Elif Uzgören
Search for other papers by Elif Uzgören in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Historical materialism
Encountering the post-Marxist critique
Abstract only
Log-in for full text

Chapter 1 has two aims. It introduces the conceptual framework, operationalises the research design and lays out the main coordinates of intra-class struggle. It then engages with the post-Marxist critique. Post-structural and post-Marxist critique has become pre-eminent, referring to social change in capitalism through deindustrialisation, digitalisation, rising individualism and identity politics. For instance, Laclau and Mouffe in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy (1985) criticise Marxism for class and economic reductionism, while Hardt and Negri in Empire (2000) assert that postmodernisation of the global economy necessitates a new political imaginary. In response, scholars within historical materialism claim that social relations of production remain central. I address various important questions raised by this debate: Does historical materialism overlook plural forms of social antagonisms, thereby confining agency to production and class? How do Marxist scholars respond to these critiques? After laying out disagreements, the book argues that post-Marxism operates within capitalism’s dualisms, a condition that ‘de-socialises the material’. In contrast, historical materialism goes beyond ideational-material dualism to present the struggle within the sphere of social reproduction as an internal relationship in a dialectical manner – in agreement with van der Pijl (1998) that it is the ‘discipline of capital over the entire reproductive system’ that has to be resisted. Bieler and Morton (2018) locate it as ‘class struggle in the social factory of capitalism’. Accordingly, alternatives to EU membership and struggles over political recognition – e.g. feminist and ecological struggles – are discussed as class struggle in the capitalist discipline in the following empirical chapters.

  • Collapse
  • Expand

All of MUP's digital content including Open Access books and journals is now available on manchesterhive.

 

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 121 121 4
Full Text Views 2 2 1
PDF Downloads 4 4 2