Recent Interpretations of Karl Marx's Social Theory - An Essay on Habermas, Cohen and Elster

This book seeks, on the one hand, to examine Habermas' work on the reconstruction of historical materialism and Cohen's and Elster's analyses of the topic; on the other, to compare, contrast, and criticize their work. They respond to the political and theoretical crises of contemporary Marxism. Habermas' response is to overcome economism and to stress normative structure and communication; Cohen's reaction is to go back to the orthodoxy of Marxism with analytical philosophy; and Elster reacts by re-analyzing Marxian basic concepts with the analytical tools of the modern social sciences. In short, they all acknowledge the continual relevance of Marxism, but also state that Marxism in general, or historical materialism in particular, needs revision in various ways.

List of contents

Contents: Habermas' Reconstruction of Historical Materialism - Cohen's Analytical Marxism - Elster's Rational-Choice and Game-Theoretical Marxism.

About the author

The Author: Richard Ruey-Chyi Hwang received his BA and M.A. degrees in sociology from National Taiwan University, and a Ph.D. from King's College, University of Cambridge. He is currently a research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica (Taiwan).

Product details

• Authors: Richard Ruey-Chyi Hwang
• Publisher: Peter Lang
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2006
• EAN: 9783631534496
• ISBN: 978-3-631-53449-6
• No. of pages: 152
• Dimensions: 148 mm x 9 mm x 210 mm
• Weight: 210 g
• Series: Europäische Hochschulschriften (Reihe 31): Politikwissenschaft ) / European University Studies (Series 31): Political Science / Publications Universit; Europäische Hochschulschriften / European University Studies / Publications Universitaires Européenn; Europäische Hochschulschriften (Reihe 31): Politikwissenschaft / Political Science / Sciences politiques; Europäische Hochschulschriften (Reihe 31): Politikwissenschaft / Political Science / Sciences politiques; Europäische Hochschulschriften / European University Studies/Publications Universitaires Européenne
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Comparative and international political science