Marxian Economic Theory

Economics 695, MARXIAN ECONOMIC THEORY

Spring 2002

Wednesdays, 5-7:30pm, 113 Debartolo

DAVID F. RUCCIO

Syllabus

The aim of this course is to develop an understanding of Marxian economic theory, which is often referred to as the Marxian "critique of political economy." This critique is aimed at mainstream economics (both neoclassical and Keynesian) and at the economic and social system celebrated by mainstream economists. Most of the assigned readings are from Karl Marx's Capital, volume 1. This volume provides the initial steps of Marxian "value theory," the conceptual means in and through which Marx and later Marxists have elaborated both the radical differences of their method from that of mainstream economics and their particular analysis of capitalism. (We will also read relevant sections of volumes 2 and 3 of Capital.)

It is crucial to understand the Marxian critique of political economy, including Marxian value theory, in the context of Marxian theory as a whole—which includes both epistemology and methodology. The principle companion texts are therefore The Marx-Engels Reader, ed. Robert Tucker, and Knowledge and Class, by Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff.

Finally, we will explore a series of topics that go beyond Capital and address the contemporary relevance and rethinking of Marxian economic theory.

Course Requirements. All students are expected to complete the assigned readings, before the material is covered in the seminar, and to participate in all discussions. In addition, grading will be based on three, 10-15-page papers (each one third of the final grade), due at the end of each part of the course.

Texts and Readings. Three books have been ordered for the course: Marx, Capital, volume 1, Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, and Resnick and Wolff, Knowledge and Class. They can be purchased at the campus bookstore. All other readings are available on electronic reserve.

Besides Resnick and Wolff's book, other introductory works to reading Capital that you might find useful are the following:

B. Fine, Marx's Capital
D. Harvey, The Limits to Capital
M. C. Howard and J. E. King, The Political Economy of Marx
E. Mandel, Marxist Economic Theory (2 volumes)
S. Resnick and R. Wolff, Economics: Marxian versus Neoclassical
P. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development

Biographies of Marx (and of Friedrich Engels, his frequent collaborator) abound. One of the better ones is Franz Mehring's Karl Marx.

Scholarly journals that regularly publish articles on Marxian economic theory include the following: Historical Materialism

Monthly Review
New Left Review
Rethinking Marxism
Review of Radical Political Economics
Social Text

Web sites with material relevant to this course include the following:

Other useful references, both print and electronic, are available upon request.

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO READING CAPITAL

Toward a Critique of Political Economy
16 and 23 January

K. Marx, "For a Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing" (letter to A. Ruge), in The Marx-Engels Reader, ed. R. Tucker, 12-15 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978)
K. Marx, "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844: Selections," in The Marx-Engels Reader, ed. R. Tucker, 66-125 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978)
K. Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach," in The Marx-Engels Reader, ed. R. Tucker, 143-45 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978)
K. Marx, "The German Ideology, Part I," in The Marx-Engels Reader, ed. R. Tucker, 146-200 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978)
D. F. Ruccio et al., "Nondeterminist Marxism: The Birth of a Postmodern Tradition in Economics," in Beyond Neoclassical Economics, ed. F. E. Foldvary, 134-47 (Brookfield: Edward Elgar, 1996)

Marxian Epistemology
30 January

K. Marx, Grundrisse (London: New Left Review, 1973), pp. 100-108
S. Resnick and R. Wolff, Knowlege and Class, chaps. 1 and 2
L. Althusser and E. Balibar, Reading Capital (London: Unwin Bros. Ltd., 1977), pp. 83-90

Concepts of Class in Marxian Theory
6 February

S. Resnick and R. Wolff, Knowlege and Class, chap. 3
J. K. Gibson-Graham, "Class and the Politics of 'Identity'," in The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It) (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), pp. 46-71
J. K. Gibson-Graham et al., "Introduction: Class in a Poststructuralist Frame," in Class and Its Others, ed. J. K. Gibson-Graham et al., 1-22 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001)

The Logic of Capital
13 February

K. Marx, "Preface to the First Edition" and "Postface to the Second Edition," in Capital 1
K. Marx, Grundrisse (London: New Left Review, 1973), pp. 83-108
K. Marx, "Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy," Marx-Engels Collected Works, vol. 29, 257-65 (New York: International Publishers,
L. Althusser and E. Balibar, Reading Capital (London: New Left Books, 1977), pp. 73-82
B. Roberts, "The Visible and the Measurable: Althusser and the Marxian Theory of Value," in A. Callari and D. F. Ruccio, eds., Postmodern Materialism and the Future of Marxian Theory, 193-211 (Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1996)

Essay 1 (20 February)

PART II: INTRODUCTON TO MARXIAN VALUE THEORY

Value Theory: Commodities and Money
20 and 27 February

K. Marx, Capital 1, chaps. 1-3
J. Amariglio and A. Callari, "Marxian Value Theory and the Problem of the Subject: The Role of Commodity Fetishism," in Fetishism as Cultural Discourse, ed. E. Apter and W. Pietz, 186-216 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993)

Value Theory: Transformation of Money into Capital
6 March

K. Marx, Capital 1, chaps. 4-6
K. Marx, Capital 2 (New York: Vintage, 1977), chap. 1
K. Marx, Capital 1, Appendix, pp. 949-56

Absolute and Relative Surplus-Value
20 and 27 March

K. Marx, Capital 1, chaps. 7-19 and Appendix, pp. 956-71
D. F. Ruccio, "Notes on Surplus-Value"

Productive Capital and Distributions of Surplus-Value
3 April

K. Marx, Capital 3 (New York: Vintage, 1977), chaps. 48, 49, and 51
F. Engels, "Capital and Surplus-Value: Conclusions," in Anti-Duhring, Part 2 (New York: International Publishers, 1966)

10 April

K. Marx, Capital 1, chaps. 23-25
K. Marx, Capital 2 (New York: Vintage, 1977), chaps. 2-4
K. Marx, Capital 3 (New York: Vintage, 1977), chaps. 13-15
K. Marx, Grundrisse (London: New Left Review, 1973), pp. 745-58
S. Resnick and R. Wolff, Knowlege and Class, chap. 4

Essay 2 (17 April)

PART III: CONCLUSION TO READING CAPITAL

Beyond Capital
17 April

K. Marx, Capital 1, chaps. 26-33
K. Marx, "Manifesto of the Communist Party," in The Marx-Engels Reader, ed. R. Tucker, 469-500 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978)
S. Resnick and R. Wolff, Knowledge and Class, chap. 5

Beyond Capitalism
24 April

K. Marx, "Critique of the Gotha Program," in The Marx-Engels Reader, ed. R. Tucker, 525-41 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978)
D. F. Ruccio, "Failure of Socialism, Future of Socialists?" Rethinking Marxism 5 (Summer 1992): 7-22
S. Cullenberg, “Socialism's Burden: Toward a 'Thin' Definition of Socialism," Rethinking Marxism 5 (Summer 1992): 64-83
J. K. Gibson-Graham and D. F. Ruccio, "'After' Development: Re-imagining Economy and Class," in Re/presenting Class: Essays in Postmodern Marxism, ed. J. K. Gibson-Graham et al., 158-81 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2001)

Globalization
1 May

J. K. Gibson-Graham, "Querying Globalization," in The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy, 120-47 (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996)
D. F. Ruccio, "Globalization and Imperialism" (2001)
S. Resnick and R. Wolff, Empire and Class Analysis," Rethinking Marxism 13/3-4 (Fall-Winter 2001)