Neo-Marxist Theories
I.
Intellectual Influences
A. Marx's published and unpublished work
1. the predominant influence on Neo-Marxist theories
2. diversity of Marx's writings: different
interpretations
a. late writings (Capital)
(1) scientific, structural analyses of political
economy
(2) provided the basis for
(a) economic determinism
(b) structural Marxism
(c) analytical Marxism
b. his earlier writings (German Ideology)
(1) philosophical, interpretive analyses of
ideology
(2) provided the basis for
(a) Neo-Hegelian
(b) critical
(c) postmodern
c. middle Marx (18th Brumaire)
(1) sociological analyses of class struggle
(2) provided the basis for historical
Marxism
B. Weber was also an intellectual influence
1. focus on political institutions (affected structural
theory)
2. interactive (indeterminant) model
a. of relations between institutions (structural)
b. of relations between individuals and
institutions (critical)
3. his historical/comparative model (historical)
C. Other intellectual influences include
1. economic determinism: largely negative influence
a. orthodoxy from 1883-1917
b. subject to attack thereafter
2. Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky
a. the problems of practical Marxism
b. confounding theory, 1917-1989
3. Hegel: Neo-Hegelian and Critical
a. focus on alienation and conflict
b. ideology and struggle for liberation
4. Sigmund Freud: particularly for critical theory
a. dialectical model of personality
b. concern with individual liberation
D. these intellectual influences
1. shaped the development of Neo-Marxist (or
Marxist) theory
2. within the socio-historical context
a. 1883-1917: Marx's death to Russian
Revolution
b. 1917-1932: rise of Hitler
c. 1932-1945: defeat of Hitler
d. 1945-1989: Cold War
d. 1989-present: post-Cold War
II.
Socio-historical Influences
A. Marx’s death in 1883 to Russian Revolution in 1917
1. economic determinism was the orthodoxy
a. Capital was bible
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b. philosophical writings not published until
1930s
c. political writings not taken seriously
2. preached inevitable destruction of capitalism
a. once capitalism fully developed
b. technical productive capacity
c. proletarian consciousness
d. economic and political crises
3. German Social Democratic Party was model of
praxis
a. forum for consciousness raising
b. non-interference in capitalist development
c. wait for revolution
4. opposing theories
a. revisionist: liberal, Weberian
(1) gradual transition to socialism
(2) promote political and economic reform
b. Austro-Hungarian (Eastern European):
structural
(1) complexity of modern capitalism
(2) question inevitable collapse of capitalism
(3) call for revolutionary political struggle
5. debate on theory and praxis
a. inevitable collapse/revolution
b. waiting for that moment
6. debate becomes obsolete
a. failure of communism in Germany
(1) Michels, Political Parties (1911)
(2) Workers party supports Kaiser (1914)
b. success in Russia (1917)
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B. Russian Revolution (1917) until Hitler’s Germany
(1932)
1. theoretical debate on orthodoxy became obsolete
a. lack revolution in England
b. conservatism in German and Italian workers’
parties
c. revolution in semi-feudal Czarist Russia
2. practical problems in Russia
a. communist path in industrialization?
b. peasant and socialist collectivist/communal
agriculture?
c. statebuilding: workers’ state without workers?
d. role of intellectuals, leaders, party, state?
3. confounding theoretical and practical problems
a. revolution without a revolutionary class
b. communism before capitalism
4. Soviet challenge to Marxism
a. inevitable collapse of capitalism?
b. role of industrial proletariat
c. materialist/economic determination of
(1) the state
(2) the dominant ideology
5. revising Marxist theory
a. rejection of economic determinism
b. development of Neo-Hegelian theory of
nonrevolution
C. From Rise of Hitler through World War II
1. challenge of fascism and reactionary counterrevolution
a. the problem of the German Ideology
b. the problem of working class authoritarianism
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c. the publication of “early” Marx
2. the development of critical theory
a. in Frankfurt, Germany
b. at the New School for Social Research (NY)
3. the Stalin-Hitler non-aggression pact
D. From WW II until 1989: The Cold War
1. the McCarthy years: the red purge
a. U.S. and allies vilify Stalin and Hitler
b. totalitarian versus democratic regimes
c. mass society
(1) routine politics break down
(2) demagogues appeal to masses
2. the Sixties: rediscovering Marx
a. social protest and French Structuralism
b. the New Left and critical theory (U.S. and
Germany)
c. British Cultural Studies: Historical Marxism
3. New social movements and new challenges
a. the challenge of feminism
b. the challenge of environmentalism
c. multiculturalism
d. postmodernism
E. After the Cold War?
III. Perspective: Radical
IV. Model(s): Dialectical models of
A. Economy
B. Culture
C. National political economy
D. International political economy
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NeoMarxist Dialectical Models
Level of Analysis
Institutional
Focus
Institutional
Economic
exploiter
Organizational Individual
circumstance
interest
exploited
Cultural
culture
consciousness knowledge
experience
National
Political
Economy
International
Political
Economy
republicanism parties
partisanship
capitalism
protest
classes
core
periphery
Two Problems: inter-institutional relations and levels of analysis
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