Live Theory: The Aronowitz Reader

Stanley Aronowitz was a towering figure on the American Left for over sixty years. Both a tireless organizer and a militant social and political theorist, Aronowitz was a highly perceptive analyst of class power. He was dedicated throughout his career to the development and circulation of conceptual weapons for the working class and for all those who faced oppression within American society.

Live Theory: The Stanley Aronowitz Reader brings together in thirteen seminal essays Aronowitz’s theoretical contributions to fundamental questions regarding science, class, culture, and education, alongside his pioneering interventions on labor, contract unionism, and the ongoing struggle for radical democracy. It is a crucial introduction to an indispensable thinker.

Stanley Aronowitz was a sociologist, labor organizer, and political activist. He taught at a number of higher education institutions―including the CUNY Graduate Center―and was a founder of multiple alternative educational projects, as well as the journals Social Text and Situations. His major works include The Crisis in Historical Materialism: Class, Politics, and Culture in Marxist Theory, False Promises: The Shaping of American Working Class Consciousness, and Against Schooling: For an Education That Matters.