The Arab Spring, chat forums, political leaders tweeting, online petitions, and protestors in the Occupy Movement, new media public spheres have without doubt radically altered social and political activism in society. But to what extent is this new activist public sphere stifled by the neoliberal economy and workfare state? Have we in fact become transformed into subjects of online consumption and orderly surveillance, rather than committed social and political campaigners? In this highly topical book, John Michael Roberts employs a political economy perspective to explore the relationship between financial neoliberal capitalism and digital publics. He assesses the extent to which they provide new forms of radical protest in civil society and offers an indispensable guide to understanding the relationship between the state, new media activism and neoliberal practices.

This book examines the relationship between critical realism and Marxism. The authors argue that critical realism and Marxism have much to gain from each other. This is the first book to address the controversial debates between critical realism and Marxism, and it does so from a wide range if disciplines. The authors argue that whilst one book cannot answer all the questions about the relationship between critical realism and Marxism, this book does provide some significant answers. In doing so, Critical Realism and Marxism reveals a potentially fruitful relationship; deepens our understanding of the social world and makes an important contribution towards eliminating the barbarism that accompanies contemporary capitalism.

This collection reflects the growing interest realist critics have shown towards forms of discourse theory and deconstruction. The diverse range of contributions address such issues as the work of Derrida and deconstruction, discourse theory, Eurocentrism and poststructuralism. What unites all of the contributions is a sense that it is essential to provide a realist alternative to the hitherto dominance of social constructionism, hermeneutics and postmodernism, over many of the issues discussed.
By developing a realist perspective the different authors attempt to embed discourse within the structured nature of the reality of the world. Realism can situate language, discourse and ideology within context specific, or 'causally efficacious' circumstances. Realism can help to uncover issues of power, representation, and subjectivity and how discursive and other social practices produce real effects. This can help us understand the manner in which (non-discursive) social structures are reproduced through various forms of ideology and discourse. And by knowing this, we can start to address questions concerning human emancipation and how the world is to be transformed.

Contents:
1. Introduction: Realism, Discourse and Deconstruction Jonathan Joseph and John Michael Roberts
Part One: Realism and Critical Discourse Analysis
2. Critical Realism and Semiosis Norman Fairclough, Bob Jessop and Andrew Sayer
3. Critical Realism, Critical Discourse Analysis, Concrete Research Martin Jones
4. How Might the Inclusion of Discursive Approaches Enrich Critical Realist Analysis? The Case of Environmentalism Jenneth Parker
Part Two: Voloshinov and Bakhtin
5. Will the Materialists in the Bakhtin Circle Please Stand Up? John Michael Roberts
6. Value and Contract Formation Howard Engelskirchen
Part Three: Realism and Post-Marxism
7. Lost in Transit: Reconceptualising the Real Neil Curry
8. Laclau and Mouffe and the Discursive Turn: Gains and the Losses Kathryn Dean
Part Four: Realism and Eurocentric Discourse
9. Eurocentrism, Realism and the Anthropic Carthography of Emancipation Rajani Kanth
10. The Dialectics of Realist Theory and the Eurocentric Problem of Modern Discourse Nick Hostettler
11. Limited Incorporation or Sleeping with the Enemy: Reading Derrida as a Critical Realist Colin Wight
12. Dialectics, Deconstruction and the Legal Subject Alan Norrie
13. Learning to Live (with Derrida) Jonathan Joseph
14. Deconstructing Anti-Realism: Derrida's 'White Mythology Christopher Norris

The Arab Spring, chat forums, political leaders tweeting, online petitions, and protestors in the Occupy Movement - new media public spheres have without doubt radically altered social and political activism in society. But to what extent is this new activist public sphere stifled by the neoliberal economy and workfare state? Have we in fact become transformed into subjects of online consumption and orderly surveillance, rather than committed social and political campaigners? In this highly topical book, John Michael Roberts employs a political economy perspective to explore the relationship between financial neoliberal capitalism and digital publics. He assesses the extent to which they provide new forms of radical protest in civil society and offers an indispensable guide to understanding the relationship between the state, new media activism and neoliberal practices.

This book examines the relationship between critical realism and Marxism. The authors argue that critical realism and Marxism have much to gain from each other. This is the first book to address the controversial debates between critical realism and Marxism, and it does so from a wide range if disciplines. The authors argue that whilst one book cannot answer all the questions about the relationship between critical realism and Marxism, this book does provide some significant answers. In doing so, Critical Realism and Marxism reveals a potentially fruitful relationship; deepens our understanding of the social world and makes an important contribution towards eliminating the barbarism that accompanies contemporary capitalism.

This book provides a systematic account of the impact of COVID-19 on the digital labour process by situating its analysis within the broader and global perspective of neoliberalism and financialisation. It investigates how COVID-19 has both changed and strengthened neoliberal and financialised class relations in the digital workplace. By drawing on Marxist theory and numerous empirical studies, the book examines these areas both before and during COVID-19 by focusing on five distinctive digital labour and work processes: global 'productive' digital work processes in sectors like manufacturing; 'unproductive' digital work in sectors like retail and finance; creative industries; gig and platform work; and digital work in the state and public sector. It also maps out degrees of class struggle in and around exploitation, oppression and emancipatory potential in the digital workplace before and during the pandemic.