Chris Wickham (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264034
- eISBN:
- 9780191734601
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264034.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
Since 1989, there have been many claims that Marxist approaches to history are out of date, but history has not stopped, and historical change continues to need explanation. There is still plenty of ...
More
Since 1989, there have been many claims that Marxist approaches to history are out of date, but history has not stopped, and historical change continues to need explanation. There is still plenty of space for structural analysis of how history in all periods develops, and a Marxism un-linked to the Soviet past offers to many the most rigorous of these approaches. This volume explores from a wide variety of perspectives what Marxism has done for history-writing, and what it can, or cannot, still do. Eight historians and social scientists give their perspectives, both from Marxist and from non-Marxist positions, on history and what role Marxist analysis has in it.Less
Since 1989, there have been many claims that Marxist approaches to history are out of date, but history has not stopped, and historical change continues to need explanation. There is still plenty of space for structural analysis of how history in all periods develops, and a Marxism un-linked to the Soviet past offers to many the most rigorous of these approaches. This volume explores from a wide variety of perspectives what Marxism has done for history-writing, and what it can, or cannot, still do. Eight historians and social scientists give their perspectives, both from Marxist and from non-Marxist positions, on history and what role Marxist analysis has in it.
Rabindra Ray
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198077381
- eISBN:
- 9780199081011
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077381.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter argues that the meaning the doctrine of the Naxalites appears to have for non-believers is different from what it had for the believers. This is patently indicated by the programme of ...
More
This chapter argues that the meaning the doctrine of the Naxalites appears to have for non-believers is different from what it had for the believers. This is patently indicated by the programme of agrarian revolution linked to a policy of urban terror. Observers, sympathetic to the Naxalites, have upbraided them for their policy of ‘individual terror’, and have pointed out its incompatibility with the mass line entailed in the Marxist–Leninist theory of revolution to which the Naxalites vowed allegiance. The humanitarian appeal of the Naxalites is not only at odds with their inhuman methods, but with the experience of their own humanity. Their defence of communist dogma only develops as an attack on communist history and communist organizations. Their positive vision, that of Chairman’s China, is only fleshed out as the negativity of Revolution and the abyss of terror.Less
This chapter argues that the meaning the doctrine of the Naxalites appears to have for non-believers is different from what it had for the believers. This is patently indicated by the programme of agrarian revolution linked to a policy of urban terror. Observers, sympathetic to the Naxalites, have upbraided them for their policy of ‘individual terror’, and have pointed out its incompatibility with the mass line entailed in the Marxist–Leninist theory of revolution to which the Naxalites vowed allegiance. The humanitarian appeal of the Naxalites is not only at odds with their inhuman methods, but with the experience of their own humanity. Their defence of communist dogma only develops as an attack on communist history and communist organizations. Their positive vision, that of Chairman’s China, is only fleshed out as the negativity of Revolution and the abyss of terror.
Philip J. M. Sturgess
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198119548
- eISBN:
- 9780191671173
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198119548.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Defining narrativity as the enabling force of narrative, this is a full-length exploration of the concept in fiction. It develops the notion of a ‘logic of narrativity’, and by this means contributes ...
More
Defining narrativity as the enabling force of narrative, this is a full-length exploration of the concept in fiction. It develops the notion of a ‘logic of narrativity’, and by this means contributes a new critical strategy to the field of narrative theory. The book also takes issue with a number of critical approaches which have in recent years acquired near-orthodox status in the matter of textual interpretation. Most prominent among these approaches are deconstruction and a particular form of Marxist criticism. The author's own theoretical claims are substantiated by readings of major 20th-century novels by Conrad, Joyce, Flann O'Brien, and Arthur Koestler, and the book concludes with an analysis of an earlier narrative, Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, which illustrates the wider premises of the theory and its applications.Less
Defining narrativity as the enabling force of narrative, this is a full-length exploration of the concept in fiction. It develops the notion of a ‘logic of narrativity’, and by this means contributes a new critical strategy to the field of narrative theory. The book also takes issue with a number of critical approaches which have in recent years acquired near-orthodox status in the matter of textual interpretation. Most prominent among these approaches are deconstruction and a particular form of Marxist criticism. The author's own theoretical claims are substantiated by readings of major 20th-century novels by Conrad, Joyce, Flann O'Brien, and Arthur Koestler, and the book concludes with an analysis of an earlier narrative, Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, which illustrates the wider premises of the theory and its applications.
Joseph V. Femia
- Published in print:
- 1987
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198275435
- eISBN:
- 9780191684128
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198275435.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The unifying idea of Antonio Gramsci's famous Prison Notebooks is the concept of hegemony. In this study of these fragmentary writings this book elucidates the precise character of this concept, ...
