DOCSLIB.ORG

The Marburg School Since the 1980S

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Marburg School Since the 1980S chapter 5 The Marburg School since the 1980s 1 A Premature Farewell The conflict around the Marburg Gewerkschaftsbuch, the unsavoury conflict with Wolfgang Fritz Haug and Das Argument, as well as other conflicts either forced onto the representatives of the Marburg School or which they allowed themselves to be drawn into did not, however, lead to the retreat their polit- ical opponents and some of their intellectual critics may have hoped for. On the contrary: the Marxist Marburg School’s scholarly productivity continued without interruption. In many ways, one could even say it reached a higher level of academic quality than in the preceding period. This contradicts the hypothesis put forward by historians Christoph Hüt- tig and Lutz Raphael that its ‘fixation on an orthodox Marxism and a DKP intellectually emaciated by “Eurocommunist” heresies’1 definitively sealed the fate of Marburg’s ‘Red Bastion’ by the late 1980s. Noteworthy about Hüttig and Raphael’s depiction of the Marburg School as a ‘scientific thought collective’ is that while it describes internal institutional developments, constellations of actors, and the factionalisation of discourse in astonishing detail, the substance of the Marburg School’s scholarly work is itself categorically ignored. Had they refrained from this, they would have been able to conclude that the actors of the Marburg School continued to produce academically respected work well into the 1980s and beyond, continuing in their own work the relationship between theory and praxis the school’s founders established. One example that demonstrates how Marburg’s left-wing social scientists remained remarkably active during the years on which Hüttig and Raphael’s necrology of the School is particularly focused is Frank Deppe’s major study of Machiavelli (1987),2 a truly impressive work in terms of both its substant- ive complexity as well as analytical stringency. Its publication proved that he was not only an expert in trade union research or EU policy, but also a compet- ent scholar of classical political theory who had no reason to shy the academic competition, such as Herfried Münkler’s book on the same topic.3 That said, with few exceptions Deppe’s volume was largely greeted by academic silence. 1 Hüttig and Raphael 1992, p. 24f. 2 Deppe 1987. Published in a new edition in 2014. 3 Münkler 1982. According to a letter sent to the author by Frank Deppe, a debate was held in © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004410169_007 126 chapter 5 Deppe was moved to study Machiavelli by the question as to how the indi- viduation of the state out of the development of bourgeois society could be explained, and what operative status the political dimension takes in this pro- cess. This line of inquiry forced itself onto Deppe insofar as the Marxist state debate dominant at the time, with its abstract derivation procedures and ritu- alised economistic explanations, had reached its limits. At the same time, he was confronted by the irritating fact that Machiavelli’s theories of power and the state were not only adopted as a classic work on the philosophy of the state by representatives of a conservative and even fascist-inclined Neo- Machiavellianism (Georges Sorel, Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto and others) for their own worldview, but were also positively reviewed by a pioneer of West- ern Marxism, Antonio Gramsci, in his depiction of the relationship between the state, politics, and society. In his thematically diverse study incorporating the historical development of the Northern Italian city states as well as the role of Renaissance intellectuals, Deppe focused on Machiavelli’s political the- ory as an action-oriented political solution to the early bourgeois economic, social, and moral crisis rocking Florence and other cities. He worked out that Machiavelli was above all interested in controlling and integrating the destabil- ising centrifugal forces of competition, egoistic desires, and sectional interests with the aid of what he saw as a morally indifferent, ruthlessly forceful state.4 According to Deppe’s reading, Gramsci invoked Machiavelli because he understood his activist political philosophy as a comprehensive attempt to interpret the crisis of ruling-class hegemony,5 which could only be solved ‘organically’ if a new hegemonic formation replaced the old, exhausted one. The recourse to a ‘new leader’, in Machiavelli’s words the ‘new prince’, was in Deppe’s view merely proof that such a hegemonic force did not yet exist. In light of 1920s and 1930s Italian society at the time, this could only develop as a col- lective movement – and only under the leadership of a revolutionary Marxist party. Here, Deppe pointed out the limits of Gramsci’s reading of Machiavelli, tracing his mistaken perception of Machiavelli as a revolutionary and an early Jacobin back to a false identification of Northern Italian Renaissance society with the alleged existence of developed bourgeois class and production rela- tions.6 Marburg between him, Herfried Münkler, and the Romance studies scholar August Buck in 1988. 