In what is the first sustained analysis of Marx's attitude to the puzzle of the individual in history and society, this book, first published in 1990, challenges received views on the importance of class analysis and the place of a theory of human nature in Marx's thought. The radical possibilities of individual agency in society are explored within a Marxian framework, and without recourse to the current fashions of methodological individualism or rational choice theory. In the context of the apparent antagonism between collectivist and individualist approaches to political explanation and social change, the author establishes that a 'New Individual', of singular importance for the understanding of contemporary society, can be identified. For the first time, the Grundrisse provides the basis of a major analysis of Marx's thoughts on the individual. By illustrating the nature of the connections between collective existence and individual experience, Ian Forbes makes an important contribution towards the revitalization of socialist thought. He also develops a valuable counterpoint to rational actor models of politics and liberal theories of justice alike, by establishing the importance of a political theory that values human agency as much as it understands social and historical processes.

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Marxism, Class Analysis and Socialist Pluralism (RLE Marxism) A Theoretical and Political Critique of Marxist Conceptions of Politics

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Forbes, Ian;

Ashgate Publishing Limited

Taylor & Francis Ltd

Gower Publishing Ltd

Routledge library editions. Marxism, London, 2015-1990

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

London, 2016

1, 20150417

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Cover 1
Half Title 2
Title Page 4
Copyright Page 5
Original Title Page 6
Original Copyright Page 7
Dedication 8
Table of Contents 10
Foreword 12
Introduction 14
1 The individual, political theory and Marx’s thought 22
The individual in humanism and theoretical anti-humanism 23
Individualism and social theory 35
Marx and modes of individualism 43
Human nature, autonomy and history 48
Summary 53
Notes 54
2 The individual and Marx's theory of change 56
Sources of social change 56
Human nature and history 62
Thinking about human nature 69
Social change and individuality 74
Summary 81
Notes 83
3 Pre-capitalist societies and the absence of individualism and individuality 84
Feudalism and the individual 89
Feudalism and change 102
The feudal individual 106
Summary 116
Notes 117
4 Individuality in capitalist society 119
The transition from feudalism to capitalism 121
History, nature and early capitalism 125
The placement of Marx’s critique 133
Development: human nature and capitalism 141
Production 143
Social relations 147
Capitalism, individualism and individuality 149
Bourgeois individuality 157
Proletarian individuality 162
Individuality and change through capitalism 165
Summary 183
Notes 184
5 The individual under communism 186
Method in communism 187
Communism as the end of classes 197
Individuals and nature in communism 200
The character of communist individuality 206
Exchange, production, and the universal individual 209
On being an individual 219
Wealth and communist individuality 228
Summary 238
Notes 240
6 The new individual 241
Bibliography 259
Index 265

2025-10-27