More
The unifying idea of Antonio Gramsci's famous Prison Notebooks is the concept of hegemony. In this study of these fragmentary writings this book elucidates the precise character of this concept, explores its basic philosophical assumptions, and sets out its implications for Gramsci's explanation of social stability and his vision of the revolutionary process. A number of prevalent and often contradictory myths are demolished, and, moreover, certain neglected aspects of his thought are stressed, including the predominant role he attributed to economic factors, the importance he gave to ‘contradictory consciousness’, and the close connection between his political thinking and his fundamental philosophical premises. The book concludes by critically examining Gramsci's novel solutions to three long-standing problems for Marxist theory: the reasons why the Western working class has not carried out its revolutionary mission; determining the appropriate strategy for a Marxist party working within an advanced capitalist framework; and what are the reasons behind the failure of existing socialist states in their task of liberation?Less
The unifying idea of Antonio Gramsci's famous Prison Notebooks is the concept of hegemony. In this study of these fragmentary writings this book elucidates the precise character of this concept, explores its basic philosophical assumptions, and sets out its implications for Gramsci's explanation of social stability and his vision of the revolutionary process. A number of prevalent and often contradictory myths are demolished, and, moreover, certain neglected aspects of his thought are stressed, including the predominant role he attributed to economic factors, the importance he gave to ‘contradictory consciousness’, and the close connection between his political thinking and his fundamental philosophical premises. The book concludes by critically examining Gramsci's novel solutions to three long-standing problems for Marxist theory: the reasons why the Western working class has not carried out its revolutionary mission; determining the appropriate strategy for a Marxist party working within an advanced capitalist framework; and what are the reasons behind the failure of existing socialist states in their task of liberation?
Ira Katznelson
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198279242
- eISBN:
- 9780191601910
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279248.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The previous chapter showed that neither David Harvey nor Manuel Castells in the early 1980s tackled the limitations of Marxist urban studies persuasively, each in his own way abandoning the project ...
More
The previous chapter showed that neither David Harvey nor Manuel Castells in the early 1980s tackled the limitations of Marxist urban studies persuasively, each in his own way abandoning the project of Marxist social theory, whose central questions concern the joining together of structure and agency in a single hand. This chapter presents an analysis of the route taken by Friedrich Engels in his early work on cities in The Condition of the Working Class in England; in his compressed discussion of Manchester and other early industrial revolution urban centres, Engels blazed a road that has not been travelled either by Marxism or by students of the city, and identified mechanisms that connect structure and agency. The provocative union of Marxism and the city proposed by Engels had nothing to say about the history, character, and activities of national states. His contribution, rather, lies in the way he raised fundamental questions in three dimensions that correspond to each of Marx's theoretical projects: (1) questions about the linkages between large‐scale processes, principally the development of capitalism, and the emergence of the modern capitalist city; (2) questions about the linkages between the city as a point in the accumulation process and its internal forms; and (3) questions about the linkages between these forms and the development of class and group consciousness. These are the tasks entailed in joining Marxism and the city, and these are the questions explored in the remaining chapters of the book.Less
The previous chapter showed that neither David Harvey nor Manuel Castells in the early 1980s tackled the limitations of Marxist urban studies persuasively, each in his own way abandoning the project of Marxist social theory, whose central questions concern the joining together of structure and agency in a single hand. This chapter presents an analysis of the route taken by Friedrich Engels in his early work on cities in The Condition of the Working Class in England; in his compressed discussion of Manchester and other early industrial revolution urban centres, Engels blazed a road that has not been travelled either by Marxism or by students of the city, and identified mechanisms that connect structure and agency. The provocative union of Marxism and the city proposed by Engels had nothing to say about the history, character, and activities of national states. His contribution, rather, lies in the way he raised fundamental questions in three dimensions that correspond to each of Marx's theoretical projects: (1) questions about the linkages between large‐scale processes, principally the development of capitalism, and the emergence of the modern capitalist city; (2) questions about the linkages between the city as a point in the accumulation process and its internal forms; and (3) questions about the linkages between these forms and the development of class and group consciousness. These are the tasks entailed in joining Marxism and the city, and these are the questions explored in the remaining chapters of the book.
Axel Honneth
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320466
- eISBN:
- 9780199851591
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320466.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
In the early 20th century, Marxist theory was enriched and rejuvenated by adopting the concept of reification, introduced by the Hungarian theorist Georg Lukács to identify and denounce the ...
More
In the early 20th century, Marxist theory was enriched and rejuvenated by adopting the concept of reification, introduced by the Hungarian theorist Georg Lukács to identify and denounce the transformation of historical processes into ahistorical entities, human actions into things that seemed part of an immutable “second nature.” For a variety of reasons, both theoretical and practical, the hopes placed in de-reification as a tool of revolutionary emancipation proved vain. This book attempts to rescue the concept of reification by recasting it in terms of the philosophy of recognition that has been developed over the past two decades. Three political and social theorists: Judith Butler, Raymond Geuss, and Jonathan Lear, respond with hard questions about the central anthropological premise of the book's main argument, the assumption that prior to cognition there is a fundamental experience of intersubjective recognition that can provide a normative standard by which current social relations can be judged wanting.Less
In the early 20th century, Marxist theory was enriched and rejuvenated by adopting the concept of reification, introduced by the Hungarian theorist Georg Lukács to identify and denounce the transformation of historical processes into ahistorical entities, human actions into things that seemed part of an immutable “second nature.” For a variety of reasons, both theoretical and practical, the hopes placed in de-reification as a tool of revolutionary emancipation proved vain. This book attempts to rescue the concept of reification by recasting it in terms of the philosophy of recognition that has been developed over the past two decades. Three political and social theorists: Judith Butler, Raymond Geuss, and Jonathan Lear, respond with hard questions about the central anthropological premise of the book's main argument, the assumption that prior to cognition there is a fundamental experience of intersubjective recognition that can provide a normative standard by which current social relations can be judged wanting.
