Revolutionary Subjectivity in Post-Marxist Thought

Since the onset of the Global Financial Crisis the ideas of Karl Marx have once again become prominent in social and political thought. This book turns to Marxs theory of revolutionary subjectivity as a means of assessing the work of three contemporary global theorists: Ernesto Laclau, Antonio Negri, and Alain Badiou, considered here together for the first time. The books central argument is that although each of these thinkers is indeed beyond Marx, the extent to which they abandon Marxs theory is problematised through the continued inspiration they draw from a particular Marxist thinker: Laclau in relation to Gramscis theory of hegemony, Negri in relation to Lenins notion of organisational form; Badiou in relation to Maos notion of the inquiry and the primacy of political praxis.While providing a critical examination of the theory of revolutionary subjectivity in Laclau, Negri and Badiou, due to the fact such aspects were already present in Marxs own theory, this book also offers insights into the nature of post-Marxism itself. Whilst accepting their respective differences, the conclusion offers a synthesis of all three theoretical approaches as a means of understanding the constitution of revolutionary subjectivity today.

Since the onset of the Global Financial Crisis the ideas of Karl Marx have once again become prominent in social and political thought. This book turns to Marxs theory of revolutionary subjectivity as a means of assessing the work of three contemporary global theorists: Ernesto Laclau, Antonio Negri, and Alain Badiou, considered here together for the first time. The books central argument is that although each of these thinkers is indeed beyond Marx, the extent to which they abandon Marxs theory is problematised through the continued inspiration they draw from a particular Marxist thinker: Laclau in relation to Gramscis theory of hegemony, Negri in relation to Lenins notion of organisational form; Badiou in relation to Maos notion of the inquiry and the primacy of political praxis.While providing a critical examination of the theory of revolutionary subjectivity in Laclau, Negri and Badiou, due to the fact such aspects were already present in Marxs own theory, this book also offers insights into the nature of post-Marxism itself. Whilst accepting their respective differences, the conclusion offers a synthesis of all three theoretical approaches as a means of understanding the constitution of revolutionary subjectivity today.