Marxism and ideology
Larrain, Jorge
Marxism and ideology - London Macmillan 1983 - 263 p.
Ideology is a highly complex and elusive concept but one which occupies a crucially important position in Marxist theory. Few recent debates among Marxists over any issue of politics and economics have been as sharp or as polarised as the divisions between followers of Lukács and Althusser on the character of ideology.
In this important new book, Jorge Larrain argues that it is essential to find a middle course between the historicism of Lukács and the structuralism of Althusser. To this end, he returns to the writings of Marx, which are considered in the context of the major theoretical influences on his work. Subsequent Marxist writings are reviewed to show how Marx's specific contribution on this question was modified through a cumulative process of redefinition by the first three generations of Marxist theoreticians; particular attention is here paid to the work of Plekhanov, Labriola, Lenin, Kautsky, Bernstein, Lukács and Gramsci Having laid this basic groundwork Dr Larrain considers these and more recent contributions in the Marxist tradition to see how Marx's own positions can be creatively and constructively developed, particularly in relation to the concepts of base and superstructure and of determination, and to the notion of an end of ideology.
333305434
Communism.
335.4 LAR
Marxism and ideology - London Macmillan 1983 - 263 p.
Ideology is a highly complex and elusive concept but one which occupies a crucially important position in Marxist theory. Few recent debates among Marxists over any issue of politics and economics have been as sharp or as polarised as the divisions between followers of Lukács and Althusser on the character of ideology.
In this important new book, Jorge Larrain argues that it is essential to find a middle course between the historicism of Lukács and the structuralism of Althusser. To this end, he returns to the writings of Marx, which are considered in the context of the major theoretical influences on his work. Subsequent Marxist writings are reviewed to show how Marx's specific contribution on this question was modified through a cumulative process of redefinition by the first three generations of Marxist theoreticians; particular attention is here paid to the work of Plekhanov, Labriola, Lenin, Kautsky, Bernstein, Lukács and Gramsci Having laid this basic groundwork Dr Larrain considers these and more recent contributions in the Marxist tradition to see how Marx's own positions can be creatively and constructively developed, particularly in relation to the concepts of base and superstructure and of determination, and to the notion of an end of ideology.
333305434
Communism.
335.4 LAR