The
Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism is an international and interdisciplinary volume which aims to provide a thorough and precise panorama of recent developments in Marxist theory in the US, Europe, Asia and beyond. Drawing on the work of thirty of the most authoritative scholars, the
Companion spans all the humanities and social sciences, with particular emphasis on philosophy. The work is divided into three parts: 'General Trends', which provides a broad intellectual and historical context; 'Currents', which tracks the trajectories of twenty specific currents or disciplinary fields; and 'Figures', which examines in detail the work of fifteen key actors of Marxist or para-Marxist theory (Adorno, Althusser, Badiou, Benjamin, Bhaskar, Bourdieu, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault, Gramsci, Habermas, Jameson, Lefebvre, Uno, Williams). The
Companion is set to be unsurpassed for many years, in breadth and depth, as the definitive guide to contemporary Marxism.
Jacques Bidet is Professor at the University of Paris-X, holding the chair of Political Philosophy and Theories of Society. His other publications include
Théorie de la modernité (1990),
John Rawls et la théorie de la justice (1995),
Théorie générale, Théorie du droit, de l’économie et de la politique (1999) and
Explication et reconstruction du 'Capital' (2004). His
Exploring Marx's 'Capital' was published in the HM Book Series in 2007.
Stathis Kouvelakis teaches Political Theory and Philosophy at King's College London. He is the author of
Philosophy and Revolution. From Kant to Marx (London, 2003) and the co-editor, with Slavoj Zizek and Sebastian Budgen, of
Lenin Reloaded. Towards a Politics of Truth (Durham, 2007).
The central purpose of this volume is both to highlight the recent crises that Marxism has endured and to offer a number of ways to move Marxism beyond these challanges.
Michael Arfken
Marx & Philosophy Review of Books, 26 July 2011
Recommended by CHOICE (September 2008)
Introduction: Marxism, Post-Marxism, Neo-Marxisms,
Jacques Bidet and Stathis Kouvélakis
PREFIGURATIONS
1. A Key to the Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism,
Jacques Bidet 2. The Crises of Marxism and the Transformation of Capitalism,
Stathis Kouvelakis 3.The Development of Marxism in France and Italy, 1975–2005: From the End of Marxism-Leninism to a Thousand Marxisms,
André Tosel 4. Where is Anglo-Saxon Marxism Going?,
Alex Callinicos 5. Old Theories and New Capitalism: The Actuality of a Marxist Economics,
Gérard Duménil and Dominique Lévy
CONFIGURATIONS
6. Analytical Marxism,
Christopher Bertram 7. The Frankfurt School’s Critical Theory: From Neo-Marxism to Post-Marxism,
Gérard Raulet 8. The Late Lukács and the Budapest School,
André Tosel 9. The Regulation School: A One-Way Ticket from Marx to the Saint-Simon Foundation?,
Michel Husson 10. Ecological Marxism or Marxian Political Ecology,
Jean-Marie Harribey 11. Theories of the Capitalist World-System,
Rémy Herrera 12. Liberation-Theology Marxism,
Michael Löwy 13. Market Socialism: Problems and Models,
Tony Andréani 14. The American Radicals: A Subversive Current at the Heart of Empire,
Thomas Coutrot 15. Political Marxism,
Paul Blackledge 16. From the ‘Mass Worker’ to ‘Empire’, or the Uncanny Trajectory of Italian Operaismo,
Maria Turchetto 17. Marxism and Postcolonial Studies,
Neil Lazarus and Rashmi Varma 18. The Marxism of British Marxist Historians,
Paul Blackledge 19. Developments in Marxist Class Analysis,
Vivek Chibber 20. New Interpretations of Capital,
Jacques Bidet 21. The New Dialectic,
Jim Kincaid 22. States, State Power and State Theory,
Bob Jessop 23. Marxism and Theories of Racism,
Robert Carter 24. Historical Materialism and International Relations,
Frédérick Guillaume Dufour 25. Marxism and Language,
Jean-Jacques Lecercle
FIGURES
26. Adorno and Marx,
Jean-Marie Vincent 27. Louis Althusser, or the Impure Purity of the Concept,
François Matheron 28. Marxism Expatriated: Alain Badiou’s Turn,
Alberto Toscano 29. Walter Benjamin,
Esther Leslie 30. Critical Realism and Beyond: The Dialectic of Roy Bhaskar
Alex Callinicos 31. Bourdieu and Historical Materialism,
Jacques Bidet 32. Deleuze, Marx and Revolution: What It Means to ‘Remain Marxist’,
Isabelle Garo 33. Jacques Derrida: ‘Crypto-Communist’?,
Jason Smith 34. Foucault, Reader and Critic of Marx,
Roberto Nigro 35. Beyond the Crisis of Marxism: Thirty Years Contesting Gramsci’s Legacy,
Fabio Frosini 36. Falling Short of Marx: Habermas,
Jacques Bidet 37. Fredric Jameson: An Unslaked Thirst for Totalisation,
Stathis Kouvélakis 38. Henri Lefebvre, Thinker of Urban Modernity,
Stathis Kouvélakis 39. Kôzo Uno and His School : A Pure Theory of Capitalism,
Jacques Bidet 40. Raymond Williams’s Cultural Materialism,
Jean-Jacques Lecercle
Notes on Contributors
Bibliography
Index
All those interested in Marxist theory, in the critical social sciences and in 20th century intellectual history.