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Post-Marxism is a perspective in critical social theory which radically reinterprets Marxism, countering its association with economism, historical determinism, anti-humanism, and class reductionism, [1] whilst remaining committed to the construction of socialism. [2] [3] Most notably, Post-Marxists are anti-essentialist, rejecting the primacy of class struggle, and instead focus on building radical democracy. [4] [5] [6] Post-Marxism can be considered a synthesis of post-structuralist [7] [8] [9] frameworks and neo-Marxist [10] analysis, [11] in response to the decline of the New Left after the protests of 1968. [12] In a broader sense, post-Marxism can refer to Marxists or Marxian-adjacent theories which break with the old worker's movements and socialist states entirely, [13] in a similar sense to post-Leftism, [14] [15] and accept that the era of mass revolution premised on the Fordist worker is potentially over. [16]
The term "Post-Marxism" first appeared in Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's theoretical work Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. [17] [18] Post-Marxism is a wide category not well-defined, containing the work of Laclau and Mouffe [19] [20] on the one hand, and some strands of autonomism and Open Marxism, [21] post-structuralism, [22] [23] cultural studies, [24] ex-Marxists [25] and Deleuzian-inspired [26] 'politics of difference' [27] [28] on the other. [29] Recent overviews of post-Marxism are provided by Ernesto Screpanti, [30] Göran Therborn, [31] and Gregory Meyerson. [32] Prominent post-Marxist journals include New Formations , [33] Constellations, [34] Endnotes, [35] Crisis and Critique [36] and Arena. [37]
Post-Marxism first originated in the late 1970s, and several trends and events of that period influenced its development. [38] The weakness of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc paradigm became evident after the so called "Secret speech" and the following invasion of Hungary, which split the radical left irreparably. [39] Marxism from then on faced a crisis of credibility, resulting in various developments in Marxist theory, particularly neo-Marxism, which theorised against much of the Eastern Bloc. [40] This happened concurrently with the occurrence internationally of the strikes and occupations of 1968, the rise of Maoist theory, and the proliferation of commercial television and later information technologies which covered in its broadcasts the Vietnam War.
Post-Marxism, although with its roots in this New Left and the consequent post-structural moment in France, [41] has its real genesis in reaction to the hegemony of neoliberalism, and defeat of the Left in such events as the UK miners' strike. Ernesto Laclau argued that a Marxism for the neoliberal conjuncture required a fundamental reworking, to address the failures of both. [42] Subsequently, Laclau and Mouffe address the proliferation of "new subject positions" by locating their analysis on a non-essentialist framework.
Simultaneously, revolutionaries in Italy, known as Operaismo, and later autonomists, [43] began to theorise against the conservative Italian Communist Party, [44] focusing much more on labour, gender and the later works of Marx. In France, radicals such as Félix Guattari redefined old Lacanian models of desire and subjectivity, which had often been tied to the communist project, bringing Nietzsche into conversation with Marx. [45] [46] In the Eastern Bloc, the Budapest School [47] began reinterpreting Marx, building on the work of the Praxis school before them. [48] In West Germany, theorists reinterpreted Marx's works entirely from a Hegelian perspective.
Turning to the Atlantic, in the UK, Stuart Hall [49] began to experiment with increasingly aggressive post-structuralist theorists in the build up to New Labour whilst working for Marxism Today, especially in relation to race and identity. [50] John Holloway began to forge a new path between Althusserian structural Marxism and instrumentalist theorists of monopoly capitalism. In the US, Michael Hardt collaborated with Antonio Negri to produce Empire at the turn of the century, widely recognised as a consolidation and re-affirmation of post-Marxism. [51] Harry Cleaver produced innovative readings of Capital, alongside Moishe Postone who reaffirmed Marx's central concepts.
Post-Marxism also has different connotations within radical feminist theory. The way Catharine MacKinnon uses the term post-Marxism is not based on post-structuralism. She says "feminism worthy of the name absorbs and moves beyond marxist methodology", [52] meaning that Marxism is not to be left behind but built on.
