Performing Marx: Contemporary Negotiations of a Living Tradition (Political Theory Contem Issues) - Hardcover

Macdonald, Bradley J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0791466655 ISBN 13: 9780791466650

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2006

Synopsis

Draws upon Marx, Western Marxism, and poststructuralist theory to constructively engage contemporary issues.

Performing Marx looks at what it means to be a Marxist dealing with contemporary political and theoretical developments in the twenty-first century. Drawing upon Marx's work, Western Marxism, and poststructuralist theory, Bradley J. Macdonald explores how a living tradition of Marx's ideas can constructively engage a politics of desire and pleasure, ecological sustainability, a politics of everyday life that takes seriously popular culture, and the nature of globalization and of the radical forces being arrayed against the logics of global capitalism. By engaging such crucial issues, Macdonald also provides important clarifications of the work of William Morris, Guy Debord and the situationists, Michel Foucault, Antonio Negri, Ernesto Laclau, and Chantal Mouffe, as they relate to Marx.

About this title

About the Author

Bradley J. Macdonald is Associate Professor of Political Science at Colorado State University. He is the coeditor (with R. L. Rutsky) of Strategies for Theory: From Marx to Madonna, also published by SUNY Press; the editor of Theory as a Prayerful Act: The Collected Essays of James B. Macdonald; and the author of William Morris and the Aesthetic Constitution of Politics.

From the Back Cover

Performing Marx looks at what it means to be a Marxist dealing with contemporary political and theoretical developments in the twenty-first century. Drawing upon Marx s work, Western Marxism, and poststructuralist theory, Bradley J. Macdonald explores how a living tradition of Marx s ideas can constructively engage a politics of desire and pleasure, ecological sustainability, a politics of everyday life that takes seriously popular culture, and the nature of globalization and of the radical forces being arrayed against the logics of global capitalism. By engaging such crucial issues, Macdonald also provides important clarifications of the work of William Morris, Guy Debord and the situationists, Michel Foucault, Antonio Negri, Ernesto Laclau, and Chantal Mouffe, as they relate to Marx.

"Macdonald s analysis brings the classic critiques of Marx into an important exchange with contemporary studies on performance. He opens new vital negotiations between Marx s political economy and the challenges of twenty-first century politics. His work is essential reading for anyone interested in mobilizing Marxian thought to comprehend today s cultural, economic, and social conflicts." - Timothy W. Luke, author of Capitalism, Democracy, and Ecology: Departing from Marx

"This book is a vibrant exploration of the numerous ways that Marx s thought continues to inform radical political theories, including many theories assumed to be inconsistent with Marxism, if not anti-Marxist." - Clyde W. Barrow, author of Critical Theories of the State: Marxist, Neo-Marxist, Post-Marxist

Edition details

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0791466655
• ISBN 13: 9780791466650
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224