Postmodern Contributions to Marxian Economics: Theoretical Innovations and their Implications for Class Politics

Abstract

In this paper I seek to establish that a widely held criticism of postmodern Marxism -that it is morally relativist and does not offer a basis for a systematic analysis of capitalism -is not warranted. I provide a systematic review of the postmodern Marxist literature in three distinct areas -value theory, class analysis of the household and state, and class justice -and I draw on these contributions to show that postmodern Marxism offers new insights into problems of concern to Marxian theorists. I argue, further, that it provides the normative grounds for a class politics that is open to new alliances and new strategies for engaging in class struggle.