Denise Meyerson
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198248194
- eISBN:
- 9780191681073
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198248194.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This book is concerned with both analytical philosophy of mind and Marxist philosophy. Marxists see pervasive irrationality in the conduct of human affairs, and claim that people in a class-divided ...
More
This book is concerned with both analytical philosophy of mind and Marxist philosophy. Marxists see pervasive irrationality in the conduct of human affairs, and claim that people in a class-divided society are prone to a variety of misconceptions. They say that we can suffer from ‘false consciousness’ in our views about what inspires our behaviour and in our judgements about what is good for us. This book uses the techniques of analytical philosophy to investigate this picture. It argues that Marxism is committed to the idea of motivated belief, and that the idea is philosophically defensible. The book shows that there are other philosophically defensible claims which are congenial to Marxism: that there are facts about interests that are not based on wants; that a desire can be contaminated by its history; that our judgements about our interests do not automatically motivate us; and that beliefs can survive the evidence that they are false. In doing so this book throws light on certain puzzling psychological phenomena, which confront everyone in their everyday political experience.Less
This book is concerned with both analytical philosophy of mind and Marxist philosophy. Marxists see pervasive irrationality in the conduct of human affairs, and claim that people in a class-divided society are prone to a variety of misconceptions. They say that we can suffer from ‘false consciousness’ in our views about what inspires our behaviour and in our judgements about what is good for us. This book uses the techniques of analytical philosophy to investigate this picture. It argues that Marxism is committed to the idea of motivated belief, and that the idea is philosophically defensible. The book shows that there are other philosophically defensible claims which are congenial to Marxism: that there are facts about interests that are not based on wants; that a desire can be contaminated by its history; that our judgements about our interests do not automatically motivate us; and that beliefs can survive the evidence that they are false. In doing so this book throws light on certain puzzling psychological phenomena, which confront everyone in their everyday political experience.
Ira Katznelson
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198279242
- eISBN:
- 9780191601910
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279248.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This introductory chapter starts by discussing the vast array of definitions and typologies of the city and the many specifications of the objects of urban studies (geography, sociology, politics, ...
More
This introductory chapter starts by discussing the vast array of definitions and typologies of the city and the many specifications of the objects of urban studies (geography, sociology, politics, urban economics, etc.) that are symptomatic of uncertainty not only as to whether the social sciences possess the necessary tools to analyse cities, but also as to whether the city, both as an empirical and theoretical concept, constitutes a coherent entity. It is suggested that a critique is needed of the tradition in Western social theory that tries to apprehend the partial elements of the city within an approach that treats modernity in terms of differentiation, and that Marxism's claim that it can illuminate studies of the city is precisely because it uses wide‐spanning and comprehensive concepts and hypotheses about the shape of history. The next section of the chapter looks at the differences between Marxism and the differentiation approaches to cities in the company of Max Weber, whose analysis was grounded in the large‐scale processes that underpin urban development; it also discusses the views of some of his contemporaries. The final section examines the specific content of Marxist social theory/analysis that stresses social processes and relationships, and counterposes the differentiation problematic in the analysis of cities. It also discusses the urban omissions within Marxism, and work done later (in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Henri Lefebvre, Manuel Castells, and David Harvey) that reinvigorated the urban conversation within Marxism.Less
This introductory chapter starts by discussing the vast array of definitions and typologies of the city and the many specifications of the objects of urban studies (geography, sociology, politics, urban economics, etc.) that are symptomatic of uncertainty not only as to whether the social sciences possess the necessary tools to analyse cities, but also as to whether the city, both as an empirical and theoretical concept, constitutes a coherent entity. It is suggested that a critique is needed of the tradition in Western social theory that tries to apprehend the partial elements of the city within an approach that treats modernity in terms of differentiation, and that Marxism's claim that it can illuminate studies of the city is precisely because it uses wide‐spanning and comprehensive concepts and hypotheses about the shape of history. The next section of the chapter looks at the differences between Marxism and the differentiation approaches to cities in the company of Max Weber, whose analysis was grounded in the large‐scale processes that underpin urban development; it also discusses the views of some of his contemporaries. The final section examines the specific content of Marxist social theory/analysis that stresses social processes and relationships, and counterposes the differentiation problematic in the analysis of cities. It also discusses the urban omissions within Marxism, and work done later (in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Henri Lefebvre, Manuel Castells, and David Harvey) that reinvigorated the urban conversation within Marxism.
Ira Katznelson
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198279242
- eISBN:
- 9780191601910
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279248.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The first of the two main sections of this chapter discusses Marx's goal and the elements of a Marxist tradition, and presents the views of various later scholars (David Little, Steven Lukes, Alvin ...
