Marxism and Social Movements

Marxism and Social Movements
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2013-06-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 900425143X

Marxism and Social Movements is the first sustained engagement between social movement theory and Marxist approaches to collective action. The chapters collected here, by leading figures in both fields, discuss the potential for a Marxist theory of social movements; explore the developmental processes and political tensions within movements; set the question in a long historical perspective; and analyse contemporary movements against neo-liberalism and austerity. Exploring struggles on six continents over 150 years, this collection shows the power of Marxist analysis in relation not only to class politics, labour movements and revolutions but also anti-colonial and anti-racist struggles, community activism and environmental justice, indigenous struggles and anti-austerity protest. It sets a new agenda both for Marxist theory and for movement research. Contributors include: Paul Blackledge, Marc Blecher, Patrick Bond,Chik Collins, Ralph Darlington, Neil Davidson, Ashwin Desai, Jeff Goodwin, Chris Hesketh, Gabriel Hetland, Elizabeth Humphrys, Christian Høgsbjerg, David McNally, Trevor Ngwane, Heike Schaumberg and Hira Singh.

Marxism and Social Movements

Marxism and Social Movements
Author: Colin Barker
Publisher: Historical Materialism
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781608463725

Exploring struggles on six continents over 150 years, this collection shows the power of Marxism to address broad social movements.

Marx Matters

Marx Matters
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2022-01-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004504796

In Marx Matters noted scholars explore the way a Marxian political economy addresses contemporary social problems, demonstrating the relevance of Marx today and outlining how his work can frame progressive programs for social change.

We Make Our Own History

We Make Our Own History
Author: Laurence Cox
Publisher: Pluto Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-09-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780745334813

We are living in the twilight of neoliberalism: the ruling classes can no longer rule as before, and ordinary people are no longer willing to be ruled in the old way. Pursued by global elites since the 1970s, neoliberalism is defined by dispossession and inequality. The refusal to continue to be ruled like this - "ya basta" - appears in an arc of resistance stretching from rural India to the cities of the global North. From this movement of movements, new visions emerge of a future beyond neoliberalism. We Make Our Own World responds to this experience. The first systematic Marxist analysis of social movements, it reclaims Marxism as the theory born from activist experience and practice. It shows how movements can develop from local conflicts to global struggles; how neoliberalism operates as collective action from above, and how popular struggles can create new worlds from below.

Why Social Movements Matter

Why Social Movements Matter
Author: Laurence Cox
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2018-06-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1786607832

Social movements and popular struggle are a central part of today’s world, but often neglected or misunderstood by media commentary as well as experts in other fields. In an age when struggles over climate change, women’s rights, austerity politics, racism, warfare and surveillance are central to the future of our societies, we urgently need to understand social movements. Accessible, comprehensive and grounded in deep scholarship, Why Social Movements Matter explains social movements for a general educated readership, those interested in progressive politics and scholars and students in other fields. It shows how much social movements are part of our everyday lives, and how in many ways they have shaped the world we live in over centuries. It explores the relationship between social movements and the left, how movements develop and change, the complex relationship between movements and intellectual life, and delivers a powerful argument for rethinking how the social world is constructed. Drawing on three decades of experience, Why Social Movements Matter shows the real space for hope in a contested world.

The Marxism of Manuel Sacristán

The Marxism of Manuel Sacristán
Author: Manuel Sacristán
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2014-07-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9004280529

The Marxism of Manuel Sacristán: From Communism to the New Social Movements offers a substantial selection of some the most significant writings on Marx, Marxism, and radical social theory by Manuel Sacristán, Spain’s most important Marxist philosopher. Whether discussing Marx’s intellectual development and philosophical views, exploring central issues in Marxist theory or analysing the challenge to contemporary Marxism from feminism, pacifism and environmentalism, Sacristán emerges in these pages as both a major Marx scholar and a formidable social theorist in his own right. The Marxism of Manuel Sacristán makes available in English for the first time many of the key texts by a brilliant, yet neglected, Marxist thinker.

