Suchergebnisse

Reviews the trajectories of Marxist critical thought with special interest in explaining the continuing relevance of the dialectical approach for explaining & participating in conditions of modernity. Discusses the critical tradition in Marxism after defining Marxism's relationship to modernity, specifically focusing on the development of the Frankfurt School, the central concept of "exchange," Theodor Adorno's engagement with Karl Popper, & Jurgen Habermas' divergence from the school. "Western" Marxism, the broader influence over critical theory, is then addressed by focusing on theorists who have best represented the school & its principles, those who have reflected on its significance, critical theory's relation to the October Revolution, & the philosophical tendencies of Marxism & critical theory. Marxism's historical & cultural influences on & relationship with other movements, its status after World War II, resurgence during the 1960s & 1970s, use & understanding in non-European nations & cultures, & creative North American applications are detailed. Finally, given the conditions of the decline of the industrialized working class & fading influence of the October Revolution, new thinking about modernity & dialectics is needed. A global dialectical critique is needed to confront the challenges of the forces & relations of production & their effects on economic & social relations, not just communicative action. R. Rodriguez

Eric Hobsbawm's (1994) treatment of major political & social developments in the 20th century is critiqued. An overview of Hobsbawm's commitment to leftist politics is presented to better understand his perspective toward the 20th century. Attention is dedicated to Hobsbawm's analysis of WWI & the October Revolution, the failure of both capitalism & communism to provide an effective economic model during the 1920s & 1930s, & the collaboration between capitalist nations & communist Russia during WWII. Three criticisms are levied against Hobsbawm's account of Pre-WWII global developments, eg, he largely disregards the role nationalism played in the formation of the anti-fascist alliance during the WWII era. In addition, multiple methodological shortcomings with Hobsbawm's text are highlighted, eg, his use of historical narrative would have benefited from the inclusion of factual & statistical information. Moreover, difficulties with his account of certain countries' modernization are also identified. J. W. Parker

What welfare states do is distinguished into social administration, social education, social reform. and social steering, Steering reaches furthest into people's lives. As such it is problematic both to integrative and aggregative theories of democracy. A systematic overview of aggregate data on the major activities of households is a base for analysing how the population affects and is affected by the welfare state. (Abstract amended)

In spite of a recently growing interest in corporatism as a political explanation of cross-national variations of economic performance and as a device for successful crisis management, there is little evidence that corporatism matters as a determinant of economic outcomes. 2 kinds of corporatism--as a pattern of interest intermediation or industrial relations, and as a system of concerted public policy-making--are distinguished and tested with OECD data from the 1973-85 crisis. Little or no support for either corporatist explanation was found. (Abstract amended)

Inequality is not just about the size of our wallets. It is a socio-cultural order which, for most of us, reduces our capabilities to function as human beings, our health, our dignity, our sense of self, as well as our resources to act and participate in the world. This book shows that inequality is literally a killing field, with millions of people dying premature deaths because of it. These lethal effects of inequality operate not only in the poor world, but also, and increasingly, in rich countries, as Therborn demonstrates with data ranging from the US, the UK, Finland and elsewhere. Even

Two reviews of D. Sassoon, One Hundred Years of Socialism: The West European Left in the Twentieth Century. Therborn argues that Sassoon's perspective is too narrow and his focus on party history a serious methodological mistake. The fatal weakness of the book is that it leaves unanswered such questions as: What is, or what was, socialism? What has it accomplished? Does it have a future? Eley argues that one of Sassoon's core ideas is that the revisionism of the 1980s and 1990s was inevitable, and that this reflects his focus on political, institutional history. His failure to analyse deeply enough the protest movements of the 1960s and the new social movements leads to an overly pessimistic conclusion which ignores possible sources of socialist renewal. (Quotes from original text)

Argues that Therborn's case, NLR, 194 July/August 1992, that the present crisis of the Left lies in its success in overcoming earlier problems, is true of social democracy but not of communism. Urges leftist intellectuals to abandon their disdain for social democracy which remains a vital force. With reply.

Intro -- CONTENTS -- NOTES ON AUTHORS -- FOREWORD SURFACE TENSIONS AND DEEP STRUCTURES --- Wang Gungwu -- INTRODUCTION ASIA AND EUROPE IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD -- EMPIRES -- THE FIRST GLOBALIZATION EPISODE: THE CREATION OF THE MONGOL EMPIRE, OR THE ECONOMICS OF CHINGGIS KHAN --- Ronald Findlay and Mats Lundahl -- MIXED LEGAL SYSTEMS AND COLONIALITY: PARTS OF THE CONSTRUCT OF A GLOBAL LEGAL CULTURE --- Kjell-Åke Modéer -- ASIAN NATIONS AND GLOBALIZATION -- THE NATIONAL, THE RELIGIOUS, AND THE GLOBAL IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN BANGLADESH --- Habibul Haque Khondker -- FROM THE DISCOURSE OF "SINO-WEST" TO" GLOBALIZATION": CHINESE PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBALIZATION --- Yu Keping -- GLOBALIZATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE CHINESE REVOLUTION --- Arif Dirlik -- POLITICAL SELECTIVITY AND CULTURAL RESPONSE IN THE PROCESS OF MODERNIZATION AND GLOBALIZATION: NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA COMPARED --- Kim Kyong-Dong and Lee On-Jook -- FROM DEVELOPMENTAL LIBERALISM TO NEO-LIBERALISM: GLOBALIZATION, DEPENDENT REFLEXIVITY AND SOCIAL POLICY IN SOUTH KOREA --- Chang Kyung-Sup -- VIETNAMESE WOMEN IN TRANSITION AND GLOBALIZATION --- Le Thi Quy -- RELIGIONS AND OTHER WORLD VALUES -- FROM THEOLOGY TO ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGIONS: HOW TO ANALYSE THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS TRADITION IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD? --- Jan Hjärpe -- RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS: CLASHES AND CONVERGENCES IN ASIAN-EUROPEAN DIALOGUES --- Elisabeth Gerle -- CONTINENTS AND REGIONS OF THE WORLD -- EUROPE AND ASIAS: IN THE GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY AND IN THE WORLD AS A CULTURAL SYSTEM --- Göran Therborn -- INDEX.