From Progression to Explosion: Historical Time and Revolutionary Change in Marx, Gramsci, Benjamin, and Fanon

From Progression to Explosion Historical Time and Revolutionary Change in Marx, Gramsci, Benjamin, and Fanon

Inspired by contemporary criticism(s) levelled against evolutionist conceptions of history present within much classical social theory, this article seeks to discuss alternative conceptions of historical time, modernity, and coloniality within the works of Marxist-inspired thinkers who have sought t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theoria (Pietermaritzburg) Vol. 69; no. 3; pp. 60 - 82
Main Author: Sunnemark, Ludvig
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York Berghahn Books, Inc 01-09-2022
Subjects:
Ambivalence
Benjamin, Walter
Capitalism
Colonialism
Criticism
Dialectics
Explosions
Gramsci, Antonio
Hegemony
Human agency
Laclau, Ernesto
Marxism
Modernity
Mouffe, Chantal
Philosophy, Marxist
Social theories
Society
Sociology
Transformation
United Kingdom
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Inspired by contemporary criticism(s) levelled against evolutionist conceptions of history present within much classical social theory, this article seeks to discuss alternative conceptions of historical time, modernity, and coloniality within the works of Marxist-inspired thinkers who have sought to tackle the problematic aspects of evolutionism and 'historical progress' head on--namely, Antonio Gramsci, Walter Benjamin, and Frantz Fanon. After discussing orthodox Marxism's ambivalent relation to notions of historical necessity and human agency, the article turns to discussing Gramsci's anti-economistic conception of hegemony and Benjamin's and Fanon's respective conceptions of the 'dialectics of rupture' in order to present alternative conceptions of historical time which partly or fully depart from orthodox Marxism's tendencies towards evolutionism, albeit whilst retaining a focus on dialectics, power struggle, and revolutionary transformation.
ISSN:0040-5817
1558-5816
DOI:10.3167/th.2022.6917203