Marx's Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism

Marx's Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism
Author: Peter Hudis
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2012-07-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9004229868

In contrast to the traditional view that Marx's work is restricted to a critique of capitalism and does not contain a detailed or coherent conception of its alternative, this book shows, through an analysis of his published and unpublished writings, that Marx was committed to a specific concept of a post-capitalist society that informed his critique of value production, alienated labor and capitalist accumulation. Instead of focusing on the present with only a passing reference to the future, Marx's emphasis on capitalism's tendency towards dissolution is rooted in a specific conception of what should replace it. In critically re-examining that conception, this book addresses the quest for an alternative to capitalism that has taken on increased importance today.

Marxism and Social Science

Marxism and Social Science
Author: David Marsh
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 396
Release: 1999
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780252068164

Has Marxism ceased to be part of our political present and future? Has its theory or doctrine anything to contribute to our understanding of the new millennium? In these original, commissioned essays, the contributors argue that Marxism continues as a living tradition. They show how it still engages with other theoretical positions, how it has evolved in response to both these engagements and contemporary world changes, and they assess its relevance and contribution to modern social science.

Democracy, Dialectics, and Difference

Democracy, Dialectics, and Difference
Author: Brian C. Lovato
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2015-12-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317363256

It has been nearly two centuries since Marx famously turned Hegel on his head in order to repurpose dialectics as a revolutionary way of thinking about the internal contradictions of our social relations. Despite critiques from post-structuralists, post-colonialists, and others, there has been a resurgence of dialectical thought among political theorists as of late. This resurgence has coincided with a rise in the mention of words like class warfare, socialism, and communism among the general public on the streets of Seattle in 1999, in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, in the actions of the Greek anarchists and the Spanish indignados, and in the rallying cry of "we are the 99%" of the Occupy Movement, and in academia. This book explores how it is that dialectical thought might respond to the critiques brought forth by those on the left who are critical of Marxism’s universalizing and authoritarian legacy. Brian C. Lovato singles out Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe as the key interlocutors in this ongoing conversation between Marxism and post-structuralism. Laclau and Mouffe argue that Marxist theory is inherently authoritarian, cannot escape a class-reductionist theory of revolutionary subjectivity, and is bound by a closed Hegelian ontology. Lovato argues the opposite by turning to two heterodox Marxist thinkers, Raya Dunayevskaya and C. L. R. James, in order to construct a radically democratic, dynamic, and open conceptualization of dialectical thought. In doing so, he advances a vision of Marxist theory that might serve as a resource to scholars and activists committed not only to combatting capitalism, but also to fighting against colonialism, patriarchy, white supremacy, and heteronormativity. The writings of Dunayevskaya and James allow for Marxism to become relevant again in these tumultuous early years of the 21st century.

BLM

BLM
Author: Mike Gonzalez
Publisher: Encounter Books
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2021-09-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1641772247

The George Floyd riots that have precipitated great changes throughout American society were not spontaneous events. Americans did not suddenly rise up in righteous anger, take to the streets, and demand not just that police departments be defunded but that all the structures, institutions, and systems of the United States—all supposedly racist—be overhauled. The 12,000 or so demonstrations and 633 related riots that followed Floyd’s death took organizational muscle. The movement’s grip on institutions from the classroom to the ballpark required ideological commitment. That muscle and commitment were provided by the various Black Lives Matter organizations. This book examines who the BLM leaders are, delving into their backgrounds and exposing their agendas—something the media has so far refused to do. These people are shown to be avowed Marxists who say they want to dismantle our way of life. Along with their fellow activists, they make savvy use of social media to spread their message and organize marches, sit-ins, statue tumblings, and riots. In 2020 they seized upon the video showing George Floyd’s suffering as a pretext to unleash a nationwide insurgency. Certainly, no person of good will could object to the proposition that “black lives matter” as much as any other human life. But Americans need to understand how their laudable moral concern is being exploited for purposes that a great many of them would not approve.