Sociology 792M - S-Contemporary Marxist Theory

This seminar is an exploration of contemporary work broadly engaged with the Marxist tradition. First, the concepts of state, ideology, class, commodification, capitalist crises, and emancipation are central. Most of the readings embrace some version of historical materialism (the idea that social history is driven by material conditions) and the unity of theory and practice (that the point of theory is to change the world). Second, some of what we read will be in explicit conversation around Marxist theory or concepts, though the authors may not necessarily identify with the Marxist tradition, or perhaps they did earlier on in their work before rejecting or transcending the label. Further, far from taking an uncritical view of Marxian ideas, the readings generally critique and in their own way reconstruct the tradition.