4 Deppe 1987, p. 289. 5 Deppe 1987, 422. 6 Deppe 1987, p. 427..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • ELITES, POWER SOURCES and DEMOCRACY by DENZ YETKN
    ELITES, POWER SOURCES AND DEMOCRACY by DEN İZ YETK İN Submitted to the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Sabancı University 2008 ELITES, POWER SOURCES AND DEMOCRACY APPROVED BY: Asst. Prof. Dr.Nedim Nomer: ……………………. (Dissertation Supervisor) Prof. Sabri Sayarı: ……………………. Prof. Tülay Artan: ……………………. DATE OF APPROVAL: …………………… To my parents... © Deniz Yetkin 2008 All Rights Reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………vi Abstract...……………………………………………………………………………..…vii Özet…….……………………………………………………………………………….viii INTRODUCTION .…………………………………………………….......…………....1 CHAPTER 1..……………………………………………………………………………6 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF ELITE DISCUSSION 1.1 Machiavelli and His Followers……………………………………………....7 1.2 The Classical Elite Theorists……………………………………………......8 1.2.1 Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) and the ‘Governing Elite’…………..…….....8 1.2.2 Gaetano Mosca (1858- 1941) and the ‘Ruling Class’……….………...….21 1.2.3 Robert Michels (1876-1936) and the ‘Dominant Class’……………...…..23 1.2.4 C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) and ‘The Power Elite’………..……………26 1.3 Who are Elites? ……………………………………………………………30 CHAPTER 2 ..……………………………………………………………….………….32 POWER SOURCES, POWER SCOPE OF ELITES, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF DEMOCRACY 2.1 Power and Democracy in Classical Elite Theories...……………………….33 2.2. A New Approach to Elites, Power Sources and Democracy...…………….38 CONCLUSION ..……………………………………………………………………….47 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………….……..49 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor Asst. Prof. Nedim Nomer. I believe that without his support and guidance the writing of this thesis would have been difficult. Moreover, I am grateful to Prof. Sabri Sayarı and Prof. Tülay Artan for their precious comments. Apart from academic realm, I also would like to thank all my friends: I am grateful to my friends at Sabancı University for making my study enjoyable.
    [Show full text]
  • Classical Liberalism in Italian Economic Thought, from the Time of Unification · Econ Journal Watch : Italy,Classical Liberalis
    Discuss this article at Journaltalk: http://journaltalk.net/articles/5933 ECON JOURNAL WATCH 14(1) January 2017: 22–54 Classical Liberalism in Italian Economic Thought, from the Time of Unification Alberto Mingardi1 LINK TO ABSTRACT This paper offers an account of Italians who have advanced liberal ideas and sensibilities, with an emphasis on individual freedom in the marketplace, since the time of Italy’s unification. We should be mindful that Italy has always had a vein of liberal thought. But this gold mine of liberalism was seldom accessed by political actors, and since 1860 liberalism has been but one thin trace in Italy’s mostly illiberal political thought and culture. The leading representatives of Italian liberalism since 1860 are little known internationally, with the exception of Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923). And yet their work influenced the late James M. Buchanan and the development of public choice economics.2 Scholars such as Bruno Leoni (1913–1967) joined—and influenced— liberals around the world, and they continue to have an impact on Italy today. Besides their scholarship, all the liberal authors mentioned here share a constant willingness to enter the public debate.3 Viewed retrospectively they appear a pugnacious lot, even if not highly successful in influencing public policy. The standout is Luigi Einaudi (1874–1961), at once a scholar and journalist who also became a leading political figure in the period after World War II. 1. Istituto Bruno Leoni, 10123 Turin, Italy. I am grateful to Jane Shaw Stroup for valuable editorial feed- back. I also wish to thank Enrico Colombatto and three anonymous referees for their helpful comments.
