[Marxism] Re: Marxism Against Postmodernism

[Peter McLaren <mclaren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As a graduate student in the late seventies, early 80s, I was very  
interested in what is now called postmodern theory, having audited a  
class taught by Laclau and also a semiotics institute course taught by  
Foucault.   That was then.  Last year some British comrades and I  
published Marxism Against Postmodernism in Educational  
Theory...available from Lexington Books, a subsidiary of Rowman and  
Littlefield.
You can find a link to the book on my website:
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/~mclaren/

best
Peter McLaren

On Dec 10, 2004, at 10:27 AM, Bill Hughes wrote:

> I would also recommend Callinicos' book; the Eagleton book is, in  
> fact, *The
> Illusions of Postmodernism* (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996); *After Theory* I
> found to be a bit disappointing - a bit obvious in some ways, with some
> dubious political conclusions. DEWS, PETER, Logics of Disintegration:
> Post-structuralist Thought and the Claims of Critical Theory (London:  
> Verso,
> 1987) is very good. HABERMAS, JÜRGEN, *The Philosophical Discourse of
> Modernity*, trans. by Frederick Lawrence (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987) is  
> an
> extremely cogent defence of rationalist humanism against Foucault etc.
> though, of course, Habermas has abandoned Marxism. James Heartfield's
> *Postmodernism and the ‘Death of the Subject’ Explained* (Sheffield:
> Sheffield Hallam UP, 2002) should be good - there's an extract here:
> http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/en/ 
> heartfield-jam
> es.htm


On Dec 10, 2004, at 10:27 AM, Bill Hughes wrote:

> I would also recommend Callinicos' book; the Eagleton book is, in  
> fact, *The
> Illusions of Postmodernism* (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996); *After Theory* I
> found to be a bit disappointing - a bit obvious in some ways, with some
> dubious political conclusions. DEWS, PETER, Logics of Disintegration:
> Post-structuralist Thought and the Claims of Critical Theory (London:  
> Verso,
> 1987) is very good. HABERMAS, JÜRGEN, *The Philosophical Discourse of
> Modernity*, trans. by Frederick Lawrence (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987) is  
> an
> extremely cogent defence of rationalist humanism against Foucault etc.
> though, of course, Habermas has abandoned Marxism. James Heartfield's
> *Postmodernism and the ‘Death of the Subject’ Explained* (Sheffield:
> Sheffield Hallam UP, 2002) should be good - there's an extract here:
> http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/en/ 
> heartfield-jam
> es.htm
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: marxism-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:marxism-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Ian Pace
> Sent: 10 December 2004 02:57
> To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition
> Subject: Re: [Marxism] Postmarxism/Foucault Query Help
>
>
> From: "Charlie Parks" <jcparks5550@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> > There's also Norman Geras's highly critical review of Hegemony and
> > Socialist Strategy in New Left Review ("Post-Marxism?"). Laclau and  
> > Mouffe
> > replied at length in a following issue ("Post-Marxism without  
> > Apologies"),
> > attempting to dismiss Geras as a hostile dogmatist who simply refuses  
> > to
> > see the light about Marxism's "failure, " but his review essay was
> > actually quite undogmatic and very thoughtful. He responded to their
> > response with another article as well ("Ex-Marxism without  
> > Substance").
> > These can be accessed at the NLR website
> > (http://www.newleftreview.net/index.shtml), but I'm afraid you might  
> > need
> > a subscription to get to them (they're each a bit too long to post to  
> > the
> > list).
> >
> > Also, I believe Alex Callinicos has a recent book out titled
> > "Postmodernism: A Marxist Critique," but I haven't read it.
> Callinicos's book is pretty good, written in the late-1980s, when
> postmodernism was beginning to take a hold of all aspects of culture.  
> Other
> obvious choices of books include Frederic Jameson's 'Postmoderism or  
> the
> Ideology of Late Capitalism', and his more recent 'Late Marxism:  
> Adorno or
> the persistence of the dialectic' and Terry Eagleton's 'The Trouble  
> with
> Postmodernism' and 'After Theory'. I have on my shelf, awaiting  
> reading,
> Christopher Norris's 'What's Wrong with Postmodernism', 'The Truth  
> about
> Postmodernism', also David Harvey's 'The Condition of Postmodernity',  
> all
> highly critical but not specifically Marxist, I think.
>
> Solidarity,
> Ian
>
>
>
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