The social character of Marx's theory of value : an inquiry into 'systematic dialectics'

• Main Author: Skandalis, Sotirios
• Published: University of Warwick 2013
• Subjects: 301; HB Economic Theory
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.640933

This thesis is a theoretical investigation into Marx’s theory of value through a close reading of the ‘systematic dialectical’ tendency in the area of value-form theory. It investigates theories, which emphasize the import of Hegel’s Logic on Marx’s Capital The main argument is that many of the arguments that are associated with ‘new’ Hegelian Marxism are sound and valid, but that they also require a closer look into Marx’s emphasis on the social concepts under investigation. In this context, the thesis compares and contrasts ‘systematic dialectics’ with core texts of Marx’s intellectual project. It is argued that the main exponents of ‘new dialectics’ and Hegelian Marxism have left unexamined such crucial topics as those of the critique of private property and class struggle. In this context, the thesis affirms that the ‘systematic dialectic’ can be utilized to conceptualize the transition to a different social order, with the latter being a by-product of the logic of capital itself.