    [Show full text]
  • Societal Semantics: the Linguistic Representation of Society
    2 Societal Semantics: The Linguistic Representation of Society A thesis submitted to the Miami University Honors and Scholars Program in partial fulfillment of the requirements for University Honors with Distinction by Michael A. Zilis Miami University Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History Summa cum laude May 2007 Oxford, Ohio 3 ABSTRACT Societal Semantics: The Linguistic Representation of Society By Michael A. Zilis Though various theories of hegemony have provided theoretical backgrounds that guide some sociological writings, many scholars agree that one of the most logically- and empirically-sound conceptualizations of hegemony was articulated by the Italian thinker Antonio Gramsci in the early part of the twentieth century. Gramscian hegemony consists of a fundamental value-consensus that society, as a whole, has accepted. While challenges have been made to Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, his model continues to play an important part in understanding society. The will argue that the idea of hegemony remains relevant in the post-Marxist age, if not precisely in the ways it has previously been articulated, because of the nature of human language. Language, as it has developed, serves as the primary means used by human beings to conceptualize. As such, people often overlook the shortcomings of the medium. However, language does have its shortcomings, from creating artificial categorizations that affect the way humans think about the world in which they live to implicitly generating assumptions about society and government. Examining media and cultural practices, this paper argue that the fundamental existence of hegemony, or a value consensus, is replicated in modern America by language usage and the effects this usage has on the way citizens “represent” the society in which they live.
    [Show full text]
  • Arthur Livingston
    Arthur Livingston: An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Descriptive Summary Creator: Livingston, Arthur, 1883-1944 Title: Arthur Livingston Papers Inclusive Dates: 1494-1986 Extent: 22 document boxes, 3 galley folders, 1 oversize folder (9.16 linear feet) Access: Open for research Administrative Information Acquisition: Gift, 1950 Processed by: Robert Kendrick, Chip Cheek, Elizabeth Murray, Nov. 1996-June 1997 Repository: Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center The University of Texas at Austin Livingston, Arthur, 1883-1944 Biographical Sketch Arthur Livingston, professor of Romance languages and literatures, publisher, and translator, was born on September 30, 1883, in Northbridge, Massachusetts. Livingston earned the A. B. degree at Amherst College in 1904, continuing his work in Romance languages at Columbia University, where he received the Ph. D. in 1911. His teaching positions included an instructorship in Italian at Smith College (1908-1909), an associate professorship in Italian at Cornell University, where Livingston also supervised the Petrarch Catalogue (1910-1911), and an associate professorship in Romance Languages at Columbia University (1911-1917). Among the various honors bestowed upon Livingston were membership in Phi Beta Kappa and the Venetian academic society, the Reale deputazione veneta di storia patria; he was also decorated as a Cavalier of the Crown of Italy. Livingston's desire to disseminate the work of leading European writers and thinkers in the United States led him to an editorship with the Foreign Press Bureau of the Committee on Public Information during World War I. When the war ended, Livingston, in partnership with Paul Kennaday and Ernest Poole, continued his efforts on behalf of foreign literature by founding the Foreign Press Service, an agency that represented foreign authors in English-language markets.
