In this important work of scholarship sure to reshape the landscape of critical social sciences, Raju Das offers a critique of many of the influential radical theories of class, making a spirited defense of class theory. Marxist Theory of Class for a Skeptical World critically discusses Analytical Marxist and Post-structuralist Marxist theories of class and persuasively argues for an alternative approach that is rooted in the ideas of Marx and Engels, as well as Lenin and Trotsky.
Das offers a materialist-dialectical foundation for class theory, conceptualizing class at both the transhistorical level and at the level of capitalism.
Publication date: July 31, 2018
List of Figures and Tables ... viii
Acknowledgements ... ix
1 Introduction ... 1
2 Analytical Marxist Theory of Class ... 22
1 Main Concepts in Analytical Marxist Theory of Class ... 24
2 Connecting Core Class-Concepts, and Levels of Class-Analysis ... 51
3 Class Analysis, Struggle for Socialism, and Socialist Strategies ... 54
4 Conceptual Advantages of Wright’s Theory of Class ... 60
5 Wright’s Class Theory in Relation to His Marxist Social Theory ... 65
6 Conclusion ... 70
3 Anti-essentialist (Post-structuralist) Marxist Theory of Class ... 74
1 Post-structuralist Marxist Notion of Class Relation ... 76
2 Class Agency/Struggle and Geography of Capitalism ... 83
3 Class Theory as a Part of Marxist Social Theory in Anti-essentialist Marxism: The Principle of Non-dominance ... 89
4 The Politics of Anti-essentialist Marxism or Class Politics of Distribution ... 98
5 Semiotic/Linguistic/Emotional Resistance and Intervention ... 106
6 Conclusion ... 109
4 A Critique of Theories of Class in Analytical and Anti-essentialist Marxisms ... 111
1 Class and Property ... 112
2 Class, Surplus, and Exploitation ... 118
3 The Primacy of Class and of Capitalist Class Relations ... 125
4 Problematic Conception of Class-Agency and Anti-capitalism ... 134
5 A Reformist View of Post-capitalist Politics ... 145
6 Class Character of Revisions to the Marxist Theory of Class: Theories and Interests ... 159
7 Conclusion ... 164
5 Philosophical Foundations of Class Theory ... 175
1 Marxist Philosophy: A Brief Statement of Basic Principles ... 175
2 Philosophy and Class Theory ... 199
3 Conclusion ... 208
6 Class Theory at a Trans-historical Scale ... 212
1 Class in All Class Societies: Class, Property, and Exploitation ... 213
2 Historically Specific Form of Class: Class in Pre-capitalist Society ... 228
3 Objective Conditions, Class Struggle, Class Consciousenss and Transition in Class Form of Society ... 233
4 Class and the State: Political Oppression as a Part of Class Relation ... 239
5 Conclusion ... 243
7 Marxist Theory of Capitalism as Class: A Dialectics of Exchange, Property and Value Relations ... 249
1 Capitalist Class Relation as Exchange/Money Relation ... 252
2 Capitalist Class Relation as Property Relation ... 258
3 Capitalist Class Relation as a Relation of Value ... 262
4 Money Relation, Property Relation, and Value Relation all Internally Connected ... 273
5 Concrete Map of Class Relations in Capitalist Social Formation ... 288
6 Objective Effects of Class Relations on the Working Class: Suffering and Immiserization ... 306
7 Conclusion ... 313
8 Subsumptions of Labour by Capital: Theory of Capitalist Class Relation from an International Perspective ... 340
1 How is Capitalism Conceptualized? ... 342
2 Formal and Real Subsumptions of Labour as Forms of Capitalist Class Relation ... 345
3 Transition from Formal Subsumption, and the Mediation of Class Struggle ... 353
4 Imperialism, Subsumption of Labour under Capital, and Class ... 359
5 Misconceptions about Subsumption of Labour and Dominant Contradiction in Modern Society ... 367
6 Summary, and Theoretical and Political Implications ... 376
9 The Capitalist State as Constitutive of Capitalist Class Relation: Class Exploitation and Political Oppression ... 391
1 The Capitalist State and the Capitalist Class Relation ... 392
2 Democratic State Form and the Capitalist Class Relation ... 399
3 Capitalist Class Relations and Barrier to Working Class Access to State Power ... 402
4 Conclusion ... 409
10 Dialectics of Class Consciousness ... 415
1 Consciousness of the Bourgeoisie ... 417
2 Consciousness of the Working Class and Its Multiple Forms ... 428
