printPost-Marxism in Sociology. Part I
Pavlov A.V.
Dr. Sci. (Philos.), Full Prof., School of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Leading Researcher, Head of the Department of Social Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy RAS, Moscow, Russia apavlov@hse.ru
Rubric: History of sociology
For citation:
Pavlov A.V. Post-Marxism in Sociology. Part I. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2021. No 4. P. 74-84
Abstract
The paper offers a consideration of a problem that arose in English-language sociology in the second half of the 1970s – attempts to describe and self-describe Marxism as a sociological tradition. The author gives a working definition to the concept and shows on the example of sociologists Göran Therborn and George Ritzer how different are the approaches to the typology of Post-Marxism. Then the author turns to the historical analysis of discussions about post-Marxism in sociology. The author discovers origins of post-Marxism in discussions about “Western Marxism”. At first, historians and sociologists worked with the category of “Western Marxism”, but the crisis of Marxism as a theory and practice along with attempts to update it led to the emergence of post-Marxism. The word “post-Marxism” was first used casually, but in the mid-1980’s, as a label of self-description and accusation of betrayal, it replaced “Western Marxism”. Post-Marxism in the 1980’s existed in three forms – Marxist analysis of postmodernism (Fredric Jameson, David Harvey etc.), analytical Marxism (J.A. Cohen, Jon Elster, John Roemer etc.) and post-Marxism as understood by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. All three intellectual movements were severely criticized by more orthodox Marxists and those who wanted to appropriate the term “post-Marxism”, putting their own meaning into it.
Keywords
theoretical sociology; Western Marxism; post-Marxism; postmodernism; analytical Marxism; historical materialism; practical philosophy
References
Althusser L. (1978) The Crisis of Marxism. Marxism Today. July: 215–227.
Anderson P. (1980) Arguments within English Marxism. London: Verso.
Anderson P. (2011) The Origins of Postmodernity. Moscow: Territoriya budushchego. (In Russ.)
Anderson P. (2016a) Considerations on Western Marxism. In: Anderson P. Considerations on Western Marxism. In the Tracks of Historical Materialism. Moscow: Common Place: 6–198. (In Russ.)
Anderson P. (2016b) In the Tracks of Historical Materialism. In: Anderson P. Considerations on Western Marxism. In the Tracks of Historical Materialism. Moscow: Common Place: 200–304. (In Russ.)
Anderson P. (2018) The H-World: The Peripeteia of Hegemony. Moscow: Gaidar Institute. (In Russ.)
Barbaruk Yu.V. (2012) Social Theory and Political Strategies of Postmarxism. Moscow: Librokom. (In Russ.)
Bowles S. (1985) Post-Marxian Economics: Labor, Learning and History. Social Science Information. Vol. 24. No. 3: 507–528. DOI: 10.1177/053901885024003005.
Callinicos A., Kouvelakis S., Pradella L. (2021) Introduction. In: Callinicos A., Kouvelakis S., Pradella L. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Marxism and Post-Marxism. New York; London: Routledge: 1–22.
Castoriadis C. (2003) Imaginary Institution of Society. Moscow: Gnosis, Logos. (In Russ.)
Cohen G.A. (2000) Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cullenberg S., Wolff R.D. (1986) Marxism and Post-Marxism. Social Text. No. 15 (Autumn): 126–135. DOI: 10.2307/466496.
el-Ojeili C. (2010) Post-Marxist Trajectories: Diagnosis, Criticism, Utopia. Sociological Inquiry. Vol. 80. No. 2: 261–282. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-682X.2010.00330.x.
Geras N. (1987) Post-Marxism? New Left Review. No. 163: 40–82.
Geras N. (1988) Ex-Marxism without Substance: Being A Real Reply to Laclau and Mouffe. New Left Review. No. 169: 34–61.
Gouldner A.W. (1980) The Two Marxisms. Contradictions and Anomalies in the Development of Theory. London: Macmillan & Co.
Hobsbawm E. (2011) How to Change the World. Reflections on Marx and Marxism. New Haven; London: Yale University.
Hunter A. (1988) Post-Marxism and the New Social Movements. Theory and Society. Vol. 17. No. 6: 885–900. DOI: 10.1007/BF00161731.
Jameson F. (2019) Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Moscow: Gaidar Institute. (In Russ.)
Jay M. (1984) Marxism and Totality: The Adventures of a Concept from Lukács to Habermas. Bearkley; Los Angeles: University of California.
Kouvelakis S. (2008) The Crises of Marxism and the Transformation of Capitalism. In: Bidet J., Kouvélakis E. (eds) Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism. Leiden; Boston: Brill: 23–38.
Kouvelakis S. (2021) Beyond Marxism? The “Crisis of Marxism” and the Post-Marxist Moment. In: Callinicos A., Kouvelakis S., Pradella L. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Marxism and PostMarxism. New York; London: Routledge: 337–350.
Laclau E. (1989) Politics and the Limits of Modernity. In: Ross A. (ed.) Universal Abandon: The Politics of Postmodernism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota: 63–82.
Laclau E., Mouffe Ch. (1985) Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London: Verso.
Laclau E., Mouffe Ch. (1987) Post-Marxism without Apologies. New Left Review. No. 166: 79–106.
Lebowitz M.A. (1988) Is “Analytical Marxism” Marxism? Science and Society. No. 2: 191–214.
Merleau-Ponty M. (1973) Adventures of the Dialectic. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Merquior J.G. (1986) Western Marxism. London: Granada.
Mouzelis N. (1988) Marxism or Post-Marxism? New Left Review. No. 167.
Mouzelis N. (1990) Post-Marxist Alternatives. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ritzer G. (2002) Sociological Theory. St. Petersburg: Piter. (In Russ.)
Ritzer G. (2010) Sociological Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Roemer J.E. (ed.) (1986) Analytical Marxism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Therborn G. (2021) From Marxism to Post-Marxism? Moscow: HSE Publishing House. (In Russ.)
Wright E.O. (2007) What is Analytical Marxism? Voprosy Ekonomiki. No. 9: 121–138. (In Russ.)
Content No 4, 2021