This groundbreaking collection surveys current research on Marx and Marxism from a variety of perspectives. Setting forward an unconventional range of questions for discussion, the book develops key ideas, such as the theory of history, controversies about justice and the latest textual scholarship on The German Ideology. Written by Japanese scholars, the volume affords western readers a glimpse for the first time, of the results of many years’ debates and discussion.
Following the long tradition of Japanese interest in Marx, the book draws on the relationship between that and radical changes in local political context, as well as the economic and political development represented by Japan. Over the course of the chapters, Marx is rescued from ‘orientalism’, evaluated as a socialist thinker, revisited as a theorist of capitalist development and heralded as a necessary corrective to modern economics. Of particular interest are the major scholarly revisions to the ‘standard’ historical accounts of Marx’s work on the Communist Manifesto, his relationship to the contemporary theories of Louis Blanc and P.J. Proudhon, and new information about how he and Engels worked together.
This landmark work opens up a world of Japanese critical engagement and lively scholarship that will appeal to anyone interested in Marx and Marxism.
Acknowledgements Special Introduction by Terrell Carver 1. Marx and Modernity 2. Marx’s Economic Theory and the Prospects for Socialism 3. Marx’s Theory of History Reappraised 4. Marx and the Future of Capitalist Society 5. Marx and Distributive Justice 6. Marx and the Environmental Problem 7. The Theory of Labour Money: Implications of Marx’s Critique for the Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) 8. The Japanese Concept of Civil Society and Marx’s bürgerliche Gesellschaft 9. Marx and J.S. Mill on Socialism 10. A Bioeconomic Marx—Weber Paradigm 11. Japanese ‘Cultural Eclecticism’ and a Reinterpretation of Marx and Keynes on the Instabilities of Capitalism 12. The Brussels Democratic Association and the Communist Manifesto 13. Louis Blanc, Associationism in France, and Marx 14. Editorial Problems in Establishing a New Edition of The German Ideology Notes on Contributors Index
Biography
Hiroshi Uchida has published extensively on Marx’s methodology with particular reference to the Grundrisse and other (so-called) economic works. His book Marx’s Grundrisse and Hegel’s Logic was published in English by Routledge (1988) and has since been translated into German. He researches and teaches at Senshu University, Tokyo.
"Drawing from contributions from 14 members of the Japan Society for the History of Economic Thought, the editors focus on Marx in the twenty-first century, contemporary problems in Marx studies, the reception of Marx into modern Japan, and new horizons of Marxology. The result is a collection with such topics as Marx and modernity, Marx’s economic theory and the prospects for socialism, Marx and the future of post-capitalist society, the influence of Marx on distributive justice and the environmental problem, reappraisals of Marx’s theories of history and labor money, a comparison of Marx and J. S. Mill on socialism, a bioeconomic Marx-Weber paradigm, Japanese cultural concepts of eclecticism and civil society, and amongst essays on new horizons, topics such as Louis Blanc and associationism in France, the Brussels Democratic Association and the Communist Manifesto and editorial problems in establishing a new edition of The German Ideology." --Reference & Research Book News
