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Theory as Critique: Essays on Capital

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Published Jun 2018

Paul Mattick

Author: Paul Mattick
Theory as Critique, while discussing many central issues of Marxian theory, has two main emphases: First, as the title suggests, it takes seriously Capital’s claim to be a critique of economic theory, rather than a contribution to political economy. Understanding what this means, it shows, goes far to unravelling many difficulties traditionally found in Marx’s book, from the nature of his theory of class to the ‘transformation problem’. Secondly, Mattick’s volume carefully explores how to bridge the gap between the extreme abstraction of Marx’s ideas and the complex reality that they are intended to help us understand.

Biographical Note

Paul Mattick is politics editor of the Brooklyn Rail; from 1987 to 2004 he was editor of the International Journal of Political Economy. Mattick is author of Social Knowledge (Hutchinson, 1986), Art in Its Time (Routledge, 2003), and Business as Usual (Reaktion, 2011), along with many articles and reviews.

Readership

Anyone interested in Marx’s Capital as a theory of contemporary society, particularly graduate students in politics, sociology, and economics, but also general readers interested in socialist politics.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

2 Marx’s Abstraction
Science
Idealisation
Explanation

3 Questions of Method
Marx’s Abandonment of Philosophy
Logic and Abstraction
Marx’s Dialectic

4 Theory as Critique
Political Economy as Text and Discourse
Representation and Reality
The Starting Point
The Argument in Capital

5 Labour as Activity and as Representation
Value as Representation
Abstract Labour and Value
Abstraction in Practice
The Reduction of Skilled Labour
The Causal Reality of Value

6 Value and Price: Marx’s Resolution of a Ricardian Conundrum
Labour and Value
Value and Price

7 Ricardo Redux
After Sraffa
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

8 Economic Form and Social Reproduction
Capital
Circulation and Reproduction

9 Class and Capital
Economic Appearances and Social Reality
Economic Class and Social Structure
Class Struggle and Revolution

10 Trend and Cycle
Theoretical Issues
Breakdown

11 Value Theory and Economic Events
Categories and Data
Prosperity as Depression

Bibliography
Index