Marxism in the Postmodern Age: Confronting the New World Order (Critical Perspectives)

By A. Callari

Book Overview

Papers from the November 1992 International Conference on Marxism in the New World Order address cultural, artistic, emotional, ethical, and psychological dimensions of social life as well as... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 089862424X
• ISBN13: 9780898624243
• Release Date: October 1994
• Publisher: The Guilford Press
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Updating Marx

Marxism in the Postmodern Age provides, perhaps, one of the most comprehensive reviews of current Marxist thought and action available today. Featuring over 50 essays by prominent theorists, artists, and educators dedicated to the progressive cause, this volume manages to cover nearly every aspect of Marxist theory in our society, from politics and economics to art and pop culture. While there are many standard pieces covering topics such as the global state of the anti-capitalist cause in the wake of the Soviet collapse, there are also more practical and lighter topics such as "Waiting for the Revolution, or How to Smash Capitalism in Your Spare Time" and chapters with specific focus on Marxism in popular culture. It is this diversity which is really this works greatest strength. By bringing together both "academic Marxists" and active radicals, reformers and revolutionaries, political commentators and protestors, this work provides a more comprehensive view of the current state of the struggle than most other sources. This book is an excellent reference source, most people won't be interested in every article in this compendium, and a significant number require at least a comfortable grasp of complex economic and political theorems, but the book does provide information on both common and rare topics of interest to most progressives and radicals. The one true drawback to this volume is its publication date; the book was originally published in 1995, and many of the articles date back to the 1992 conference on "Marxism in the New World Order" held at UMass Amherst. In a rapidly changing socio-political climate, this is a significant time period, and many issues, which are now at the forefront of the fight against capitalism, are mentioned only briefly or not at all. For example, the World Trade Organization, currently perhaps the organization against which there is, perhaps, the most domestic Marxist protest (as demonstrated in Seattle) isn't even mentioned. This, however, is not a crippling drawback, and the scope of the text easily makes up for it. This is an essential for anyone seeking to gain an understanding of Marxism not as a theory, but as an ideology, and as a possibility for the future.