The Conformist Rebellion
Marxist Critiques of the Contemporary Left
The Conformist Rebellion
Marxist Critiques of the Contemporary Left
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Description
The contrast between the Marxian emancipatory project and what the progressive left has made of it has never been more glaring than now, a time in which capital no longer seems to confront a political barrier. It is this predicament that The Conformist Rebellion evaluates, for a renewed approach to emancipation from capital.
This is an extremely well-conceived and executed book. The preponderance of radical theory today has moved very far from traditional concerns with class and exploitation, rooted in an interest-based framework. Instead, it has embraced concepts like marginality, exclusion, otherness, etc. This collection joins a small but significant stream of work, published over the past decade, that is pushing back against this faux radicalism.
This book has many strengths—breadth, depth, range of authors, as well as a cohering intellectual spine. It would make an excellent coursebook, offering options for both required reading and suggested reading on various sociology / social theory / cultural theory / political history / political theory / critical theory-style courses.
There is a real need for a robust debate within the left on what emancipation means or can mean in the wake of neoliberalism, and for a renewal of Marx’s critique of political economy. It is not that the left is oblivious to systematic forms of oppression, but that it has ceded the analytical tools—which Marx provides—with which to criticize them. This book will fill an important place in contemporary left scholarship.
Elena Louisa Lange is senior research fellow and lecturer at the University of Zurich. She is the co-editor of two books on Asian Philosophy and the author of Value without Fetish: Uno Kôzô’s Theory of Pure Capitalism.
Joshua Pickett-Depaolis is an independent researcher and an editor of the political theory journal Counter Attack. His interests include Marxist strategic thought and the Clausewitzian tradition of political realism