The odd couple: neo-Marxism and rationality

We analyse the relation between Western neo-Marxism and the contemporary debate on rationality, how the latter has conditioned the former’s understanding of capitalism and how it has modified its relationship with other currents of economic thought. Starting from a puzzling event, the defence of ‘ra...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Macías Vázquez, Alfredo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/124869
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/124869
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:B14
B24
Capitalism
Neo-Marxism
Rationality
Capitalismo
Neomarxismo
Racionalidad
racionalidade
Historia económica
5308.03 Historia Ebb del Pensamiento Económico
Descripción
Sumario:We analyse the relation between Western neo-Marxism and the contemporary debate on rationality, how the latter has conditioned the former’s understanding of capitalism and how it has modified its relationship with other currents of economic thought. Starting from a puzzling event, the defence of ‘rational choice theory’ by analytical Marxism, we analyse how this contemporary phenomenon is historically related to an assimilation by Western neo-Marxism of the categories established by the liberal tradition in the debate on rationality to functionally stabilize capitalism. We conclude that, if the contemporary currents of neo-Marxism are to cease to represent a progressive strand of liberal thought as reformulated by Rawls, they need to relate the substantive irrationality of capitalism not to a system of values but to the social form of economic production. Keywords. capitalism, neo-Marxism, rationality