Currently, figures in the US, UK, and Europe continue to produce work in the post-Marxist tradition, particularly Nancy Fraser, Alain Badiou, Jeremy Gilbert and Étienne Balibar. This theory is often very different from that produced by Laclau and Mouffe, and much of the Left has turned against the Post-Marxist turn. [53] [54]
Despite being born in Latin America and the Eastern Bloc, post-Marxism is largely produced by theorists of the Global North, as the following criticisms reveal. Aside from perhaps Spivak, there are no notable theorists of the Global South [55] who are within the post-Marxist tradition, [56] and the radical movements of the Global South largely remain within the 'Old Left' tradition. [57] Several reasons relating to political geography and level of academisation are given as explanations. There is some debate however as to whether Cedric Robinson was a post-Marxist. [58]
Despite this, the Zapatistas have been a large source of inspiration for many post-Marxists. [59]
Post-Marxism has been criticised from both the left and the right wings of Marxism. [60] Nick Thoburn has criticised Laclau's Post-Marxism (and its relationship to Eurocommunism) as essentially a rightward shift to social democracy. [61] Ernest Mandel [62] and Sivanandan [63] [64] make this same point. Richard Wolff also claims that Laclau's formulation of Post-Marxism is a step backwards. [65] Oliver Eagleton (son of Terry Eagleton) claims that Mouffe's 'radical democracy' has an inherent conservative nature. [66]
Other Marxist's have criticised Autonomist Marxism or post-operaismo, a form of post-Marxism, of having a theoretically weak understanding of value in capitalist economies. [67] It has also been by criticised by other Marxists for being anti-humanist / anti-(Hegelian) dialectical. [68]
Post-Marxism of all stripes has also been criticised for downplaying or ignoring the role of race, neocolonialism, and Eurocentrism. [69] [70] [71] [72]
Post-Marxism as a term is also seen as being too imprecise, often used as an insult [73] or a straw man. Besides Laclau and Mouffe, very few Marxists describe themselves as Post-Marxists, regardless of their own affinities with post-structuralist theories or their reinterpretation of Marx. [74] There is also much disagreement between post-Marxists on fundamental questions of strategy and philosophy (Hegel or Spinoza, for example); some forward a left-populism, others a complete rejection of organised politics, and others a new Leninist vanguard.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to critical theory:
Post-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that are posited by structuralism and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of power. Although post-structuralists all present different critiques of structuralism, common themes among them include the rejection of the self-sufficiency of structuralism, as well as an interrogation of the binary oppositions that constitute its structures. Accordingly, post-structuralism discards the idea of interpreting media within pre-established, socially constructed structures.
Antonio Negri was an Italian political philosopher known as one of the most prominent theorists of autonomism, as well as for his co-authorship of Empire with Michael Hardt. Born in Padua, Italy, Negri became a professor of political philosophy at the University of Padua, where he taught state and constitutional theory. Negri founded the Potere Operaio group in 1969 and was a leading member of Autonomia Operaia, and published highly influential books, including Empire and Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire, urging "revolutionary consciousness."
Michael Hardt is an American political philosopher and literary theorist. Hardt is best known for his book Empire, which was co-written with Antonio Negri.
Ernesto Laclau was an Argentine political theorist and philosopher. He is often described as an 'inventor' of post-Marxist political theory. He is well known for his collaborations with his long-term partner, Chantal Mouffe.
Chantal Mouffe is a Belgian political theorist, formerly teaching at University of Westminster. She is best known for her and Ernesto Laclau's contribution to the development of the so-called Essex School of discourse analysis. She is a strong critic of deliberative democracy and advocates a conflict-oriented model of radical democracy.
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, and social transformation. Marxism originates with the works of 19th-century German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism has developed over time into various branches and schools of thought, and as a result, there is no single, definitive Marxist theory. Marxism has had a profound effect in shaping the modern world, with various left-wing and far-left political movements taking inspiration from it in varying local contexts.
