What do you think?
Rate this book
Marxist Class Theory for a Skeptical World
Marxist Theory of Class for a Skeptical World is a critique of some of the influential radical theories of class, and presents an alternative approach to it.
This book critically discusses Analytical Marxist and Post-structuralist Marxist theories of class, and offers an alternative approach that is rooted in the ideas of Marx and Engels as well as Lenin and Trotsky.
It presents a materialist-dialectical foundation for class theory, and conceptualizes class at the trans-historical level and at the level of capitalism. It shows that capitalism is an objectively-existing articulation of exchange, property and value relations, between capital and labour, at multiple geographical scales, and that the state is an arm of class relation. It draws out implications of class relations for consciousness and political power of the proletariat.
This book critically discusses Analytical Marxist and Post-structuralist Marxist theories of class, and offers an alternative approach that is rooted in the ideas of Marx and Engels as well as Lenin and Trotsky.
It presents a materialist-dialectical foundation for class theory, and conceptualizes class at the trans-historical level and at the level of capitalism. It shows that capitalism is an objectively-existing articulation of exchange, property and value relations, between capital and labour, at multiple geographical scales, and that the state is an arm of class relation. It draws out implications of class relations for consciousness and political power of the proletariat.
696 pages, Hardcover
Published February 2, 2017
76 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 6, 2022
This book is only redeemable because of it's critiques to analytic marxism and poststructuralism, but aside from that, this gargantuan book really doesn't offer anything new.
Here is a list of some rookie mistakes I noted:
-Not reading the eighteenth brumaire of louis bonaparte! (which if Raju had done, he wouldn't have said that "traditional marxism" only considers two social class on it's analysis).
-Not differentiating between dialectical materialism and historic materialism (this can be explained because of Raju adherence to Trotsky and not Stalin).
-Poor understanding of David Harvey's political postulates (granted: he ain't a revolutionary, but he also isn't an antiproletarian).
-Reductionism of class consciousness (not taking into account ideology nor alienation).
-State reductionism (while it is true that the State is a power mechanism, he doesn't go in depth with how State can be sided with the bourgeoisie, in capitalism, or in favour of the proletarian, in socialism).
And many others errors that shouldn't be present on a book of this size.
Here is a list of some rookie mistakes I noted:
-Not reading the eighteenth brumaire of louis bonaparte! (which if Raju had done, he wouldn't have said that "traditional marxism" only considers two social class on it's analysis).
-Not differentiating between dialectical materialism and historic materialism (this can be explained because of Raju adherence to Trotsky and not Stalin).
-Poor understanding of David Harvey's political postulates (granted: he ain't a revolutionary, but he also isn't an antiproletarian).
-Reductionism of class consciousness (not taking into account ideology nor alienation).
-State reductionism (while it is true that the State is a power mechanism, he doesn't go in depth with how State can be sided with the bourgeoisie, in capitalism, or in favour of the proletarian, in socialism).
And many others errors that shouldn't be present on a book of this size.
December 26, 2025
Das, in his mission to revive "classical Marxism," is one of the most important Marxist thinkers today, and this book is the culmination of his work thus far
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews