The Legacy of Marxism: Contemporary Challenges, Conflicts, and Developments

Description

Marx's influence is evident in a range of often incompatible and contradictory political movements and intellectual approaches. With a number of those movements now discredited by the experience of 'really existing socialism', and the academic left gravitating towards approaches which eschew 'authoritarian', 'essentialist' and 'ethnocentric' elements of orthodox Marxism, the relevance of Marx has been called into question. Featuring chapters by Norman Geras, Joseph Femia, Alan Johnson, Paul Bowman, Ronaldo Munck, Lawrence Wilde, Mark Cowling, Chengyi Peng, Terrell Carver, Oliver Harrison and Stuart Sim, this book is an attempt to examine means by which the left can make real, substantive and positive contributions to contemporary debate. The collection examines such topics as: the meaning of Marxism and pluralism within the left; Marxism's scientific credentials; Zizek, revolution, democracy and cultural studies; the politics of development; the relationship between Marxism and global capitalism; the global justice debate and Marx's rejection of moral discourse; the analysis of crime and criminal justice; Chinese society and constitutional diversity, and the relationship between Marxism and post-Marxism.

Matthew Johnson is a British Academy Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of York, UK. His research focuses on the assessment of cultural practices and the potential contribution of Marxism to the examination of cross-cultural encounters. He is the author of A Theory of Cultural Evaluation (Palgrave, 2012) and articles in Ethnicities, Social Indicators Research and Educational Theory. He is the founding editor of Global Discourse and co-editor of Studies in Marxism.

"These essays show how Marxism can come to grips with the world as it now is. They provide a welcome breath of fresh air to left-wing debates." - Michael Levin, Professor Emeritus of Politics, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK "This is a stimulating collection of sophisticated, well-written and authoritative essays. In their different ways, they demonstrate that Marxism's legacy is indeed a living one, even if not quite the one envisaged by Marx." - Jules Townshend, Emeritus Professor in Political Theory, Manchester Metropolitan University "This excellent collection provides a wide-ranging and clearly-written introduction of the relevance of Marxism to contemporary debates. It is a rare pleasure to find an edited book where all the contributions are of an equally high quality. Centering around the relationship of Marxism to liberalism, it is essential reading for all students of the social sciences." - David McLellan, Professor of Political Theory, Goldsmiths College, University of London