Subversive thought is none other than the cunning of reason when confronted with a social reality in which the poor and miserable are required to sustain the illusion of fictitious wealth. Yet, this subsidy is absolutely necessary in existing society, to prevent its implosion. The critique of political economy is a thoroughly subversive business. It rejects the appearance of economic reality as a natural thing, argues that economy has not independent existence, expounds economy as political economy, and rejects as conformist rebellion those anti-capitalist perspectives that derive their rationality from the existing conceptuality of society. Subversion focuses on human conditions. Its critical subject is society unaware of itself. This book develops Marx’s critique of political economy as negative theory of society. It does not conform to the patterns of the world and demands that society rids itself of all the muck of ages and founds itself anew.
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Dedication Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Critical Theory and the Critique of Political Economy Section I: On the Critique of Political Economy as a Critical Social Theory 2. Political Economy and Social Constitution: On the Meaning of Critique 3. Society as Subject and Society as Object: On Social Praxis Section II: Value: On Social Wealth and Class 4. Capital and Labour: Primitive Accumulation and the Force of Value 5. Class and Struggle: On the false Society 6. Time is Money: On Abstract Labour Section III: Capital, World Market and State 7. State, World Market and Society 8. On the State of Political Economy: Political Form and the Force of Law Section IV Anti-Capitalism: Theology and Negative Practice 9. Anti-Capitalism and the Elements of Antisemitism: On Theology and Real Abstractions 10. Conclusion: On the Elements of Subversion and Negative Reason Selected Bibliography Index
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Bonefeld successfully both reveals the supposedly innate contradictions of a system that is imposed externally on us and succeeds in dissecting the most pivotal contradiction, that is, how our own labor is simultaneously organized as concrete and abstract labor.
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This Critical Theory and Contemporary Society volumes develops the critique of political economy as critical social theory.
Offers a critique of the political in political economy as the concentrated force of economy
Critical Theory in Contemporary Society is a series of monographs that explore the relation between contemporary society as a complex and highly differentiated phenomenon on the one hand, and critical theory as a correspondingly sophisticated methodology for studying and understanding it on the other. Volumes in the series highlight why critical theory offers appropriate concepts for understanding political movements, socio-economic conflicts, and state-institutions in an ever more global world, and why critical theory needs updating to keep pace with the realities of the 21st century. SERIES UPDATE: While these titles are still available from Bloomsbury, all future titles in this series will be published by Manchester University Press. For information on forthcoming titles and for more up-to-date news about this series, please visit the Manchester University Press website at: www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781501317750
Publisert
2016-03-10
Utgiver
Vendor
Bloomsbury Academic USA
Vekt
349 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
U, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
256

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

Werner Bonefeld teaches in the Department of Politics at the University of York, UK. His work contributed to the development of the internationally recognised Open Marxism school.