Suchergebnisse

I. Historical Materialism and the Specificity of Capitalism. 1. The separation of the 'economic' and the 'political' in capitalism ; 2. Rethinking base and superstructure ; 3. Class as process and relationship ; 4. History or technological determinism? ; 5. History or teleology? Marx versus Weber -- II. Democracy Against Capitalism. 6. Labour and democracy, ancient and modern ; 7. The demos versus 'we, the people' : from ancient to modern conceptions of citizenship ; 8. Civil society and the politics of identity ; 9. Capitalism and human emancipation: race, gender and democracy.

"The controversial thesis at the center of this study is that, despite the importance of slavery in Athenian society, the most distinctive characteristic of Athenian democracy was the unprecedented prominence it gave to free labor. Wood argues that the emergence of the peasant as citizen, juridically and politically independent, accounts for much that is remarkable in Athenian political institutions and culture. From a survey of historical writings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the focus of which distorted later debates, Wood goes on to take issue with influential arguments, such as those of G.E.M. de Ste Croix, about the importance of slavery in agricultural production. The social, political and cultural influence of the peasant-citizen is explored in a way which questions some of the most cherished conventions of Marxist and non-Marxist historiography" --Page 4 of cover

Includes bibliographical references and index

Ellen Meiksins Wood argues that with the collapse of Communism the theoretical project of Marxism and its critique of capitalism is more timely and important than ever. Current intellectual fashions of the left which emphasise 'post-modern' fragmentation, 'difference', contingency and the 'politics of identity' can barely accommodate the idea of capitalism, let alone subject the capitalist system to critique. In this book she sets out to renew the critical programme of historical materialism by redefining its basic concepts and its theory of history in original and imaginative ways, using them to identify the specificity of capitalism as a system of social relations and political power. She goes on to explore the concept of democracy in both the ancient and modern world, examining the concept's relation to capitalism, and raising questions about how democracy might go beyond the limits imposed on it by capitalism

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972

Der globale Kapitalismus durchlebt gerade seine tiefste Krise seit der Großen Depression. Und obwohl antikapitalistische Bewegungen, wie sie noch vor einigen Jahren aktiv waren, mehr oder weniger verschwunden sind, gibt es derzeit, wie die Proteste in Griechenland, Spanien, Frankreich und Italien zeigen, einige Anzeichen für neue oppositionelle Kräfte. Der Beitrag geht auf die Kritik von antikapitalistischen Strömungen ein und betrachtet die dem Kapitalismus innewohnenden Probleme (demokratisches Defizit, Kapital und Nationalstaat, Imperialismus, Grenzen des Wachstums). Die Autorin betrachtet die Aufgaben der Linken, die ihrer Meinung nach aus diesen Problemen erwachsen und kommt zu dem Schluss: Wie an alle anderen stellt die neue Weltordnung auch an die Linke völlig neue Anforderungen. Der Zusammenbruch des Kommunismus ist nicht die einzige epochale Transformation, die nach ernsthaftem Neu-Durchdenken verlangt. Auch am Kapitalismus ist die Zeit nicht spurlos vorübergegangen, im Gegenteil: Die Lektion, die wir aus der gegenwärtigen ökonomischen und politischen Situation ziehen können, ist, dass ein humaner, sozialer, demokratischer und gerechter Kapitalismus utopischer ist als der Sozialismus selbst. (ICB2)