Foucault with Marx

by Jacques Bidet, Steven Corcoran (Translator)

With this timely commitment, Jacques Bidet unites the theories of arguably the world's two greatest emancipatory political thinkers. In this far-reaching and decisive text, Bidet examines Marxian and Foucauldian criticisms of capitalist modernity.

For Marx, the intersection between capital and the market is crucial, while for Foucault, the organizational aspects of capital are what really matter. According to Marx, the ruling class is identified with property; with Foucault, it is the managers who hold power and knowledge that rule. Bidet identifies these two sides of capitalist modernity as 'market' and 'organization', showing that each leads to specific forms of social conflict; against exploitation and austerity, over wages and pensions on the one hand, and against forms of 'medical' and work-based discipline, control of bodies and prisons on the other.

Bidet's impetus and clarity however serve a greater uniting two souls of critical social theory, in order to overcome what has become an age-long separation between the 'old left' and the 'new social movements'.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2014

About the author

Jacques Bidet is a French philosopher and social theorist, currently professor emeritus in the Philosophy Department at the Université de Paris X - Nanterre. His most recent translated books are Exploring Marx's Capital: Philosophical, Economic, and Political Dimensions (2007), and A Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism (2007). He wrote the introduction to Louis Althusser's On the Reproduction of Capitalism (2014).

Reviews

[Ravi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am glad I read this book. It helped me understand the evolution of Foucault's thought. However there were far too many references to Bidet's earlier works and I felt I would have been better off just reading those books. I also was not entirely convinced by Bidet's decision to use Habermas to buttress his analysis or at least it did not seem adequately grounded. At times I felt I might have been better off reading this in the original French; I have no way of knowing without getting a copy of the original but I suspect this translation by Steven Corcoran was a bit too literal at times. Still it gave me a better appreciation of Foucault, particularly his later work on liberalism.

[Redpoet · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am done wasting my time with this gobblygook….Foucault and the author have little to say that any normal human being could understand…I don’t buy this shit. The only person clear in this book is Marx and we don’t get to hear much from him…

[Onur]

Son derece muğlak bir dille yazılmış. Özellikle Foucault'nun kullandığı kavramlara aşina olmayan birisi için okumak işkence gelebilir.

[Morales Florence · Rating 2 out of 5]

il y a que la conclusion qui vaut le coup

[Zhenia Vasiliev · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lively and succinct roadmap of key Foucault's notions from the standpoint of Marx's theory.