    [Show full text]
  • A Theory and Methodology for the Study of Elites
    1 A theory and methodology for the study of elites The concept of a political elite is a simple one; that all societies no matter their ideology or social structure are in fact ruled by a small group of individuals designated variously as a political elite, a ruling class or a power elite. In this book I use the term political elite. In the context of KwaZulu-Natal, this is a political elite in a constitutional democracy with a violent political history of acute political fractures. The term political elite is most commonly used among elite theorists. I set aside the term ruling class because of its relationship to the term class. A political elite is not simply a group of people that rule politically but belong to an economic class. Their basis of power is not necessarily related to the means of production and they are not necessarily primarily driven as an economic class. I further set aside the term power elite because the term power does not designate precisely enough the essential relationship to the state, politics and rule. Elite theorists take as their starting point the causes and consequences of inequality in society. The key characteristics of any society are consequences of the characteristics of the political elite. The historical transformation of all states is a history of political elites. Hence, for the majority of elite theorists a class- less society with political equality belongs to the dreams of utopia. While they may or may not be anti-democratic, on the whole they are sceptical of the possibilities of realising democracy in whichever of its forms.
    [Show full text]
  • Gaetano Mosca's Political Theories
    1 ITALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC LAW [Vol. 1 ITALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC LAW (2009) 1-44 Gaetano Mosca’s Political Theories: a Key to Interpret the Dynamics of the Power Claudio Martinelli Abstract: Gaetano Mosca is generally regarded as of the founders of the Political science. His thought has been analysed, exalted and also criticised, for over a century now, by a lot of researchers in the world. And nevertheless the challenges that modernity poses to those who engage in the study of political processes may perhaps give meaning to the attempt to reread that theoretical framework, both to establish the current soundness and to measure the prospective usefulness in order to understand better and face these challenges. There is no doubt that many democratic systems present great difficulties in finding the right mechanism of selection of the political classes and, more in general, the correct relationship between governors and governed. Mosca’s disenchanted, realistic and relativist views of democracy can be used as a useful guide to understand the problems of this political system and even as a good antidote against any populist regression, a recurrent temptation for many political classes. This article tries to analyse how power is at the centre of Mosca’s thought: the formation, organisation and consequences of power. Of course, even in Mosca’s work, like that of any social science scholar, there are some gaps, weak points and aspects which have been surpassed with the passing of time. So, the most important target of this article is to separate as much as possible the aspects which still are of considerable significance today, from those that are inevitably and irremediably covered by the patina of age.
    [Show full text]
  • Gaetano Mosca Y El Problema De La Responsabilidad Social Del Intelectual 63 I
    Esta obra forma parte del acervo de la Biblioteca Jurídica Virtual del Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM www.juridicas.unam.mx https://biblio.juridicas.unam.mx/bjv Libro completo en: https://goo.gl/TNM1tW Gaetano Mosca y el problema de la responsabilidad social del intelectual 63 I. Introducción . 63 II. La concepción de Mosca de la ciencia política . 69 III. El concepto de clase política . 74 IV. El concepto de defensa jurídica . 79 V. Los juicios políticos sobre Gaetano Mosca . 82 VI. Decisión política y decisión científica . 85 DR © 2004. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México - Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas Esta obra forma parte del acervo de la Biblioteca Jurídica Virtual del Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM www.juridicas.unam.mx https://biblio.juridicas.unam.mx/bjv Libro completo en: https://goo.gl/TNM1tW GAETANO MOSCA Y EL PROBLEMA DE LA RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL DEL INTELECTUAL * I. INTRODUCCIÓN Quizá sea conveniente iniciar la redacción de este ensayo señalando los puntos de referencia que han de servirnos de base para su elaboración. En términos generales, dichos puntos pueden resumirse del siguiente modo: 1) Las doctrinas políticas no son, en última instancia, más que sistemas de respuestas a problemas históricos concretos y, como tales, no pueden ser entendidas en su verdadero alcance y significado más que a la luz de la situación histórico-social en que fueron pensadas. No hay verdades, teorías o doctrinas eternas. Hay solamente problemas más o menos permanentes. Y en la medida en que los problemas cam- bian o se resuelven, las teorías, históricamente, periclitan. 2) Consecuentemente, la exposición y la crítica de toda teoría política deberá estar siempre en función del modo en que selecciona, presen- ta y resuelve los problemas que, históricamente, está llamada a solu- cionar.
