Revisiting Marx's Critique of Liberalism

Revisiting Marx's Critique of Liberalism offers a theoretical reconstruction of Karl Marx's new materialist understanding of justice, legality, and rights through the vantage point of his widely invoked but generally misunderstood critique of liberalism. The book begins by reconstructing Marx's conception of justice and rights through close textual interpretation and extrapolation. The central thesis of the book is, firstly, that Marx regards justice as an essential feature of any society, including the emancipated society of the future; and secondly, that standards of justice and right undergo transformation throughout history. The book then tracks the enduring legacy of Marx's critique of liberal justice by examining how leading contemporary political theorists such as John Rawls, Jürgen Habermas, Axel Honneth, and Nancy Fraser have responded to Marx's critique of liberalism in the face of global financial capitalism and the hollowing out of democratically-enacted law. The Marx that emerges from this book is therefore a thoroughly modern thinker whose insights shed valuable light on some of the most pressing challenges confronting liberal democracies today.

Autorentext

Igor Shoikhedbrod received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto, Canada. He is currently adjunct professor in the Ethics, Society & Law Program at Trinity College in the University of Toronto.

Klappentext
Revisiting Marx's Critique of Liberalism offers a theoretical reconstruction of Karl Marx's new materialist understanding of justice, legality, and rights through the vantage point of his widely invoked but generally misunderstood critique of liberalism. The book begins by reconstructing Marx's conception of justice and rights through close textual interpretation and extrapolation. The central thesis of the book is, firstly, that Marx regards justice as an essential feature of any society, including the emancipated society of the future; and secondly, that standards of justice and right undergo transformation throughout history. The book then tracks the enduring legacy of Marx's critique of liberal justice by examining how leading contemporary political theorists such as John Rawls, Jürgen Habermas, Axel Honneth, and Nancy Fraser have responded to Marx's critique of liberalism in the face of global financial capitalism and the hollowing out of democratically-enacted law. The Marx that emerges from this book is therefore a thoroughly modern thinker whose insights shed valuable light on some of the most pressing challenges confronting liberal democracies today.

Inhalt
Chapter 1: Introduction1.1 The Theoretical Background: Then and Now1.2 The Aims of This Book 1.3 Summary of Chapters
PART I
Chapter 2: Situating Marx with Respect to Justice and Right2.1 Conceptualizing Recht2.2 The Influence of Hegelian Rational Law2.3 From Rational Law to the New Materialist Theory of Right 2.4 A New Materialist Basis for RightConclusion
Chapter 3: Marx's Radical Critique of Liberalism and the Supersession of Bourgeois Rights3.1 On the Jewish Question: Marx's Selective Critique of Bourgeois Rights3.2 Marx's Assessment of Rights in the Grundrisse and in Capital3.3 Rights, Revolution, and Communist Society3.4 The Supersession of Rights and the Conceptual Relevance of AufhebungConclusion
Chapter 4: The Normative Argument for Communist Legality4.1 Forecasting the Withering Away of Law: The Theoretical Deviations of Evgeny Pashukanis4.2 Pitting Pashukanis against Marx4.3 The Dubiousness of Technical Regulation4.4 Defining the Terms of Recognition: Cognitive and Normative Considerations4.5 Alienated Production versus Associated Production: Marx's Radical Account of Recognition4.6 Mutual Recognition and the Reconstitution of Juridical Personhood4.7 The Preliminary Case for Communist Legality4.8 Legality without Organized Coercion?4.9 In Search of Marx's Social Ontology: Lukács and the Ethical Necessity of Legal MediationConclusion
PART II
Chapter 5: Contemporary Responses to Marx's Critique of Liberal Justice5.1 John Rawls: Property-Owning Democracy and the Aporia of Concentrated Capital5.2 Jürgen Habermas: Systemic Colonization and the Tension Between Democracy and Capitalism5.3 Axel Honneth: Market Morality, Social Freedom, and the Marx Problem 5.4 Nancy Fraser: The Crisis of Financialized Capitalism and De-DemocratizationConclusion
Chapter 6: Democracy and the Riddle of All Constitutions: Marx's Enduring Lessons6.1 Unjust Laws and the Norms Underpinning the Rule of Law: Marx and E.P. Thompson6.2 The Rule of Law and the Struggle for a Normal Working Day6.3 The Struggle over the Constitution6.4 Solving the Riddle of All Constitutions: The Renewed Urgency of Transformative PoliticsConclusion
Chapter 7: Conclusion
Bibliography