Book Reviews
| Date | 01 November 1973 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1973.tb00881.x |
| Published date | 01 November 1973 |
BOOK
REVIEWS
Consciousness and Action among
thc
Western Working
Class,
by Michael Mann.
Macmillan, London, 1973,
80
pp., 60p.
Grundrisse: Foundatiotls
of
the Critique
of
Political Economy (Rough Draft),
by Karl
Man, translated with a Foreword by Martin Nicolaus. Penguin Books,
Harmondsworth,
898
pp., El.00.
BOTH
works fall outside the conventional narrow definition of industrial
relations, but the issues with which they are concerned form an essential part
of any framework for understanding current developments in British industry.
In
Consciousness
and Action
Michael Mann has provided both a concise survey of
recent sociological analysis from several countries, and a vigorous argument of
his own theoretical position. His focus is the question: ‘is the working class still
a force for revolutionary change in the West?’ Two opposing answers are
outlined, which Mann labels ‘the end of ideology thesis’ and ‘Marxism’: the
one predicated on an inevitable decrease in class conflict as capitalism (or, in
the terminology of this perspective, ‘industrial society’) develops; the other
asserting the contrary trend. Basing his analysis primarily on experience in
Britain, the United States, France and Italy, Mann insists that the realities
of
class relations and
class
conflict are far more complex than either theory allows.
As
one of a series
of
short studies in sociology, the book covers an impressive
area and makes
a
number of original contributions. The introductory discussion
of the meaning of class conflict provides an important elucidation
of
the
concept; the critical survey of recent French writing-in particular the theories
of Touraine and Mallet-is informative yet economical; the explanation of
variations in international experience, in terms of the aspects of the social
structure encouraging or inhibiting capitalist ‘hegemony’,
is
persuasive.
Mann has little difficulty in controverting the ‘end of ideology’ analysis,
predicting the increasing practical and ideological integration of the working
class. Indeed this doctrine, an established part
of
academic orthodoxy a mere
decade ago, has scarcely survived the resurgence of industrial and political
conflict in recent years. The book also effectively undermines some of the
crasser versions
of
‘Marxism’ currently prevailing, which romantically assert
the spontaneously revolutionary character of the proletariat. Yet Mann’s claim
to have demonstrated, in
a
mere
65
pages
of
text, that the working class
cannot
be revolutionary,
is
not altogether plausible.
At
the very least, such
a
demon-
stration would require
a
detailed consideration of the theories of such writers as
Lenin, Luxemburg, Lukacs, Gramsci-and Marx himself (all absent from
Mann’s bibliography).
Such
writers never regarded
a
workers’ revolution
as
something to be theoretically predicted but as
a
goal
to
be fought for. The
relationship between theory and practice, the role of the revolutionary party,
the interconnections of subjective contradictions in consciousness and objective
contradictions in the political economy: all are crucial and highly complex
issues
to
be considered. Thus while Mann has written a useful and insightful
book, the ‘Marxism’ which he demolishes is an inadequate artefact.
472
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