3 Capitalist Class Relation and Working Class Consciousness ... 438
4 Class Consciousness, Objectivism and Workers’ Struggle: Somegeneral Considerations ... 453
5 ‘Marxist Elitism’ and Class Consciousness ... 462
6 Conclusion ... 471
11 Trade Unionist Struggle and the Proletariat ... 483
1 Struggle from Above and Struggle from Below ... 484
2 ‘Primitive’ Revolts of the Working Class ... 487
3 Trade Union Struggle ... 489
4 What Makes (Spontaneous or Trade Unionist) Struggle Necessaryand Possible? ... 493
12 Class Struggle and the Proletariat ... 509
1 A Marxist Critique of Spontaneous Trade Unionist Struggle ... 510
2 Trade Union Struggle is a (Subordinate) Part of Class Struggle ... 514
3 Revolution as the Ultimate Form of Class Struggle ... 525
4 Revolutionary Role of the Proletariat ... 535
5 Political Hegemony of the Proletariat ... 545
6 Political Vehicles for Class Struggle ... 550
7 Conclusion ... 556
13 Conclusions, and Further Reflections on the Political Implications of Class Theory ... 566
1 Marxist Philosophy and Class Theory at a Trans-historical Level ... 579
2 The Totality of the Capitalist Class Relation ... 586
3 The Capitalist Class Relation, Internationally Speaking ... 605
4 The State and the (Capitalist) Class Relation ... 613
5 (Working) Class Consciousness and (Working) Class Power ... 616
Works Cited ... 635
Index ... 662
"While most of the 'Left' seems to have forgotten about class, class has not forgotten about us. For it continues to divide all of us in ways that lead to our worst problems, but also —when properly understood—to their only adequate solution. Enter Raju Das, who makes the most impressive case I've seen for why this assault on class misrepresents Marx, but, even more important, badly distorts the workings of the oppressive system in which we live, voiding any serious attempt to replace it with a better one. The subject of this book could not be more important, particularly now, and both Das' scholarship and his politics in dealing with it receive highest Marx from this reader."
—Professor Bertell Ollman, Department of Politics, NYU, author of Alienation & Dance of the Dialectic
"This book is a tour de force. It offers a bold, detailed, compelling, and historically grounded examination of the Marxian concepts of class, class relations and class exploitation, and the different ways in which they have been understood in the literature. In doing this, Raju Das demonstrates the relevance of Marxist political economy, the centrality of class for understanding economic, social and political outcomes in the current age of neoliberal capitalism, and the continuing necessity of class analysis and class activity for social transformation."
—Alfredo Saad-Filho, SOAS University of London
"An extensive and thorough exposition of the Marxist theory of class that answers criticisms, especially post-structuralist, while offering its own alternative based firmly in Marxism."
—Professor Richard Peet, Graduate School of Geography, Clark University
"Offering a careful immanent critique of Analytical and Post-Structuralist Marxisms, Raju Das persuasively argues that orthodox Marxist class analysis supplies the best framework for understanding the rapacity of contemporary capitalism, as well as the best—indeed, the only—strategy for revolutionary social transformation. Of particular value are his insistent yoking of class theory to political economy; his view of class as both a relation and a process; and his skillful deployment of such fundamental concepts as materialism, dialectics, and totality. Amidst the plethora of recent approaches to social and cultural theory that purport to decenter or marginalize class struggle as the fundamental contradiction shaping the world today, or that substitute a focus upon neoliberalism for an examination of capitalism itself, Das’s book stands out for its rigor and eloquence. This book is just what our “skeptical world” needs to hear."
—Barbara Foley, Distinguished Professor of English, Rutgers University, Newark
“This book, by Raju Das, is among the most important works on Marxist class theory to appear in recent decades.” –Joseph Choonara, International Socialism Journal
Edited by Raju J. Das, David Fasenfest, et al.
Edited by Tom Brass and Raju J. Das
Edited by Raju J. Das and Deepak K. Mishra