Empire is a book by post-Marxist philosophers Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. Written in the mid-1990s, it was published in 2000 and quickly sold beyond its expectations as an academic work.
Autonomism, also known as Autonomist Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism. Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendencies became significant after influence from the Situationists, the failure of Italian far-left movements in the 1970s, and the emergence of a number of important theorists including Antonio Negri, who had contributed to the 1969 founding of Potere Operaio as well as Mario Tronti, Paolo Virno and Franco "Bifo" Berardi.
Posthegemony or post-hegemony is a period or a situation in which hegemony is no longer said to function as the organizing principle of a national or post-national social order, or of the relationships between and amongst nation states within the global order. The concept has different meanings within the fields of political theory, cultural studies, and international relations.
Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics is a 1985 work of political theory in the post-Marxist tradition by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Developing several sharp divergences from the tenets of canonical Marxist thought, the authors begin by tracing historically varied discursive constitutions of class, political identity, and social self-understanding, and then tie these to the contemporary importance of hegemony as a destabilized analytic which avoids the traps of various procedures Mouffe and Laclau feel constitute a foundational flaw in Marxist thought: essentializations of class identity, the use of a priori interpretative paradigms with respect to history and contextualization, the privileging of the base/superstructure binary above other explicative models.
Radical democracy is a type of democracy that advocates the radical extension of equality and liberty. Radical democracy is concerned with a radical extension of equality and freedom, following the idea that democracy is an unfinished, inclusive, continuous and reflexive process.
Open Marxism is a collection of critical and heterodox Marxist schools of thought which critique state socialism and party politics, stressing the need for openness to praxis and history through an anti-positivist method grounded in the "practical reflexivity" of Karl Marx's own concepts. The "openness" in open Marxism also refers to a non-deterministic view of history in which the unpredictability of class struggle is foregrounded.
Alberto Toscano is an Italian cultural critic, social theorist, philosopher, and translator. He has translated the work of Alain Badiou, including Badiou's The Century and Logics of Worlds. He served as both editor and translator of Badiou's Theoretical Writings and On Beckett.
Marxism is a method of socioeconomic analysis that originates in the works of 19th century German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism analyzes and critiques the development of class society and especially of capitalism as well as the role of class struggles in systemic, economic, social and political change. It frames capitalism through a paradigm of exploitation and analyzes class relations and social conflict using a materialist interpretation of historical development – materialist in the sense that the politics and ideas of an epoch are determined by the way in which material production is carried on.
Post-politics in social sciences is a term used, along with similar terms "post-democracy" and post-political, to describe the effects of depoliticisation in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Arguably, the representative democracies at this time had already entered the era of depoliticisation and post-politics. The term "post-politics" carries negative connotations of depriving electorate from voting on issues deemed settled by the elites, "depoliticisation" is neutral.
The Essex School of discourse analysis, or simply 'The Essex School', refers to a type of scholarship founded on the works of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. It focuses predominantly on the political discourses of late modernity utilising discourse analysis, as well as post-structuralist and psychoanalytic theory, such as may be found in the works of Lacan, Foucault, Barthes, and Derrida. Discourse analysis, according to its own terms at least, seeks to "unfix and destabilise" the accepted meanings of everyday language, and to reveal how the dominant discourse "marginalises and oppresses... equally valid claims to the question of how power could and should be exercised."
According to the political theorist Alan Johnson, there has been a revival of serious interest in communism in the 21st century led by Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou.
A. Kiarina Kordela is a Greek-American philosopher and critical theorist. She is a professor of German Studies and founding director of the Critical Theory Program at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN.
Neo-Marxism is a collection of Marxist schools of thought originating from 20th-century approaches to amend or extend Marxism and Marxist theory, typically by incorporating elements from other intellectual traditions such as critical theory, psychoanalysis, or existentialism. Neo-Marxism comes under the broader framework of the New Left. In a sociological sense, neo-Marxism adds Max Weber's broader understanding of social inequality, such as status and power, to Marxist philosophy.
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