Product Description

A concise and comprehensive introduction to Marx’s social, political and economic thought for the beginning student. Jon Elster surveys in turn each of the main themes of marxist thought: methodology, alienation, economics, exploitation, historical materialism, classes, politics, and ideology; in a final chapter he assesses ‘what is living and what is dead in the philosophy of Marx’. The emphasis throughout is on the analytical structure of Marx’s arguments and the approach is at once sympathetic, undogmatic, and rigorous.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #353971 in Books
• Published on: 1986-07-25
• Released on: 2008-01-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 212 pages

Customer Reviews

One of the best introductions
This book is one of the best brief introductions to Marxist economic analyses. Most impressive are the Chapter 6 (Historical Materialism) and the last chapter titled, "What is living and what is dead in the philosophy of Marx?" Although Marx's scientific socialism, dialectical materialism and functionalism are dead (analysed by Elster), many of the questions Marx asked seem surprisingly modern in terms of the interests of economics, in particular, institutional economics. This book explains briefly and clearly the Marx's basic concern and methodology of analysing the evolution and change of societies.