Concept
Neo-Marxism
Overview
Neo-Marxism is a collection of Marxist schools of thought that originated from 20th-century approaches to amend or extend Marxism and Marxist theory, typically by incorporating elements from other intellectual traditions such as critical theory, psychoanalysis, or existentialism. Neo-Marxism comes under the broader framework of the New Left. In a sociological sense, neo-Marxism adds Max Weber's broader understanding of social inequality, such as status and power, to Marxist philosophy.
As with many uses of the prefix neo-, some theorists and groups who are designated as neo-Marxists have attempted to supplement the perceived deficiencies of orthodox Marxism or dialectical materialism. Many prominent neo-Marxists, such as Herbert Marcuse and other members of the Frankfurt School, have historically been sociologists and psychologists.
Examples of neo-Marxism include analytical Marxism, French structural Marxism, political Marxism, critical theory, cultural studies, as well as some forms of feminism. Erik Olin Wright's theory of contradictory class locations is an example of the syncretism found in neo-Marxist thought, as it incorporates Weberian sociology and critical criminology.
There is some ambiguity surrounding the difference between neo-Marxism and post-Marxism, with many thinkers being considered both. Prominent neo-Marxist journals include Spectre, Historical Materialism, New Left Review, Rethinking Marxism, Capital & Class, Salvage, Cultural Logic and the Seminar in Contemporary Marxism.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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In bourgeois society, living labour is but a means to increase accumulated labour. In Communist society, accumulated labour is but a means to widen, to enrich, to promote the existence of the labourer. In bourgeois society, therefore, the past dominates the present; in Communist society, the present dominates the past. In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is…
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
States what Neo-Marxism is.
The materialistic conception of history, as it is called, is due to Marx, and underlies the whole Communist philosophy. I do not mean, of course, that a man could not be a Communist without accepting it, but that in fact it is accepted by the Communist Party, and that it profoundly influences their views as to politics and tactics.
Bertrand Russell, The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism
States what Neo-Marxism is.
These our philosophic ideas have had an incubation period of about twenty years since they were first given to the world in Marx's "Misere de la Philosophie" and the Communist Manifesto until they obtained a wider and wider influence through the publication of "Capital" and now find recognition and support far beyond the limits of Europe in all lands where a proletariat exists together with progressive scientific…
Friedrich Engels, Landmarks of Scientific Socialism
States what Neo-Marxism is.
Philosophers who discussed Neo-Marxism
Related ideas
- Marxist feminism
- Feminism
- Game theory
- CQ Press
- David Harvey
- Marxists Internet Archive
- Guy Debord
- Jean-Paul Sartre
- Rosa Luxemburg
- Sociology
- The Guardian
- Max Weber
- Max Horkheimer
- Neoclassical economics
- Walter Benjamin
- Frankfurt School
- Psychoanalysis
- Psychotherapy
- Syncretism
- Theodor W. Adorno
- Monthly Review
- Fredric Jameson
- Cultural studies
- Structural Marxism
Place in the tradition
Part of Kyoto School.