Time, labor, and social domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx's critical theory

Contents

ontentspp vii-x
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Select Acknowledgments
Acknowledgmentspp xi-xii
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Select Part I - A critique of traditional Marxism
Part I - A critique of traditional Marxismpp 1-2
Chapter 1 - Rethinking Marx's critique of capitalismpp 3-42
Select Chapter 2 - Presuppositions of traditional Marxism
Chapter 3 - The limits of traditional Marxism and the pessimistic turn of Critical Theorypp 84-120
Part II - Toward a reconstruction of the Marxian critique: the commoditypp 121-122
Chapter 4 - Abstract laborpp 123-185
Chapter 5 - Abstract timepp 186-225
Chapter 6 - Habermas's critique of Marxpp 226-260
Part III - Toward a reconstruction of the Marxian critique: capitalpp 261-262
Chapter 7 - Toward a theory of capitalpp 263-285
Chapter 8 - The dialectic of labor and timepp 286-306
Chapter 9 - The trajectory of productionpp 307-384
Chapter 10 - Concluding considerationspp 385-400
Selected bibliographypp 401-412
Indexpp 413-424

Moishe Postone undertakes a fundamental reinterpretation of Karl Marx's mature critical theory. He calls into question many of the presuppositions of traditional Marxist analyses and offers new interpretations of Marx's central arguments. He does so by developing concepts aimed at grasping the essential character and historical development of modern society, and also at overcoming the familiar dichotomies of structure and action, meaning and material life. These concepts lead him to an original analysis of the nature and problems of capitalism and provide the basis for a critique of 'actually existing socialism'. According to this new interpretation, Marx identifies the core of the capitalist system with an impersonal form of social domination generated by labor and the industrial production process are characterized as expressions of domination generated by labor itself and not simply with market mechanisms and private property. Proletarian labor and the industrial production process are characterized as expressions of domination rather than as means of human emancipation. This reinterpretation entails the form of economic growth and the structure of social labor in modern society to the alienation and domination at the heart of capitalism. This reformulation, Postone argues, provides the foundation for a critical social theory that is more adequate to late twentieth-century capitalism.