More
The first of the two main sections of this chapter discusses Marx's goal and the elements of a Marxist tradition, and presents the views of various later scholars (David Little, Steven Lukes, Alvin Goulder, Edward Thompson, Leonard Krieger, Georg Lukács, Antonio Gramsci, and others) on these elements. The three distinctive but inter‐related projects elaborated in Marx's aim of reconstructing the post‐capitalist world are examined in detail: the construction of a theory of history to account for the change between epochs on the largest possible scale, which focuses on the struggles between social classes within the twin frame of the development of the forces of production, and the nature of the relationships joining people in the social features of the production process; the building of a model of the economy within the capitalist epoch; and the construction of a social theory capable of inventing explanations about specific capitalist societies (the focus of most of this book). Gramsci elaborated on the most promising lines of inquiry embedded in Marx's historical writings to develop the base–superstructure distinction as a complex web of relations in which the economic, political, and cultural elements of a situation are interconnected, and in which the historicity of social structure is made central. The final section of the chapter explores these issues of Marxist social theory in the work of Edward Thompson, Raymond Williams, Eric Hobsbawm, and G. A. Cohen (who demonstrate the repertoire of alternative theoretical moves developed since Gramsci), and points out that the capacity of Marxism to provide an attractive alternative to the differentiation problematic in studies of the city hinges on the character and persuasiveness of these linkages. In the concluding discussion, the author returns to the issue of the capaciousness of Marxist theory.Less
The first of the two main sections of this chapter discusses Marx's goal and the elements of a Marxist tradition, and presents the views of various later scholars (David Little, Steven Lukes, Alvin Goulder, Edward Thompson, Leonard Krieger, Georg Lukács, Antonio Gramsci, and others) on these elements. The three distinctive but inter‐related projects elaborated in Marx's aim of reconstructing the post‐capitalist world are examined in detail: the construction of a theory of history to account for the change between epochs on the largest possible scale, which focuses on the struggles between social classes within the twin frame of the development of the forces of production, and the nature of the relationships joining people in the social features of the production process; the building of a model of the economy within the capitalist epoch; and the construction of a social theory capable of inventing explanations about specific capitalist societies (the focus of most of this book). Gramsci elaborated on the most promising lines of inquiry embedded in Marx's historical writings to develop the base–superstructure distinction as a complex web of relations in which the economic, political, and cultural elements of a situation are interconnected, and in which the historicity of social structure is made central. The final section of the chapter explores these issues of Marxist social theory in the work of Edward Thompson, Raymond Williams, Eric Hobsbawm, and G. A. Cohen (who demonstrate the repertoire of alternative theoretical moves developed since Gramsci), and points out that the capacity of Marxism to provide an attractive alternative to the differentiation problematic in studies of the city hinges on the character and persuasiveness of these linkages. In the concluding discussion, the author returns to the issue of the capaciousness of Marxist theory.
Ira Katznelson
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198279242
- eISBN:
- 9780191601910
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279248.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The most important urban studies within Marxism since the 1960s are examined by looking at the work of Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, and Manuel Castells, the three most influential recent students of ...
More
The most important urban studies within Marxism since the 1960s are examined by looking at the work of Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, and Manuel Castells, the three most influential recent students of Marxism and the city, who, through the study of the city, have introduced space into the core of one or more of Marxism's three projects. By examining their work, it is possible to assess the current status of the respatialized Marxism they have tried to fashion, and this post‐1960s Marxism of the city has shown how Marxist social theory can powerfully illuminate things urban, and also how an explicitly urban focus can strengthen Marxism as social and empirical theory. The work accomplished in the past quarter‐century has treated Marx's project of understanding epochal change mainly as background to more current events, although it has successfully elaborated and deepened his project of the analysis of capitalism as an economic system. However, in spite of much effort, it has contributed only unsteadily to Marx's project of a social theory for capitalist societies. The limitations of these Marxist urban studies are identified as being due principally to a certain narrowness of subject matter, a lack of engagement with history, and a restrictive treatment of the issues central to, but difficult for, Marxist social theory: base and superstructure, structure and agency, and causal determination, which neither Harvey nor Castells tackled persuasively in their later work in the 1980s.Less
The most important urban studies within Marxism since the 1960s are examined by looking at the work of Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, and Manuel Castells, the three most influential recent students of Marxism and the city, who, through the study of the city, have introduced space into the core of one or more of Marxism's three projects. By examining their work, it is possible to assess the current status of the respatialized Marxism they have tried to fashion, and this post‐1960s Marxism of the city has shown how Marxist social theory can powerfully illuminate things urban, and also how an explicitly urban focus can strengthen Marxism as social and empirical theory. The work accomplished in the past quarter‐century has treated Marx's project of understanding epochal change mainly as background to more current events, although it has successfully elaborated and deepened his project of the analysis of capitalism as an economic system. However, in spite of much effort, it has contributed only unsteadily to Marx's project of a social theory for capitalist societies. The limitations of these Marxist urban studies are identified as being due principally to a certain narrowness of subject matter, a lack of engagement with history, and a restrictive treatment of the issues central to, but difficult for, Marxist social theory: base and superstructure, structure and agency, and causal determination, which neither Harvey nor Castells tackled persuasively in their later work in the 1980s.
