxism (RLE Marxism)

Author: George Lichtheim

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-05-08

Total Pages: 435

ISBN-13: 1317497007

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This book, first published in 1961 and revised in 1964, is both a critical study of a body of thought and an historical account of how Marxist theory arose from the context of European history in the 19th century. It traces the development of socialist thought from the French to the Russian Revolutions and attempts to show in what manner the political and intellectual problems of Central Europe between 1848 and 1948 came to dominate the theory and practice of that Marxist movement which formed the crucial link between the two revolutions. The author takes the view that Marxism is a movement and a body of doctrine which belongs essentially to the 19th century, which came to an end with the First World War and the Russian Revolution, and that its impact as a doctrine has now been absorbed.

Marxism and Social Science
Marxism and Social Science

Author: David Marsh

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 9780252068164

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Has Marxism ceased to be part of our political present and future? Has its theory or doctrine anything to contribute to our understanding of the new millennium? In these original, commissioned essays, the contributors argue that Marxism continues as a living tradition. They show how it still engages with other theoretical positions, how it has evolved in response to both these engagements and contemporary world changes, and they assess its relevance and contribution to modern social science.

Marxism, Pluralism and Beyond
Marxism, Pluralism and Beyond

Author: Gregor McLennan

Publisher: Polity

Published: 1991-01-08

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 9780745603513

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In this book, Gregor McLennan examines developments in two of the most central traditions of social and political theory - Marxism and pluralism - and asks whether the relation between them is one of progressive convergence. McLennan begins by considering conceptual and empirical shifts in each tradition since their more orthodox or classical formulations. In a closely interwoven argument, he then traces the sociological, philosophical and political debates between these perspectives. The issue of class, for instance, highlights the challenges which the Marxist tradition has had to face, as the pivotal role of the proletariat has increasingly come into question. Equally, pluralists have had to accept that pervasive structural divisions - including class, race and gender, for example - shape political and social interaction. A further major issue is considered: in the current climate of `postmodern' thought is the entire debate between Marxism and pluralism now outmoded? In a series of critical assessments of positions which attempt to go `beyond' Marxism/pluralism, McLennan argues that the central tensions and positions within this classic dialogue have not yet been superceded.