Analysis of “The Task of Critical Theory Today: Rethinking the Critique of Capitalism and its Futures” by Moishe Postone

From Sociological Theory 2019.

Moishe Postone was a Canadian philosopher, political economist, and a studier of Marxism. In this section, Postone critiques Karl Marx’s theory on capitalism. He argues many social analyses are outdated and don’t explain a solution for problems of modern times and society today. He suggests that rethinking Marx’s view on capitalism could help improve current global issues. He contends Marx’s thoughts on labor in relation to capitalism is not an affirmation, but merely a critique of labor and it’s focus in capitalism through history (Postone, 2015, pg. 6).

It is obvious to Postone that there are numerous issues troubling the world today due to the practice of capitalism and post-Marxist thought, such as a growing wealth gap, mass poverty, structural exploitation, and the economic crises, sparking the need to rethink capitalism and Marx’s theory on capitalism (Postone, 2015, pg. 5). Since both socialism/communism and capitalism parties have fallen in the past, Postone proposes people need a critical theory to follow that can “problematize its own historical situatedness,” which is why a rethought of Marx’s theory is required (Postone, pg. 7). Postone would like to put forth an idea of a new form of society that is characterized by “collective ownership of the means of production and economic planning in an industrialized context,” where industrial production is used by capitalists for their wants, but is still separate from capitalism and can be used to help everyone in a society (Postone, 2015, pg. 7).

In Grundrisse, Postone observes that unfreedom is the central object and historical dynamics of capitalism, totality, and labor are the other objects of Marx’s critique of political economy. The most important categories for Marx’s argument is value, commodity, surplus value, and capital, and how they relate to the heteronomous dynamic of capitalism. Furthermore, he says Marx believes they’re free of personal domination, but are still working toward an idea of progression that they are bound to, thus making them truly unfree. Postone deduces from Marx’s theory that capitalism is a self-destructive force because it seeks to value things produced by labor, but tries to replace labor with mechanization to increase production, which lowers a products value. Marx states that a capitalist economy is based off a products value, and with continual mechanization, capitalistic economy would fail and there would be no proletariat, hinting that Postone leans toward a Marxist society (Postone, 2015, pg. 8). He believes that the need for a constant capital results in an overabundant working population, which also creates a “unequal social division of time between those who are overworked and those who are under- or unemployed” (Postone, 2015, pg. 20). He declares the decrease in manual labor and increase in technological production does not free people from labor, only distributes it unequally.

From Marx’s Capital, Postone gleans the idea that governing bodies of capitalism have pushed going to work every day and production so that it’s ingrained in our society, stated by Postone as, ‘characterized by the opposition of an abstract, quasi-objective, formal, general, homogeneous dimension, and a concrete, particular, material dimension, both of which appear to be “natural,” rather than social’ (Postone, 2015, pg. 12). Postone elaborates on the idea of material and abstract labor as commodity leading to social mediation from Marx’s books, Grundrisse and Capital, and as the mediation generalizes it becomes a part of the society as a whole.

The treadmill dynamic of Marx’s theory describes what is a continuous cycle of higher levels of production per unit time that gain an economic profit but eventually returns to the original value, resulting from a surplus of production. Based upon Postone’s gatherings, the two elements, commodity and capital “forms as structures of domination” (Postone, 2015, pg. 15). Another issue in Postone’s writing is a working class that has a high productivity drives the demand for more workers increasing a working class that could lead to an increase in the under and unemployed. This could also mean that the surplus of the number of workers is in relation to the amount of productivity leading to a surplus of people. As spoken by Postone, “category of human appears as a problem for humanity,” which describes that an increase in population can be detrimental to society (Postone, 2015, pg. 21). Postone centralizes on the effects of capital on the environment and working-class population as derogative.

In Postone’s evaluation of Marx’s writings, he states that Marx outlines the idea of a new social life form within capitalism that contradicts the capitalist dynamic leading to a self-reflexive, destructive force. Postone proposes that throughout history the many critiques of capitalism have been focused in relation to a specific capitalist idea within a culture as opposed to focusing on capitalism as being “the core of the social formation, separable from its various surface configurations” (Postone, 2015, pg. 24). Postone strongly believes in a broader critique of the overall core of capitalism instead of its historical representations today that would be adequate for critical theory.

Citations:

1. Postone, Moishe. 2015. Globalization, Critique and Social Theory: Diagnoses and Challenges Current Perspectives in Social Theory: Volume 33: The Task of Critical Theory Today: Rethinking the Critique of Capitalism and its Futures. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. 0278-1204/doi:10.1108/S0278-120420150000033001