ellen meiksins wood democracy against capitalism pdf

Assessing the work and background of figures such as Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Spinoza, the Levellers, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, Ellen Wood vividly explores the ideas of the canonical thinkers, not as philosophical abstractions but as passionately engaged responses to the social conflicts of their day. The concepts of liberty, equality, property, human rights and revolution born in those turbulent centuries continue to shape, and to limit, political discourse today. Nearly everything about its history remains controversial, but one thing is certain: it left a rich and provocative legacy of political ideas unmatched in Western history. The formation of the modern state, the rise of capitalism, the Renaissance and Reformation, the scientific revolution and the Age of Enlightenment have all been attributed to the “early modern” period. Liberty And Property by Ellen Meiksins Wood

She traces the connections between post-Marxism and current academic trends such as postmodernism and argues that a re-examination of class politics is a necessary counter to the current cynical acceptance of capitalism. In a new introduction, Wood discusses the relevance of The Retreat from Class in a post-Soviet world. In the process, Wood explores the links between socialism and democracy and reinterprets the relationship between liberal and socialist democracy. Challenging their dissociation of politics from class, she elaborates her own original conception of the complex relations between class, ideology and politics. She goes on to explore the concept of democracy in both the ancient and modern world, examining its relation to capitalism, and raising questions about how democracy might go beyond the limits imposed on it.ĭemocracy Against Capitalism by Ellen Meiksins WoodĮxploring the connections between class, ideology and politics In this classic study, which won the Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize, Ellen Wood provides a critical survey of influential trends in “post-Marxist” theory.

In this book she sets out to renew the critical program of historical materialism by redefining its basic concepts and its theory of history in original and imaginative ways, using them to identify the specificity of capitalism as a system of social relations and political power. Historian and political thinker Ellen Meiksins Wood argues that theories of “postmodern” fragmentation, “difference,” and con-tingency can barely accommodate the idea of capitalism, let alone subject it to critique. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Disclaimer: This site does not store any files on its server.

Ellen meiksins wood democracy against capitalism pdf