2.8 — The Marxist Challenge — Readings

Wednesday, October 1, 2020

Required Readings:

• Karl Marx & Das Kapital in Reader

• Ch.6 “Karl Marx and His Critique of Classical Economics” in Landreth & Colander

• Ch.6 in Blaug

• Marx and Engels, 1848, Manifesto of the Communist Party

Recommended Readings:

• Allen (2009), “Engels’ Pause: Technical Change, Capital Accumulation, and Inequality in the British Industrial Revolution”

The following Wikipedia entries can also provide more background:

• Karl Marx
• The Communist Manifesto
• Revolutions of 1848
• Marxism

Questions to Help Your Reading

• What are Marx’s motivations for his analysis?

• How does Marx’s view of socialism differ from the “utopians” like Robert Godwin?

• How much of Smith and Ricardo does Marx accept for his premises in economic analysis? Is Marx a classical economist?

• What did Marx think of Malthusian population theory?

• What is the difference between use value and surplus value?

• What is the role of the capitalist in Marxian theory?

• What is Marx’s theory of history? What is the dialetic? What is historical materialism? What are the means of production, modes of production, superstructure, and base?

• What are the “laws of capitalism” and the contradictions of capitalism?