Description
Book SynopsisEllen Meiksins Wood is a leading contemporary political theorist who has been described as the founder, together with Robert Brenner, of 'Political Marxism,' a distinct version of historical materialism which has inspired a research program that spans a number of academic disciplines. Organized thematically, this Reader provides an overview of her original interpretations of capitalism, and many different topics.
Trade ReviewThe writing is so supple and accessible, and the argument so persuasive, it's like watching a cloudy mixture of ideas being turned into a clear solution.” Adrienne Rich, on The Origins of Capitalism Few historians of comparative political thought are in the same league as Ellen Wood, who surveys the whole sweep of ancient and medieval thinkers with equal magisterial brilliance of insight.” Professor Paul Cartledge, University of Cambridge Meiksins Wood is a rare breed an academic with the soul of a storyteller.” Morning Star Immensely impressive, bold and erudite ... Meiksins Woods conclusions are undeniably nuanced, challenging and important.” Times Higher Education Supplement
“The writing is so supple and accessible, and the argument so persuasive, it's like watching a cloudy mixture of ideas being turned into a clear solution.” —Adrienne Rich, on The Origins of Capitalism “Few historians of comparative political thought are in the same league as Ellen Wood, who surveys the whole sweep of ancient and medieval thinkers with equal magisterial brilliance of insight.” —Professor Paul Cartledge, University of Cambridge “Meiksins Wood is a rare breed – an academic with the soul of a storyteller.” —Morning Star “Immensely impressive, bold and erudite ... Meiksins Wood‘s conclusions are undeniably nuanced, challenging and important.” —Times Higher Education Supplement
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Introduction: The ‘Method’ of Ellen Meiksins Wood 1. Capitalism The ‘economic’ and the ‘political’ in capitalism Class-power and state-power Feudalism and private property Capitalism as the privatisation of political power The localisation of class-struggle England vs. the dominant model of capitalism The bourgeois paradigm Begging the question Opportunity or imperative? The commercialisation-model Marx on the transition Towns and trade Agrarian capitalism Market-dependent producers A different kind of market-dependence? Competitive markets 2. Precapitalist Societies Class and state in China and Rome Rome and the empire of private property The city-states of Florence and Venice Master and slave vs. landlord and peasant Free producers and slaves Slavery and the ‘decline’ of the Roman Empire The ‘logic’ of slavery vs. the logic of capitalism The ‘slave-mode of production’ Agricultural slavery and the peasant-citizen The nexus of freedom and slavery in democratic Athens 3. The State in Historical Perspective Class and state in ancient society The emergence of the polis in ancient Athens The ‘essence’ of the polis Class in the democratic polis Village and state, town and country, in democratic Athens The rise and fall of Rome The culture of property: the Roman law From imperial Rome to ‘feudalism’ Absolutism and the modern state The idea of the state The peculiarities of the English state Contrasting states: France vs. England 4. Social and Political Thought The social history of political theory Political theory in history: an overview Plato The Greek concept of freedom Jean-Jacques Rousseau John Locke Revolution and tradition, c. 1640–1790 5. Democracy, Citizenship, Liberalism, and Civil Society Labour and democracy, ancient and modern From ancient to modern conceptions of citizenship Capitalism and democratic citizenship The American redefinition of democracy A democracy devoid of social content From democracy to liberalism Capitalism and ‘liberal democracy’ Liberal democracy and capitalist hegemony The idea of ‘civil society’ The civil-society argument ‘Civil society’ and the devaluation of democracy 6. The Enlightenment, Postmodernism, and the Post-‘New Left’ Modernity vs. capitalism: France vs. England From modernity to postmodernity Modernity and the non-history of capitalism Themes of the postmodern left Enlightenment vs. capitalism: Condorcet vs. Locke Enlightenment-universalism The periodisation of the Western left Left-intellectuals and contemporary capitalism 7. Globalisation and Imperialism Globalisation and the nation-state Nation-states, classes, and universal capitalism The indispensable state Precapitalist imperialism The classic age of imperialism Globalisation and war Globalisation and imperial hegemony The contradictions of capitalist imperialism 8. Socialism The end of the welfare-state ‘compact’ There are no social democrats now Market-dependence vs. market-enablement Left-strategies of market-enablement The political implications of competition The working class and the struggle for socialism Class-conflict and the socialist project Socialism and democracy The state in classless societies Liberalism vs. democracy ‘Universal human goods’ The self-emancipation of the working class The socialist movement Democracy as an economic mechanism Bibliography of Works by Ellen Meiksins Wood, 1970–2012 References Index
