Dialectics and Deconstruction in Political Economy

In this book, Albritton offers the most authoritative reassessment of Marxian political economy since Althusser. Original reinterpretations of thinkers including Hegel, Weber, Althusser, Derrida and Adorno allow Robert Albritton to cast new light on heated battles between Hegelian dialectics and deconstructivist criticism. The unique ontology of capital allows a rigorous dialectic which need not result in essentialism. Marx’s Capital is reconstructed as a dialectical theory of capital’s inner logic that overcomes the economism and reductionism of much Marxian political economy. While many of the claims of deconstruction are challenged, the utility of a limited deconstruction is accepted. The book makes accessible the sometimes daunting thought associated with both dialectics and deconstruction, drawing upon insights from philosophy, sociology, political science and critical theory. Finding a non-essentialist way of using the immense cognitive power of dialectics represents a major breakthrough for political economy.