Key Thinkers From Critical Theory To Post Marxism

"Tormey and Townshend have succeeded not only in making accessible the notoriously evasive ideas of 'Post-Marxist' thinkers, they have begun the vital work of critically examining their contribution to Marx's project of overcoming capitalism." - James Martin, Goldsmiths, University of London "Excellent textbook - critical, challenging and thoroughly engaging!"- Richard White, Sheffield Hallam University "In language which is clear without being simplistic, Tormey and Townshend help readers think about ways to live ′with and without Marx′ in the wake of Marxism's historical failures as well as its continuing relevance to life under globalizing capitalism."- Mark Rupert, Syracuse University Key Thinkers in Critical Theory to Post Marxism is a comprehensive introduction to perhaps the most key intellectual trend in contemporary critical theory. In jargon-free language, it seeks to unpack, explain and review many of the key figures behind the rethinking of the legacy of Marxism in theory and practice.Key thinkers covered include Cornelius Castoriadis, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Deleuze and Guattari, Laclau and Mouffe, Agnes Heller, Jacques Derrida, J rgen Habermas and post-Marxist feminism. Each chapter covers a key thinker or contribution and thus can be read as a stand alone introduction to the principal aspects of their approach. Each chapter is followed by a summary of key points with a guide to further reading. Underlying the text is also the central question: What is Post-Marxism? Instead of viewing Post-Marxism as an ideology, movement or tradition of theorizing, the authors advocate Post-Marxism as a loose appellation describing those who have problematised Marx's approach to understanding and challenging contemporary capitalism. As such the book also offers an engaging commentary on some of the key political developments of our time including, for example, the anti-globalisation movement. Key Thinkers in Critical Theory to Post Marxism provides an ideal introduction to a hitherto complex subject and will be essential reading for students of contemporary social and political inquiry.

"Tormey and Townshend have succeeded not only in making accessible the notoriously evasive ideas of Post-Marxist thinkers, they have begun the vital work of critically examining their contribution to Marx s project of overcoming capitalism"--James Martin, Goldsmiths College, University of London. This book is the first comprehensive introduction to the most key intellectual trend in contemporary critical theory. In jargon free language it seeks to unpack, explain and review many of the key figures behind the rethinking of the legacy of Marxism in theory and practice. Each chapter covers a key.

A comprehensive history of the development of Marxist theory and the parameters of 21st-century politics In this pithy and panoramic work—both stimulating for the specialist and the accessible to the general reader—one of the world's leading social theorists, Göran Therborn, traces the trajectory of Marxism in the twentieth century and anticipates its legacy for radical thought in the twenty-first.

This is the first source-book for this cross-disciplinary area. It takes students through a wide range of readings from philosophy, politics, and sociology, to human geography, international relations, and feminist studies. Bringing together statements from leading twentieth-century thinkers such as Derrida, Lyotard, Baudrillard, and Laclau and Mouffe, and with the editor's substantial introduction, this is an ideal teaching text, inspiring debate about the future of Marxism as a cultural theory.

In addressing the political and theoretical debates between critical and post-Marxist theorists, this book discusses the politics of communication and rationality, subjectivity, sovereignty, ethics and deliberative democracy, considering questions such as: * Does the theory of communicative action justify deliberative democracy? * Is a theory of hegemony compatible with an account which relies upon an ideal of communicative success? * Is autonomy a good which should be fostered? * Can the ideal of democracy extend beyond the nation state? * Does post-Marxism have anything interesting to say about ethics? Analysing the work of Ernesto Laclau and Jürgen Habermas - as representatives of different choices made in regard to theory, politics and morality - Ethics and Politics in Contemporary Theory develops a critical response to the contrasting conclusions of these approaches.

Critical Theories of the State is a clear and accessible survey of radical perspectives on the modern state. By focusing on Marxist theory and its variations, particularly as applied to advanced industrial societies and contemporary welfare states, Clyde W. Barrow provides a more extensive and thorough treatment than is available in any other work. Barrow divides the methodological assumptions and key hypotheses of Marxist, Neo-Marxist, and Post-Marxist theories into five distinct approaches: instrumentalist, structuralist, derivationist, systems-analytic, and organizational realist. He categorizes the many theorists discussed in the book, including such thinkers as Elmer Altvater, G. William Domhoff, Fred Block, Claus Offe, and Theda Skocpol according to their concepts of the state’s relationship to capital and their methodological approach to the state. Based on this survey, Barrow elaborates a compelling typology of radical state theories that identifies with remarkable clarity crucial points of overlap and divergence among the various theories. Scholars conducting research within the rubric of state theory, political development, and policy history will find Critical Theories of the State an immensely valuable review of the literature. Moreover, Barrow’s work will make an excellent textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in political science and sociology, and can also be used by those teaching theory courses in international relations, history, and political economy.

In the past two decades, Marxism has enjoyed a revitalization as a research program and a growth in its audience. This renaissance is connected to the revival of anti-capitalist contestation since the Seattle protests in 1999 and the impact of the global economic and financial crisis in 2007–8. It intersects with the emergence of Post-Marxism since the 1980s represented by thinkers such as Jürgen Habermas, Chantal Mouffe, Ranajit Guha and Alain Badiou. This handbook explores the development of Marxism and Post-Marxism, setting them in dialogue against a truly global backdrop. Transcending the disciplinary boundaries between philosophy, economics, politics and history, an international range of expert contributors guide the reader through the main varieties and preoccupations of Marxism and Post-Marxism. Through a series of framing and illustrative essays, readers will explore these traditions, starting from Marx and Engels themselves, through the thinkers of the Second and Third Internationals (Rosa Luxemburg, Lenin and Trotsky, among others), the Tricontinental, and Subaltern and Post-Colonial Studies, to more contemporary figures such as Huey Newton, Fredric Jameson, Judith Butler, Immanuel Wallerstein and Samir Amin. The Routledge Handbook of Marxism and Post-Marxism will be of interest to scholars and researchers of philosophy, cultural studies and theory, sociology, political economics and several areas of political science, including political theory, Marxism, political ideologies and critical theory.

Marxism has provided the ideological impetus to liberation movements, radical struggles and revolutions across the world. But in the 20th century, the emancipatory and democratic power of its thought has often been distorted and overridden by various Stalinist dictatorships which claimed to be acting in its name. A similar undermining of freedom of thought has been accomplished at an intellectual level; various schools have transformed Marxist thought in line with some of the most fashionable but gentrified forms of contemporary philosophy, shifting the focus from the democratic power of the masses and their ability to challenge the capitalist order to concentrate on superstar thinkers and elite theories. The War Against Marxism traces the war against Marxism which, paradoxically, has been conducted in the name of Marxism itself. As such it provides a fiery philosophical and polemical indictment of so-called 'Marxists' such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Althusser, Jameson, Eagleton, Mouffe, Laclau and Zizek and asks what can be done to stem this counterrevolution.