Ira Katznelson
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198279242
- eISBN:
- 9780191601910
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279248.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
For Marxism, the main issues of social theory within the industrial phase of capitalism focus on the formation of working classes, and this subject is best treated, in significant measure, as an ...
More
For Marxism, the main issues of social theory within the industrial phase of capitalism focus on the formation of working classes, and this subject is best treated, in significant measure, as an urban one. The spatial requirements of industrial capitalism shaped nineteenth‐century cities – their patterns of growth, interconnections, built environments, and social geographies – and, in turn, the experience of such cities, and attempts to make sense of their properties, were decisive elements in the early histories of Western working classes. The cost to Marxism of its neglect of cities is especially pronounced with regard to these issues, and the new urban Marxism of the 1970s and 1980s has been important precisely because of its attempts to put an end to the tradition's urban and spatial elisions – what Marxist social theory badly requires but has never secured is the systematic inculcation of an urban–geographical imagination into the analysis of working‐class formation. This chapter sketches an example of such an effort, which entails three related steps: a specification of the structural determinants of city growth and development; a presentation of the spatial configurations characteristic of these new spaces; and a systematic, contingent, and comparative account of how the new working classes made sense of these spaces in the different Western countries. It does so by comparing and contrasting the cases of working‐class formation in nineteenth‐century England and the United States, although most of the discussion of spatial reorganization focuses on English cities.Less
For Marxism, the main issues of social theory within the industrial phase of capitalism focus on the formation of working classes, and this subject is best treated, in significant measure, as an urban one. The spatial requirements of industrial capitalism shaped nineteenth‐century cities – their patterns of growth, interconnections, built environments, and social geographies – and, in turn, the experience of such cities, and attempts to make sense of their properties, were decisive elements in the early histories of Western working classes. The cost to Marxism of its neglect of cities is especially pronounced with regard to these issues, and the new urban Marxism of the 1970s and 1980s has been important precisely because of its attempts to put an end to the tradition's urban and spatial elisions – what Marxist social theory badly requires but has never secured is the systematic inculcation of an urban–geographical imagination into the analysis of working‐class formation. This chapter sketches an example of such an effort, which entails three related steps: a specification of the structural determinants of city growth and development; a presentation of the spatial configurations characteristic of these new spaces; and a systematic, contingent, and comparative account of how the new working classes made sense of these spaces in the different Western countries. It does so by comparing and contrasting the cases of working‐class formation in nineteenth‐century England and the United States, although most of the discussion of spatial reorganization focuses on English cities.
Robert Adlington (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265390
- eISBN:
- 9780191760440
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265390.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
With the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, a third of the world's population came to live under communist regimes. Over the next forty years, the lives of most people in the ...
More
With the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, a third of the world's population came to live under communist regimes. Over the next forty years, the lives of most people in the non-communist world were also shaped in some way by communism and the Cold War waged against it. In the cases of many artists, intellectuals, and workers, this involvement was wished and active. Yet while the left-leaning tendencies of western artists have long been recognized, the extent and depth of musicians' involvement in communism specifically has been largely ignored, suppressed, or dismissed as youthful infatuation. This book offers a representative overview of the relation of music and communism outside the communist bloc. Ranging across multiple musical genres, five continents, and seven decades, the nineteen chapters address both prominent musicians who aligned themselves with communism, and the investments in music of a range of communist and radical Marxist organizations (including national Communist Parties, the Black Panther Party, and Maoist and Trotskyist groups in Britain, Germany, and Nepal). In the book's first section, five musicians (Giacomo Manzoni, Ernie Lieberman, Konrad Boehmer, Chris Cutler, and Georgina Born) offer their own, more personal perspectives upon their engagement with communism. The volume as a whole highlights two ‘red strains’ in particular: the irreducible differences of opinion between communists regarding key debates concerning music's role in society; and the multiple challenges faced by every engaged musician in reconciling political and artistic agendas.Less
With the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, a third of the world's population came to live under communist regimes. Over the next forty years, the lives of most people in the non-communist world were also shaped in some way by communism and the Cold War waged against it. In the cases of many artists, intellectuals, and workers, this involvement was wished and active. Yet while the left-leaning tendencies of western artists have long been recognized, the extent and depth of musicians' involvement in communism specifically has been largely ignored, suppressed, or dismissed as youthful infatuation. This book offers a representative overview of the relation of music and communism outside the communist bloc. Ranging across multiple musical genres, five continents, and seven decades, the nineteen chapters address both prominent musicians who aligned themselves with communism, and the investments in music of a range of communist and radical Marxist organizations (including national Communist Parties, the Black Panther Party, and Maoist and Trotskyist groups in Britain, Germany, and Nepal). In the book's first section, five musicians (Giacomo Manzoni, Ernie Lieberman, Konrad Boehmer, Chris Cutler, and Georgina Born) offer their own, more personal perspectives upon their engagement with communism. The volume as a whole highlights two ‘red strains’ in particular: the irreducible differences of opinion between communists regarding key debates concerning music's role in society; and the multiple challenges faced by every engaged musician in reconciling political and artistic agendas.