    [Show full text]
  • The Continuing Relevance of C. Wright Mills: His Approach to Research and What We Can Learn from It
    S T U D I E S I N M I D W E S T E R N H I S T O R Y VOL. 4, NO. 2 November, 2018 The Continuing Relevance of C. Wright Mills: His Approach to Research and What We Can Learn From It John E. Miller1 Irving Louis Horowitz, his biographer, called him “the greatest sociologist the United States has ever produced,” but many of his colleagues at Columbia University considered him shallow and dangerously simplistic and others thought him to be embarrassingly naïve and be- lieved his work grossly distorted reality.2 A man of large ambitions and huge energy, C. Wright Mills elicited highly charged reactions, both positive and negative, in his admirers and his detrac- tors. He had little use for the academic prose style of most of his fellow sociologists and played the role of synthesizer, social theorist, radical social critic, and committed polemicist in his own spirited and inimitable way. Though admired by and serving as an inspiration to many of his fel- low sociologists, Mills was largely ignored by his discipline as a whole, aside from the work he did on social stratification. His influence, however, extended to many investigators in related dis- ciplines in the social sciences and humanities.3 Unconstrained by disciplinary boundaries, Mills made all social inquiry his domain and plugged into increasingly ambitious projects during his all-too-short career. Through it all, he left much behind to teach historians and all students of place and re- gion. My intention here is not to recount his Midwestern roots or the larger story of his career, delve into the many controversies surrounding it, or engage in explorations of his personality.
    [Show full text]
  • Persistence of Power, Elites, and Institutions
    American Economic Review 2008, 98:1, 267–293 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.98.1.267 Persistence of Power, Elites, and Institutions By Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson* We construct a model to study the implications of changes in political insti- tutions for economic institutions. A change in political institutions alters the distribution of de jure political power, but creates incentives for investments in de facto political power to partially or even fully offset change in de jure power. The model can imply a pattern of captured democracy, whereby a democratic regime may survive but choose economic institutions favoring an elite. The model provides conditions under which economic or policy outcomes will be invariant to changes in political institutions, and economic institutions them- selves will persist over time. (JEL D0, D7) The domination of an organized minority … over the unor- ganized majority is inevitable. The power of any minority is irresistible as against each single individual in the majority, who stands alone before the totality of the organized minor- ity. At the same time, the minority is organized for the very reason that it is a minority. — Gaetano Mosca (1939, 53). Recent research on comparative development has emphasized the importance of political and economic institutions.1 This research suggests that changes in political institutions, such as the end of colonial rule in Latin America, the enfranchisement of former slaves in the US South, and the democratization of British politics during the nineteenth century, ought to have led to significant changes in economic outcomes. The evidence on this point is mixed, however.
    [Show full text]
  • Enfranchisement and Representation: Italy 1909-1913
    Enfranchisement and Representation: Italy 1909-1913 Valentino Larcinese London School of Economics and STICERD The Suntory Centre Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines London School of Economics and Political Science Houghton Street London WC2A 2AE EOPP/2011/32 Tel: (020) 7955 6674 Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom; e-mail: [email protected]; personal web-page: http://personal.lse.ac.uk/LARCINES/. I am very grateful to Oriana Bandiera, Tim Besley, Torun Dewan, Stefano Gagliarducci, Peter Jensen, Torsten Persson, Riccardo Puglisi, Imran Rasul, Jim Snyder, David Stasavage, Cristiana Vitale and seminar participants at LSE, Bocconi, the PSPE conference at NYU, the Porto Conte Ricerche workshop and the SIEP annual meeting who gave me very useful comments and suggestions. I would like to thank prof. Maria Serena Piretti of the University of Bologna for sharing with me the information she had collected about the political affiliations of the candidates. Paolo Evangelisti kindly guided me through the material at the Parliamentary Archive in Rome. Edoardo Cipolloni, Florinda Margiulo, Nadia Marconi, Veronica Postal and Indraneel Sircar provided dedicated research assistance. Financial support from STICERD is gratefully acknowledged. All errors are mine. Abstract This paper presents evidence on the consequences of the 1912 introduction of "quasi- universal" male suffrage in Italy. The reform increased the electorate from slightly less than three million to 8,650,000 and left the electoral rules and the district boundaries unchanged. This allows us to exploit the heterogeneity in enfranchisement rates across electoral districts to identify the causal effects of franchise extension on a number of political outcomes.
