Contemporary critique of historical materialism v.1 (Power, property and the state)

'Anthony Giddens is now widely recognised as something of a phenomenon among British sociologists. The sheer range of his reading and the industry with which he goes on year after year producing theoretical texts of the highest quality have left him way out in front of any professional competitor (New Society). 'I am stricken with admiration for his critical acuity... his philosophical erudition and the zest with which he plies his trade' (Scottish Journal of Sociology).

Anthony Giddens's new book takes on the two great schools of sociological theory about the development of societies, functionalism and historical materialism, and finds them wanting. The centre of the book is a critique of historical materialism as a theory of power, as an account of history and as a political theory. The penetrating account of the limitations of Marxism- its simple evolutionary schemas, its limited economic view of exploitation and its narrow anthropology is based on the re-introduction into social theory of the twin concepts of time and space, essential to any historical sociology, human geography or urban analysis, but so often overlooked in the last twenty years.

Although the discussion of socialism is only outlined and will be pursued more fully in Anthony Giddens's next book, A Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism will inevitably provoke strong reactions. Building on his reputation as 'the foremost interpreter of modern social theory writing in English' (The Times Literary Supplement).. in his new book Giddens expounds his own positions more clearly and specifically than ever before.