Philip G. Cerny
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199733699
- eISBN:
- 9780199776740
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199733699.003.0013
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter looks at recent developments in neo-Marxist theory, especially those varieties of Marxism that have, intentionally or inadvertently, introduced more pluralistic or neopluralistic factors ...
More
This chapter looks at recent developments in neo-Marxist theory, especially those varieties of Marxism that have, intentionally or inadvertently, introduced more pluralistic or neopluralistic factors into the analysis. The main focus is on the version of neo-Marxism that looks at the “rescaling of statehood,” that is, those authors who have addressed the problem of globalization by analyzing altered playing fields of various kinds; what has been called the search for a new spatiotemporal fix for capitalism. This version, and other versions, too, bring further into question some of the basic problems of the theory of capitalism itself, especially the Marxist version of the labor theory of value. Marxism may have been out of fashion in the late 20th century and often ignored by academics, but the financial crisis and recession of 2008-2009 revived interest in alternatives to neoliberal globalization. It is argued that basic flaws in the Marxist critique continue to make such attempts problematic.Less
This chapter looks at recent developments in neo-Marxist theory, especially those varieties of Marxism that have, intentionally or inadvertently, introduced more pluralistic or neopluralistic factors into the analysis. The main focus is on the version of neo-Marxism that looks at the “rescaling of statehood,” that is, those authors who have addressed the problem of globalization by analyzing altered playing fields of various kinds; what has been called the search for a new spatiotemporal fix for capitalism. This version, and other versions, too, bring further into question some of the basic problems of the theory of capitalism itself, especially the Marxist version of the labor theory of value. Marxism may have been out of fashion in the late 20th century and often ignored by academics, but the financial crisis and recession of 2008-2009 revived interest in alternatives to neoliberal globalization. It is argued that basic flaws in the Marxist critique continue to make such attempts problematic.
Robert Adlington
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265390
- eISBN:
- 9780191760440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265390.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter sketches key contexts (both global-political and scholarly) for the research presented by this book. By way of introduction to the individual chapters in the book, a number of connecting ...
More
This chapter sketches key contexts (both global-political and scholarly) for the research presented by this book. By way of introduction to the individual chapters in the book, a number of connecting preoccupations are identified: debates over artistic experiment and populism, and over the handling of cultural difference; the diverse motivations for communist organisations to become involved in music, and their anxieties about such an involvement; attempts made to evade the grasp of political and economic structures (state and commerce especially) that communists typically opposed; and experimentation in alternative forms of musical practice that were imagined better to reflect communist ideology. The irreducible plurality of positions staked out by communist musicians and groups is emphasised.Less
This chapter sketches key contexts (both global-political and scholarly) for the research presented by this book. By way of introduction to the individual chapters in the book, a number of connecting preoccupations are identified: debates over artistic experiment and populism, and over the handling of cultural difference; the diverse motivations for communist organisations to become involved in music, and their anxieties about such an involvement; attempts made to evade the grasp of political and economic structures (state and commerce especially) that communists typically opposed; and experimentation in alternative forms of musical practice that were imagined better to reflect communist ideology. The irreducible plurality of positions staked out by communist musicians and groups is emphasised.
Kenneth Routon
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813034836
- eISBN:
- 9780813038858
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034836.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
Despite its hard-nosed emphasis on the demystifying realism of Marxist–Leninist ideology, the political imagery of the Cuban revolution—and the state that followed—conjures up its own magical ...
More
Despite its hard-nosed emphasis on the demystifying realism of Marxist–Leninist ideology, the political imagery of the Cuban revolution—and the state that followed—conjures up its own magical seductions and fantasies of power. This book shows how magic practices and political culture are entangled in Cuba in unusual and intimate ways. He describes not only how the monumentality of the state arouses magical sensibilities and popular images of its hidden powers, but also the ways in which revolutionary officialdom has, in recent years, tacitly embraced and harnessed vernacular fantasies of power to the national agenda. In this analysis, popular culture and the state are deeply entangled within a promiscuous field of power, taking turns siphoning the magic of the other in order to embellish their own fantasies of authority, control, and transformation. This study brings anthropology and history together by examining the relationship between ritual and state power in revolutionary Cuba, paying particular attention to the roles of memory and history in the construction and contestation of shared political imaginaries.Less
Despite its hard-nosed emphasis on the demystifying realism of Marxist–Leninist ideology, the political imagery of the Cuban revolution—and the state that followed—conjures up its own magical seductions and fantasies of power. This book shows how magic practices and political culture are entangled in Cuba in unusual and intimate ways. He describes not only how the monumentality of the state arouses magical sensibilities and popular images of its hidden powers, but also the ways in which revolutionary officialdom has, in recent years, tacitly embraced and harnessed vernacular fantasies of power to the national agenda. In this analysis, popular culture and the state are deeply entangled within a promiscuous field of power, taking turns siphoning the magic of the other in order to embellish their own fantasies of authority, control, and transformation. This study brings anthropology and history together by examining the relationship between ritual and state power in revolutionary Cuba, paying particular attention to the roles of memory and history in the construction and contestation of shared political imaginaries.
Marcia C. Inhorn
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148885
- eISBN:
- 9781400842629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148885.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter argues that any ethnographic study of masculinity must begin with R.W. Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinity. It has been incredibly influential in masculinity research since the ...
