Sociology 5055 - MODERN MARXIST THEORY

Reading Marx and modern Marxist theory, we are looking for methodological guidelines; we are mainly concerned with the logic of analysis rather than with content. What follows is a partial list of methodological concerns:

idealist, empiricist and materialist theoretical and methodological assumptions.

universal categories of analysis - importance and limitations.

historically specific categories of analysis.

imaginary concrete concepts, abstraction, real concrete concepts.

important independent, intermediate, and dependent variables

important categories of analysis; similarities and/or differences with sociological categories of analysis.

commodity fetishism - capital fetishism

modes of determination

causal analysis

instances of functionalist theorizing

instances of functional analysis

instances of functional explanation

instances of structural explanations

levels of analysis and their interrelationship

relationship between base and superstructure

relationship between structure and agency

relationship between structural determinants and forms of consciousness.

the role of consciousness and ideology in the reproduction of the mode of production.

conditions for the effectivity of ideologies, legal and political structures.

basic premises of historical materialism and their methodological significance.

level of analysis of social conflict

level of analysis of contradictions

relationship between conflict and contradiction