Democracy Against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism

ISBN-13: 9780521476829 / Angielski / Miękka / 1995 / 316 str.

Ellen Meiksins Wood

Opis

Ellen Meiksins Wood argues that with the collapse of Communism the theoretical project of Marxism and its critique of capitalism is more timely and important than ever. In this book she sets out to renew the critical program of historical materialism by redefining its basic concepts and its theory of history in original and imaginative ways, using them to identify the specificity of capitalism as a system of social relations and political power. She goes on to explore the concept of democracy in both the ancient and modern world, examining the concept's relation to capitalism.

Recenzje

"This book deserves to be read by more than social theorists and followers of contemporary marxist debate. Wood engages in a critique of capitalism not despite the apparent triumph of captalism but because of it." John P. Burke, Research in Philosophy and Technology

Spis treści

Introduction; Part I. Historical Materialism and the Specificity of Capitalism: 1. The separation of the 'economic' and 'political' in capitalism; 2. Rethinking base and superstructure; 3. Class as process and relationship; 4. History or technological determinism?; 5. History or teleology? Marx v. Weber; Part II. Democracy against Capitalism: 6. Labour and democracy, ancient and modern; 7. The demos v. 'we, the people': from ancient to modern conceptions of citizenship; 8. Civil society and the politics of identity; 9. Capitalism and human emancipation: race, gender and democracy; Conclusion.