More
This chapter argues that any ethnographic study of masculinity must begin with R.W. Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinity. It has been incredibly influential in masculinity research since the 1980s, and has greatly influenced some early work of Egyptian masculinity and sexuality. As the only social constructionist analytic developed specifically for studying masculinity, hegemonic masculinity has been widely used since its 1985 introduction. Drawing explicitly from feminist theory and Marxist sociology, Connell sought to reconcile the lived reality of inequality among men with the fact of men's group dominance over women. This new theory sought to examine hierarchical inequality among men, relate analysis of masculinity to feminist insights on the social construction of gender, and resist the dichotomy of structure versus the individual plaguing contemporary studies of gender and class.Less
This chapter argues that any ethnographic study of masculinity must begin with R.W. Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinity. It has been incredibly influential in masculinity research since the 1980s, and has greatly influenced some early work of Egyptian masculinity and sexuality. As the only social constructionist analytic developed specifically for studying masculinity, hegemonic masculinity has been widely used since its 1985 introduction. Drawing explicitly from feminist theory and Marxist sociology, Connell sought to reconcile the lived reality of inequality among men with the fact of men's group dominance over women. This new theory sought to examine hierarchical inequality among men, relate analysis of masculinity to feminist insights on the social construction of gender, and resist the dichotomy of structure versus the individual plaguing contemporary studies of gender and class.
Kian Tajbakhsh
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520222779
- eISBN:
- 9780520924642
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520222779.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
This book proposes a new theoretical framework for the study of cities and urban life. Finding the contemporary urban scene too complex to be captured by radical or conventional approaches, the book ...
More
This book proposes a new theoretical framework for the study of cities and urban life. Finding the contemporary urban scene too complex to be captured by radical or conventional approaches, the book offers a threefold, interdisciplinary approach linking agency, space, and structure. First, it says, urban identities cannot be understood through individualistic, communitarian, or class perspectives but rather through the shifting spectrum of cultural, political, and economic influences. Second, the layered, unfinished city spaces we inhabit and within which we create meaning are best represented not by the image of bounded physical spaces but rather by overlapping and shifting boundaries. And third, the macro forces shaping urban society include bureaucratic and governmental interventions not captured by a purely economic paradigm. The book examines these dimensions in the work of three major critical urban theorists of recent decades: Manuel Castells, David Harvey, and Ira Katznelson. It shows why the answers offered by Marxian urban theory to the questions of identity, space, and structure are unsatisfactory and why the perspectives of other intellectual traditions such as post-structuralism, feminism, Habermasian Critical Theory, and pragmatism can help us better understand the challenges facing contemporary cities.Less
This book proposes a new theoretical framework for the study of cities and urban life. Finding the contemporary urban scene too complex to be captured by radical or conventional approaches, the book offers a threefold, interdisciplinary approach linking agency, space, and structure. First, it says, urban identities cannot be understood through individualistic, communitarian, or class perspectives but rather through the shifting spectrum of cultural, political, and economic influences. Second, the layered, unfinished city spaces we inhabit and within which we create meaning are best represented not by the image of bounded physical spaces but rather by overlapping and shifting boundaries. And third, the macro forces shaping urban society include bureaucratic and governmental interventions not captured by a purely economic paradigm. The book examines these dimensions in the work of three major critical urban theorists of recent decades: Manuel Castells, David Harvey, and Ira Katznelson. It shows why the answers offered by Marxian urban theory to the questions of identity, space, and structure are unsatisfactory and why the perspectives of other intellectual traditions such as post-structuralism, feminism, Habermasian Critical Theory, and pragmatism can help us better understand the challenges facing contemporary cities.
Alan Ryan
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197262948
- eISBN:
- 9780191734762
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262948.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter focuses on the thought that ‘rational, economic man’ may be a useful figment of the economists’ imagination but is not a useful figment of the social and political theorist’s. After some ...
More
This chapter focuses on the thought that ‘rational, economic man’ may be a useful figment of the economists’ imagination but is not a useful figment of the social and political theorist’s. After some remarks about the strength of individualism in British political thought, the chapter discusses the post-1945 debate over the virtues of ‘methodological individualism’ and its supposed political implications. The argument then begins in earnest with the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Idealist critique of the ‘narrow individualism’ that Idealists believed underlay utilitarianism and earlier forms of liberalism. The discussion also cites some British contributions to the Marxist critique of rational economic man, and ends with a very short discussion of communitarianism.Less
This chapter focuses on the thought that ‘rational, economic man’ may be a useful figment of the economists’ imagination but is not a useful figment of the social and political theorist’s. After some remarks about the strength of individualism in British political thought, the chapter discusses the post-1945 debate over the virtues of ‘methodological individualism’ and its supposed political implications. The argument then begins in earnest with the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Idealist critique of the ‘narrow individualism’ that Idealists believed underlay utilitarianism and earlier forms of liberalism. The discussion also cites some British contributions to the Marxist critique of rational economic man, and ends with a very short discussion of communitarianism.
