History, Labour, and Freedom
Themes from Marx
Published on 23. February 1989
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-0-19-824779-1 (ISBN)
Description
Marx saw history as a protracted process of liberation - from the scarcity imposed on humanity by nature, and from the oppression subjects by the ruling classes. The growth of the human power to produce enables humanity to free itself from both material and social adversity, but exploitation and humiliation are the price which the mass of humanity are forced to pay for the part they play in contributing to that growth.
Professor Cohen gives a fresh exposition of the theory of historical materialism and defends it against familiar objections; but he also expresses reservations of his own about the theory and offers reformulations of it which seek to accommodate them. In the final part of the book he discusses the unfreedom and exploitation under which workers labour in contemporary class society.
Many of the articles which the book brings together are well known, but most have been substantially revised for the present collection. History, Labour, and Freedom is a sequel to the author's influential Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence (OUP 1978).
Professor Cohen gives a fresh exposition of the theory of historical materialism and defends it against familiar objections; but he also expresses reservations of his own about the theory and offers reformulations of it which seek to accommodate them. In the final part of the book he discusses the unfreedom and exploitation under which workers labour in contemporary class society.
Many of the articles which the book brings together are well known, but most have been substantially revised for the present collection. History, Labour, and Freedom is a sequel to the author's influential Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence (OUP 1978).
Reviews / Votes
` the reader is rewarded with many valuable insights'Labour Research `the familiar precision of argument and the relevance to contemporary debates make the continuation of this work all the more desirable ... It is political philosophy at its best'
Times Literary Supplement `Very valuable for exposition and criticism.'
S. Ludlam, Sheffield University 'This is a collection of 14 essays marked by the lucidity and sharpness of argument that Made G. A. Cohen's Karl Marx's Theory of History: a Defence such an impressive tour de force. All stimulating and relevant stuff.'
David McLellan, University of Kent, Political Studies (1990), XXXVII
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
606 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-824779-1 (9780198247791)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Content
Part 1 Historical materialism - exposition and defence: forces and relations of production; base and superstructure; being, consciousness and roles; historical inevitability and revolutionary agency; human nature and social change in the Marxist conception of history. Part 2 Historical materialism - criticism and revision: fettering; on an argument for historical materialism; reconsidering historical materialism; restricted and inclusive historical materialism. Part 3 Capitalism, labour and freedom: the dialectic of labour in Marx; the labour theory of value and the concept of exploitation; are disadvantaged workers who take hazardous jobs forced to take hazardous jobs?; the structure of proletarian unfreedom; freedom, justice and capitalism.