Post Marxism

[hoopla]

I don't know much about it, but can anyone give their impressions? I mean Laclau's stuff really... but I'm interested in anything anyone has to say if there is more out there.

[Brownfist]

Well I havent read Laclau (I heard him lecture once) yet. It is on my reading list. The first generation of post-Marxism is most commonly associated with the Frankfurt school and academics like Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse and Benjamin. They basically responded to two historical archives: Hitlerist Germany and Stalinist USSR. Their basic arguement were to question some of the theoretical pre-suppositions in Marxist theory and extend Marxian analaysis to different spheres. Thus, there was a critique of 'everyday life', culture etc. Effectively, they looked at how capitalism is reproduced in everyday life and cultural forms of production. Benjamin spoke of the shift from forces of production to 're-production'. Horkheimer became extremly suspicious of any idea of revolution due to the Hitlerist revolution, whereas Marcuse still believed and advocated for revolution. Marcuse was most inspirational on new American revolutionaries like Angela Davis and the SDS. His book 'Eros and Civilization' allowed for the intersection between psychoanalysis and Marxism, something that has become a staple in contemporary Marxian thought.