Oliver Grant
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199276561
- eISBN:
- 9780191706059
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199276561.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Presenting a new view of German history in the late 19th century, the author argues that many of the problems of Imperial Germany were temporary ones produced by the strain of rapid ...
More
Presenting a new view of German history in the late 19th century, the author argues that many of the problems of Imperial Germany were temporary ones produced by the strain of rapid industrialization. Drawing on the tools of development economics he argues that Germany passed through a labour surplus phase as described by the Lewis Model. This period came to an end around 1900, creating more favourable conditions for political reform and social reconciliation. But Germany's progress to full political and economic maturity was derailed at the outbreak of war in 1914. The author bases his argument on an analysis of the economic and demographic forces driving migration in 19th-century Germany. High rural-urban migration led to the rapid expansion of German cities. The main factors driving this were social and economic change in the countryside and the process of the demographic transition. The release of surplus labour onto urban labour markets held back wage increases and led to an increase in inequality. The German economy behaved in a way which seemed to bear out the predictions of Karl Marx, and this contributed to the appeal of Marxist ideas and the rise of the social democratic vote. However, this was a temporary phase. The labour surplus period was largely over by 1900. The rise in inequality which had begun in the 1820s came to an end, and inequality began to fall. Contrary to received wisdom, Germany was not on the brink of a general socio-economic crisis in 1914; instead it was moving away from one. However, the political system failed to take advantage of this opportunity, and Germany's dependence on imported food and raw materials led to a strategic crisis which combined disastrously with internal political problems.Less
Presenting a new view of German history in the late 19th century, the author argues that many of the problems of Imperial Germany were temporary ones produced by the strain of rapid industrialization. Drawing on the tools of development economics he argues that Germany passed through a labour surplus phase as described by the Lewis Model. This period came to an end around 1900, creating more favourable conditions for political reform and social reconciliation. But Germany's progress to full political and economic maturity was derailed at the outbreak of war in 1914. The author bases his argument on an analysis of the economic and demographic forces driving migration in 19th-century Germany. High rural-urban migration led to the rapid expansion of German cities. The main factors driving this were social and economic change in the countryside and the process of the demographic transition. The release of surplus labour onto urban labour markets held back wage increases and led to an increase in inequality. The German economy behaved in a way which seemed to bear out the predictions of Karl Marx, and this contributed to the appeal of Marxist ideas and the rise of the social democratic vote. However, this was a temporary phase. The labour surplus period was largely over by 1900. The rise in inequality which had begun in the 1820s came to an end, and inequality began to fall. Contrary to received wisdom, Germany was not on the brink of a general socio-economic crisis in 1914; instead it was moving away from one. However, the political system failed to take advantage of this opportunity, and Germany's dependence on imported food and raw materials led to a strategic crisis which combined disastrously with internal political problems.
Paul Bowman
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748617623
- eISBN:
- 9780748652785
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748617623.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This book is an exploration of the ethical and political significance of Cultural Studies and Post-Marxist discourse theory, arguing that although Cultural Studies and Post-Marxism tend to present ...
More
This book is an exploration of the ethical and political significance of Cultural Studies and Post-Marxist discourse theory, arguing that although Cultural Studies and Post-Marxism tend to present themselves as distinct entities, they actually share a project: that of taking on the political. Post-Marxism presents itself as ‘having’ a developed theory of political strategy, while Cultural Studies has claimed to be both practical and political. The author examines these intertwined, overlapping, controversial and contested claims and orientations by way of a deconstructive reading that is led by the question of ‘intervention’: what is the intervention of Post-Marxism, of Cultural Studies, of each into the other, and into other institutional and political contexts and scenes? Through considerations of key aspects of Cultural Studies and cultural theory, the book argues that the very thing which is fundamental to both of these ‘politicised’ approaches – the quest to establish a theory of intervention and to relate this to a practice – actually remains frustrated and unrealised as a direct result of the way this has been approached. Because of this stalemate, it proposes a new theory of pragmatic intervention – one that is derived from Derridean deconstruction, post-Marxism and Cultural Studies, and which will be of importance and value for politicised academics and intellectuals working in all areas of political and Cultural Studies.Less
This book is an exploration of the ethical and political significance of Cultural Studies and Post-Marxist discourse theory, arguing that although Cultural Studies and Post-Marxism tend to present themselves as distinct entities, they actually share a project: that of taking on the political. Post-Marxism presents itself as ‘having’ a developed theory of political strategy, while Cultural Studies has claimed to be both practical and political. The author examines these intertwined, overlapping, controversial and contested claims and orientations by way of a deconstructive reading that is led by the question of ‘intervention’: what is the intervention of Post-Marxism, of Cultural Studies, of each into the other, and into other institutional and political contexts and scenes? Through considerations of key aspects of Cultural Studies and cultural theory, the book argues that the very thing which is fundamental to both of these ‘politicised’ approaches – the quest to establish a theory of intervention and to relate this to a practice – actually remains frustrated and unrealised as a direct result of the way this has been approached. Because of this stalemate, it proposes a new theory of pragmatic intervention – one that is derived from Derridean deconstruction, post-Marxism and Cultural Studies, and which will be of importance and value for politicised academics and intellectuals working in all areas of political and Cultural Studies.
