- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: State University of New York Press (30 Sep 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 079145844X
- ISBN-13: 978-0791458440
- Product Dimensions: 23.3 x 14.3 x 1.2 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 402,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Re-reads Marx in light of the contemporary critical interrogation of subjectivity.
About the Author
Jason Read is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
From formal subsumption to real subsumption
25 Jan 2005
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"The Micro-Politics of Capital" by Jason Read is an outstanding comparative study of Marx's analysis of the prehistory of capitalism with the postmodern capitalism of today. Even as his work seeks to transform and undo some of the central concepts of Marx's corpus, Professor Read shows how the struggle between capital and labor assumes new forms as postmodern society becomes increasingly subsumed by capitalism. The author succeeds brilliantly in showing how Marx's problematic of class struggle is continually produced anew and points to the possibility of a new radical politics that accounts for our own unique place and time in history.
Professor Read explains that the primitive accumulation of early capitalism extinguished feudalism and gave rise to the state, laws, and the nuclear family. This violent struggle continues into the present as capital colonizes the genetic code, for example, in a never-ending and evolutionary process that subsumes all material objects to its own ends. Similarly, the author demonstrates that as capital accumulates, subjectivity accumulates -- meaning, among other things, that humanity's immersion in the logic of the capitalist mode of production intensifies and its collective memory of a pre-capitalist history dissolves.
As a consequence of this evolution, Professor Read argues that the "formal subsumption" of the factory model described by Marx has yielded to the "real subsumption" of postmodern society. Simply put, the locus of production (and conflict) has changed from the factory floor to society, culture, and life itself. In an argument that bears similarity to Antonio Negri's thesis in the book Empire, Professor Read shows how the production of "knowledge, desire and communication" has moved to the strategic center of capitalist production, suggesting that it is here that the struggle for liberation from capitalism might ensue.
Thoroughly researched and persuasively argued, Professor Read's book is recommended for demanding readers who are interested in an original, thought-provoking and scholarly analysis of Marx and the relevance of his theories in today's world. Highly recommended.
Professor Read explains that the primitive accumulation of early capitalism extinguished feudalism and gave rise to the state, laws, and the nuclear family. This violent struggle continues into the present as capital colonizes the genetic code, for example, in a never-ending and evolutionary process that subsumes all material objects to its own ends. Similarly, the author demonstrates that as capital accumulates, subjectivity accumulates -- meaning, among other things, that humanity's immersion in the logic of the capitalist mode of production intensifies and its collective memory of a pre-capitalist history dissolves.
As a consequence of this evolution, Professor Read argues that the "formal subsumption" of the factory model described by Marx has yielded to the "real subsumption" of postmodern society. Simply put, the locus of production (and conflict) has changed from the factory floor to society, culture, and life itself. In an argument that bears similarity to Antonio Negri's thesis in the book Empire, Professor Read shows how the production of "knowledge, desire and communication" has moved to the strategic center of capitalist production, suggesting that it is here that the struggle for liberation from capitalism might ensue.
Thoroughly researched and persuasively argued, Professor Read's book is recommended for demanding readers who are interested in an original, thought-provoking and scholarly analysis of Marx and the relevance of his theories in today's world. Highly recommended.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
(Post)Modern Marx
8 Oct 2003
Format:Paperback
Few authors takes a genuine look at Marx in terms of modern (postmodern) thought like Jason Read does in this work. Most authors stumble in this capacity, unable to admit that they themselves are a product of their historical context. Here we view Marx with the benefit of modern theory, and not this de-contextualization that most authors seem to want to put us through. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Marx.
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