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The spectacular growth in the 1970s and 1980s of the Marxist
literature on politics and the state in capitalist society was
hailed at the time as cumulative proof of Marxism's success in
producing an effective theory of the political superstructure. More
generally, it was seen as confirmation of the health and vigor of
Marxist theory. Axel van den Berg questions both of these claims.
Through comprehensive analysis of Marxist thought on bourgeois
politics and the state, from that produced by Marx himself on, van
den Berg radically challenges the viability of a distinctly Marxist
theory of the state and of recent Marxist theorizing in general. In
an exhaustive review of the literature, van den Berg shows that
neo-Marxist theories are, for the most part, not empirically
testable. To the extent that it is possible to draw any empirical
implications from these theories at all, such implications are
virtually indistinguishable from those of "bourgeois" theories. Van
den Berg proceeds to lay bare the contradiction at the heart of
Marxist theory in general: it presupposes the viability and
desirability of some ideal socialist society yet its "anti-utopian"
insistence that all criticisms of capitalism must rest on
foundations immanent in capitalism itself prohibits any open
discussion of such a utopia. Now available in paperback, this is a
fundamental work for political and social theorists. "This work is
brilliant in its polemical courage, its originality, and its
detailed and revealing examination of texts. Van den Berg
demonstrates that postwar Marxist political theory and sociology is
not only vague and contradictory but that it actually makes
critical concessions to the bourgeois thought' it claims to
surpass. Appearing in the midst of afar-reaching reconsideration of
the Marxism project in Europe, this volume crystallizes these
issues for North American social science..."--Jeffrey Alexander,
University of California, Los Angeles. "Van den Berg has made a
major contribution to the long overdue relegation of Marxism to the
museum of nineteenth-century ideological antiquities."--Dennis
Wrong, Contemporary Sociology. Axel van den Berg is a
Dutch-Canadian professor of sociology at McGill University in
Montreal. His most recent work is The Social Sciences and
Rationality.
Combating Poverty critically analyses the growing divergence
between Quebec and other large Canadian provinces in terms of
social and labour market policies and their outcomes over the past
several decades. While Canada is routinely classified as a single,
homogeneous 'liberal market' regime, social and labour market
policy falls within provincial jurisdiction resulting in a
considerable divergence in policy mixes and outcomes between
provinces. This volume offers a detailed survey of social and
labour market policies since the early 2000s in Canada's four
largest provinces - Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta
- showing the full extent to which Canada's major provinces have
chosen diverging policy paths. Quebec has succeeded in emulating
European and even Nordic social democratic levels of poverty for
some groups, while poverty rates and patterns in the other
provinces remain close to the high levels characteristic of the
North American liberal, market-oriented regime. Combating Poverty
provides a unique and timely reflection on the political
implications and sustainability of Canada's fragmented welfare
state.
The spectacular growth in the 1970s and 1980s of the Marxist
literature on politics and the state in capitalist society was
hailed at the time as cumulative proof of Marxism's success in
producing an effective theory of the political superstructure. More
generally, it was seen as confirmation of the health and vigor of
Marxist theory. Axel van den Berg questions both of these claims.
Through comprehensive analysis of Marxist thought on bourgeois
politics and the state, from that produced by Marx himself on, van
den Berg radically challenges the viability of a distinctly Marxist
theory of the state and of recent Marxist theorizing in general.
In an exhaustive review of the literature, van den Berg shows that
neo-Marxist theories are, for the most part, not empirically
testable. To the extent that it is possible to draw any empirical
implications from these theories at all, such implications are
virtually indistinguishable from those of "bourgeois" theories. Van
den Berg proceeds to lay bare the contradiction at the heart of
Marxist theory in general: it presupposes the viability and
desirability of some ideal socialist society yet its "anti-utopian"
insistence that all criticisms of capitalism must rest on
foundations immanent in capitalism itself prohibits any open
discussion of such a utopia. Now available in paperback, this is a
fundamental work for political and social theorists.
"This work is brilliant in its polemical courage, its originality,
and its detailed and revealing examination of texts. Van den Berg
demonstrates that postwar Marxist political theory and sociology is
not only vague and contradictory but that it actually makes
critical concessions to the bourgeois thought' it claims to
surpass. Appearing in the midst of afar-reaching reconsideration of
the Marxism project in Europe, this volume crystallizes these
issues for North American social science..."--Jeffrey Alexander,
University of California, Los Angeles.
"Van den Berg has made a major contribution to the long overdue
relegation of Marxism to the museum of nineteenth-century
ideological antiquities."--Dennis Wrong, "Contemporary Sociology."
Axel van den Berg is a Dutch-Canadian professor of sociology at
McGill University in Montreal. His most recent work is "The Social
Sciences and Rationality."
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