John Haldon, “Theories of Practice: Marxist History-Writing and Complexity”, Historical Materialism 21/4 (2013) 36–70
Abstract
Jairus Banaji’s collection of essays is a stimulating
and provocative assessment of recent Marxist history-writing on issues of social
theory and historical development in both ancient as well as modern societies.
It challenges the overly simplistic application of Marx’s categories of
analysis, arguing for both complexity and a clearer theorisation of fundamental
terminology and analytical tropes, including labour-process and mode of
production. This review article suggests that, while the basic arguments
represent a welcome corrective to some Marxist historical work, and at the same
time address in an accessible way non-Marxist historians, there remain some
problematic issues, in particular in respect of the criteria for
differentiating between different types of mode of production, the level at
which this concept has heuristic application, and the distinction between the
political/institutional and the modal instances of theorisations of
social-economic relations. Some of these issues are exemplified by reference to
particular historical cases.
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