    [Show full text]
  • Elitism in Gaetano Mosca's Treatment
    Elitism in Gaetano Mosca’s Treatment Garineh Keshishyan Reza vahabi, PhD Student Abstract Socially, the word "elite" is broadly used to refer to a superior group of people regarding skills or privileges and associates with other terms such as political systems, "authorities", "minority favorite". Elites are cautious and opportunistic people. They are in every way and situation regarded as people's favorites. Focusing on concept of “elite” and “elitism”, the author in this paper, attempts to study Gaetano Mosca’s elite theory and ideas of other thinkers both advocating and opposing the idea. Exploring the impact of this theory on political science realm and comparing it to other theories in the same area and fairly criticizing them, the author comes to the conclusion that “elitism” generally believes every society and/or organization ends up in oligarchy. That is, a powerful elite minority will eventually take over and also the emersion of a ruling class is an exclusive attribute of every political organization and society. Keywords: Elite, Elitism, Gaetano Mosca Introduction Gaetano Mosca was a sociologist, political scientist and one of the most famous anti- democrats. The most important book putting his views on the mapin Italy was “Elementi di scienza politica (The Ruling Class) (1895)”.He attempted to include all of the problems he had seen in Italy up to the first half of 21st century in it. Mosca argues that every political society and human community, whether developed or underdeveloped are split between two social classes: the one who rules and the one which is governed. The former is the minority, but it owns more political power and utilizes the whole privileges such as welfare, respect, and power.
    [Show full text]
  • From Pareto Economics, to Pareto Politics, to Fascism: a Rochambeau Model of Elite Circulation Jorge Buzaglo [Independent Economist, Stockholm]
    real-world economics review, issue no. 85 subscribe for free From Pareto economics, to Pareto politics, to fascism: a Rochambeau model of elite circulation Jorge Buzaglo [Independent economist, Stockholm] Copyright: Jorge Buzaglo 2018 You may post comments on this paper at https://rwer.wordpress.com/comments-on-rwer-issue-no-85/ Introduction: the reemergence of elite theory The World Development Report (WDR) is the World Bank’s annual report on the state of the world economy and crucial economic development topics. However, the 2017 version was atypical because the WDR (World Bank 2017) focused on politics, not the economy. The report, “Governance and the Law,” is symptomatic, not only because of its defection from economics but also for the type of political theory it utilizes. The WDR straying from economics is not too regrettable because the economic theory that characterized this document was mainstream neoclassicism, and the type of economic policy advice was the associated neoliberal set of recipes labelled the “Washington Consensus.” This change in topic could be interpreted as the result of the growing recognition that mainstream economic theory and neoliberal economic policies have not delivered what they promised; in contrast, they induced increased income stagnation and growing inequality. The realization of the failure of neoliberalism may even have reached the IMF, that is, the central stronghold of global economic orthodoxy. However, it does not seem as if the increasing doubts about and abandonment of the neoclassical–neoliberal paradigm will find a prospective resolution and replacement any time soon. The present uncertainty about the ruling economic model and policy paradigm reflects an uncertainty about the current global geopolitical evolution, a process of hegemonic transition that may take years or decades to settle.
    [Show full text]