Post-Marxism

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Post-Marxism has two related, but different uses: (i) the socio-economic circumstances of Eastern Europe, especially in the ex-soviet republics after the Soviet Union's end; and (ii) the extrapolations of the philosophers and social theorists basing their postulations upon Karl Marx's writings and Marxism proper, thus, passing orthodox Marxism. Philosophically, post-Marxism counters derivationism and essentialism (e.g. the State is not an instrument that ‘functions’ unambiguously and autonomously in behalf of a given Class's interests). ^[1] A recent overview of post-marxism is provided by Göran Therborn ^[2]

History of post-Marxism

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Post-Marxism dates from the late 1960s. Its development was influenced by several trends and events of that period. The weakness of the Russian Communist soviet paradigm became evident beyond Russia. This happened concurrently with the international student riots in 1968, rise of Maoist theory, and the advent of commercial television, which covered in its broadcasts the Vietnam War.

Semiology and discourse

When Roland Barthes began his sustained critique of mass culture via semiology — the science of signs — and the book Mythologies, some Marxist philosophers based their social criticism upon linguistics, semiotics, and discourse. Basing himself upon Barthes' oeuvre, Baudrillard's For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign criticized contemporary Marxism for ignoring the sign value of their philosophic discourse.

Important post-Marxists

• Alain Badiou
• Etienne Balibar
• Gilles Deleuze
• Felix Guattari
• Paul Hirst
• Jacques Camatte
• Barry Hindess
• Fredric Jameson
• Krisis Groupe
• Ernesto Laclau
• Catharine MacKinnon
• Natacha Millache
• Chantal Mouffe
• Antonio Negri
• Moishe Postone
• Jacques Rancière
• Helmut Reichelt
• Göran Therborn
• Slavoj Žižek
• Ágnes Heller
• István Mészáros
• Alexander Tarasov
• Boris Yuliyevich Kagarlitsky

See also

• Marxism and Marxist philosophy
• New Left Review
• Poststructuralism
• Rethinking Marxism
• Specters of Marx
• Frankfurt School

References

1. ^ Iain Mclean & Alistair Mcmillan, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (Article: State), Oxford University Press, 2003
2. ^ From Marxism to Post-Marxism. London: Verso, 2008, 208pp.