Book Review: Other Areas: Marx and Alienation: Essays on Hegelian Themes
| Published date | 01 May 2013 |
| Date | 01 May 2013 |
| DOI | 10.1111/1478-9302.12016_24 |
| Author | Paul Blackledge |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
241
Notes
individual in such a way as to overcome the simplistic
1 See, for example, his Deleuze: The Clamor of Being, Univer-
opposition between individualism and collectivism, fol-
sity of Minnesota Press, 2000, and ‘Of Life as a Name of
lowed by an analysis of the equally dialectical relation-
Being, or, Deleuze’s Vitalist Ontology’, Pli, 2000, 10, 191–
ship between freedom and necessity in Marx’s thought.
99.
2 Stivale, C. J. (2008) Gilles Deleuze’s ABC: The Folds of
The second half of the book moves to discussions of
Friendship. Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press,
alienation as a critical concept, the social content of
p. 2, emphasis added.
Marx’s critique of private property, his discussion of the
Lukas Verburgt
problem of the division of labour and finally commu-
(University of Amsterdam)
nism. This is an excellent text that deserves a space in
every university library.
Marx and Alienation: Essays on Hegelian Themes
by Sean Sayers. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,
Paul Blackledge
2011. 195pp., £50.00, ISBN 978 0 230 27654 3
(Leeds Metropolitan University)
Marx’s theory of alienation has been served well by
Capitalism: Its Origins and Evolution as a
theorists. In the 1970s Bertell Ollman and István
System of Governance by Bruce R. Scott. Dor-
Mészáros produced their standard works on the topic,
drecht: Springer, 2011. 672pp., £62.99, ISBN 978 1
while recently Dan Swain has published an excellent
4614 1878 8
short primer. Sean Sayers’ book is different from all
of these. Most importantly, it is a collection of essays.
This book is a response to the theoretically inchoate
This could be a weakness, and indeed Sayers admits
relationship between capitalism and democratic gov-
there are areas of overlap and repetition. Nevertheless,
ernance. As a prelude to advancing a...
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