In The Popular Front Novel in Britain Elinor Taylor examines British Communist novels of the 1930s and argues that the realist novel of the left was a crucial site in which the politics of the Popular
This book challenges the widely-held view that Marxism is unable to deal adequately with environmental problems. Jonathan Hughes considers the nature of environmental problems, and the evaluative perspectives that may be brought to bear on them. He examines Marx's critique of Malthus, his method, and his materialism, interpreting the latter as a recognition of human dependence on nature. Central to the book's argument is an interpretation of the 'development of the productive forces' which takes account of the differing ecological impacts of different productive technologies while remaining consistent with the normative and explanatory roles that this concept plays within Marx's theory. Turning finally to Marx's vision of a society founded on the communist principle 'to each according to his needs', the author concludes that the underlying notion of human need is one whose satisfaction presupposes only a modest and ecologically feasible expansion of productive output.
This book challenges the widely-held view that Marxism is unable to deal adequately with environmental problems. Jonathan Hughes considers the nature of environmental problems, and the evaluative perspectives that may be brought to bear on them. He examines Marx's critique of Malthus, his method, and his materialism, interpreting the latter as a recognition of human dependence on nature. Central to the book's argument is an interpretation of the 'development of the productive forces' which takes account of the differing ecological impacts of different productive technologies while remaining consistent with the normative and explanatory roles that this concept plays within Marx's theory. Turning finally to Marx's vision of a society founded on the communist principle 'to each according to his needs', the author concludes that the underlying notion of human need is one whose satisfaction presupposes only a modest and ecologically feasible expansion of productive output.
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. Current intellectual fashions of the left which emphasise 'post-modern' fragmentation, 'difference', contingency and the 'politics of identity' can barely accommodate the idea of capitalism, let alone subject the capitalist system to critique. In this book she sets out to renew the critical programme 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, and raising questions about how democracy might go beyond the limits imposed on it by capitalism.
In his new extensively revised and expanded edition of this book, originally published as The Law of Value and Historical Materialism, Samir Amin suggests new approaches to Marxian analysis of the cri
This book sets out to clarify the nature of the aesthetic as a category within the theory of historical materialism. It opens with an analysis of Marx’s brief discussion of Greek art in the Grundrisse
This book provides an overview of key features of (philosophical) materialism, in historical perspective. It is, thus, a study in the history and philosophy of materialism, with a particular focus on
Again, Dangerous Visions: Essays in Cultural Materialism brings together twenty-six essays charting the development of Andrew Milner’s distinctively Orwellian version of cultural materialism.
This book examines the psychology involved in handling, and responding to, materials in artistic practice, such as oils, charcoal, brushes, canvas, earth, and sand. Artists often work with intuitive, tactile sensations and rhythms that connect them to these materials. Rhythm connects the brain and body to the world, and the world of abstract art. The book features new readings of artworks by Matisse, Pollock, Dubuffet, Tápies, Benglis, Len Lye, Star Gossage, Shannon Novak, Simon Ingram, Lee Mingwei, L. N. Tallur and many others. Such art challenges centuries of philosophical and aesthetic order that has elevated the substance of mind over the substance of matter. This is a multidisciplinary study of different metastable patterns and rhythms: in art, the body, and the brain. This focus on the propagation of rhythm across domains represents a fresh art historical approach and provides important opportunities for art and science to cooperate.
With the publication of posthumous writings of Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser, it has become evident that he engaged with the writings of Niccolo Machiavelli in a more sustained fashion than had
International relations theorists are increasingly turning to historical sociology as a means both of broadening and refining their discipline, and critiquing mainstream thinking. Nevertheless, there is still only a rudimentary understanding of what historical sociology is and what it can offer the subject. This 2001 book acts as a manifesto for historical sociology, considering a range of issues, including accounts of the major variants of historical sociology; how they can be applied to international relations; why international relations theorists should engage with these approaches; and how historical sociological insight can enhance and reconfigure the study of international relations. In addition to describing the seven major approaches - neo-Weberianism, constructivisim, critical historical materialism, critical theory, postmodernism, structural realism and World Systems theory - the volume's introductory and concluding chapters set out in detail an approach and research agenda
International relations theorists are increasingly turning to historical sociology as a means both of broadening and refining their discipline, and critiquing mainstream thinking. Nevertheless, there is still only a rudimentary understanding of what historical sociology is and what it can offer the subject. This 2001 book acts as a manifesto for historical sociology, considering a range of issues, including accounts of the major variants of historical sociology; how they can be applied to international relations; why international relations theorists should engage with these approaches; and how historical sociological insight can enhance and reconfigure the study of international relations. In addition to describing the seven major approaches - neo-Weberianism, constructivisim, critical historical materialism, critical theory, postmodernism, structural realism and World Systems theory - the volume's introductory and concluding chapters set out in detail an approach and research agenda
The political nature of Absolutism has long been a subject of controversy within historical materialism. Developing considerations advanced in Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism, this book situates
This book of essays by Deutscher Prize–winning historian Neil Davidson insightfully explores themes running through historical materialism to show how Marxism can retain a sense of historical traditio
This book captures the quintessence of the author’s 20-year career, presenting both unique perspectives and logical arguments. Guided by the Marxist concept of historical materialism, it reveals the f
This study is a literary and cultural history of the utopian novel, as well as a contribution to the Marxist critique of utopian thought. Exploring the relationship between history and utopia, Beaumon
Originally released by Verso in 1987 as the revised edition of the doctoral thesis of Elliott (PhD, Balliol College, Oxford, UK), this study provided an account of the intellectual career of structura
Insights from Marxist political economy, argues Burkett (economic, Indiana State U.) can aid ecological economics "better fulfill its commitments to methodological pluralism, interdisciplinarity, and
There are two opposing models for what drives social change, says Callinicos (politics, U. of York, England). The structural, championed by Karl Marx, considers class-relations and interests to be the
This is a paperbound reprint of a 2002 book about which Book News wrote: British Marxist scholar C.J. Arthur combines two mutually supportive trends in Marxist theory: that of systematic dialectic and
