What do you think?
Rate this book
The Class Matrix : Social Theory after the Cultural Turn
An influential sociologist revives materialist explanations of class, while accommodating the best of rival cultural theory.Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, analysis of class and other basic structures of capitalism was sidelined by theorists who argued that social and economic life is reducible to culture--that our choices reflect interpretations of the world around us rather than the limitations imposed by basic material facts. Today, capitalism is back on the agenda, as gross inequalities in wealth and power have pushed scholars to reopen materialist lines of inquiry. But it would be a mistake to pretend that the cultural turn never happened. Vivek Chibber instead engages cultural theory seriously, proposing a fusion of materialism and the most useful insights of its rival.Chibber shows that it is possible to accommodate the main arguments from the cultural turn within a robust materialist one can agree that the making of meaning plays an important role in social agency, while still recognizing the fundamental power of class structure and class formation. Chibber vindicates classical materialism by demonstrating that it in fact accounts for phenomena cultural theorists thought it was powerless to explain. But he also shows that aspects of class are indeed centrally affected by cultural factors.The Class Matrix does not seek to displace culture from the analysis of modern capitalism. Rather, in prose of exemplary clarity, Chibber gives culture its due alongside what Marx called "the dull compulsion of economic relations."
Hardcover
Published February 28, 2022
27 people are currently reading
1046 people want to read
About the author
Vivek Chibber
34 books130 followersVivek Chibber is Professor of Sociology at New York University and the author of Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital and Locked in Place: State-Building and Late Industrialization in India, which won the Barrington Moore, Jr. Prize. He has contributed to, among others, the Socialist Register, American Journal of Sociology, Boston Review and New Left Review.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 31, 2022
he does not miss
June 22, 2022
This is quite nice for what it is, but I do wish it had been somewhat more. Chibber's conceptual argument is convincing: his point is that contrary to many critics, the perpetuation/entrenchment of capitalism does not actually negate Marxism.
He argues this by asserting that the original Marxist prediction -- that the working class is bound to coalesce and overthrow capitalism -- is flawed. The reality is that capitalism will not inevitably lead to this "class formation;" the coalition is contingent on other material factors. That these factors are material and not ideological (i.e. cultural) means Marxism is still relevant after all, even if it has been stuck in an eddy for several generations.
Basically, Marxists have erred by taking it for granted that the contradictions inherent within capitalism would automatically result in the formation of a proletariat that would overthrow it. This error has led to a sort of aimless deflation in recent generations, as it becomes all too clear that the massive labor victories of the mid-20th century have deteriorated into a neoliberal hellscape. It would be enough to convince some folks that Marxism was always a sham. But no, Chibber says, Marx only erred in getting swept up in the historical moment, and not recognizing the material factors of self-stabilization that capitalism would eventually develop.
Relatedly, a highlight of the book is Chibber's discussion of European/Nordic social democracies, and his determination that they are not in fact evidence that capitalism can reach a humane equilibrium. Oppositely, in the last couple generations we have decades of pretty clear proof that any social gains made under capitalism will always remain in danger of erosion and reaction by the ruling elites. This has been obvious to me for awhile just from thinking for more than 20 seconds about The New Deal, but it's useful to see further evidence for this reality in the European sphere.
This all makes sense to me, although I'm still not sure how important of an argument it is. I don't typically like theoretical works, but Chibber's language is quite accessible (if repetitive). When I say I wish this book had been more, that's a reflection of my lack of patience with theory in general. I wish these brilliant intellects would spend a little more time on the practical applications of their concepts. In this case, I wish Chibber had spent a section or two on some concrete implications and recommendations for organizing, given all of the above theorizing.
In any case, this is not too long nor too heavy of a read, so for hardcore Marxists it'd be a pretty good idea to read it. I'm not sure how far it will go toward impacting future organizing, but it's heartening to see that Marxism is most likely still relevant 150 years later.
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
He argues this by asserting that the original Marxist prediction -- that the working class is bound to coalesce and overthrow capitalism -- is flawed. The reality is that capitalism will not inevitably lead to this "class formation;" the coalition is contingent on other material factors. That these factors are material and not ideological (i.e. cultural) means Marxism is still relevant after all, even if it has been stuck in an eddy for several generations.
Basically, Marxists have erred by taking it for granted that the contradictions inherent within capitalism would automatically result in the formation of a proletariat that would overthrow it. This error has led to a sort of aimless deflation in recent generations, as it becomes all too clear that the massive labor victories of the mid-20th century have deteriorated into a neoliberal hellscape. It would be enough to convince some folks that Marxism was always a sham. But no, Chibber says, Marx only erred in getting swept up in the historical moment, and not recognizing the material factors of self-stabilization that capitalism would eventually develop.
Relatedly, a highlight of the book is Chibber's discussion of European/Nordic social democracies, and his determination that they are not in fact evidence that capitalism can reach a humane equilibrium. Oppositely, in the last couple generations we have decades of pretty clear proof that any social gains made under capitalism will always remain in danger of erosion and reaction by the ruling elites. This has been obvious to me for awhile just from thinking for more than 20 seconds about The New Deal, but it's useful to see further evidence for this reality in the European sphere.
This all makes sense to me, although I'm still not sure how important of an argument it is. I don't typically like theoretical works, but Chibber's language is quite accessible (if repetitive). When I say I wish this book had been more, that's a reflection of my lack of patience with theory in general. I wish these brilliant intellects would spend a little more time on the practical applications of their concepts. In this case, I wish Chibber had spent a section or two on some concrete implications and recommendations for organizing, given all of the above theorizing.
In any case, this is not too long nor too heavy of a read, so for hardcore Marxists it'd be a pretty good idea to read it. I'm not sure how far it will go toward impacting future organizing, but it's heartening to see that Marxism is most likely still relevant 150 years later.
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
June 25, 2022
When you read Vivek Chibber there are three basic guarantees: (1) the writing will be clear and have little tolerance for academic flourish or bullshit, (2) there will be a materialist analysis, and (3) the writing will be pertinent and not require one to conjure up or imagine the book’s applicability.
The Class Matrix’s task is straight forward. Vivek argues that social theorists have wrongly turned to cultural studies to understand both the past century and the current neoliberal predicament. Owing to the culture turn, workers are epitomized as ignorant people who are unable to pursue their own material interests and intellectuals—who have become divorced from any connection with working people—are regarded as the truly enlightened. Chibber, who does not completely disavow the roles for cultural studies or ideology critique, argues that the key to understanding contemporary politics is to graph out capitalist class structure. From analyzing worker consent versus worker resignation to delineating between asymmetries of power between the employed and the employer, Chibber vividly charts out how we have arrived at this depressing moment.
The Class Matrix is a must read for all organizers and intellectuals who are thirsty for a material analysis of capitalist working relations—a material analysis that refuses to masquerade itself with either pretension or pedantry.
The Class Matrix’s task is straight forward. Vivek argues that social theorists have wrongly turned to cultural studies to understand both the past century and the current neoliberal predicament. Owing to the culture turn, workers are epitomized as ignorant people who are unable to pursue their own material interests and intellectuals—who have become divorced from any connection with working people—are regarded as the truly enlightened. Chibber, who does not completely disavow the roles for cultural studies or ideology critique, argues that the key to understanding contemporary politics is to graph out capitalist class structure. From analyzing worker consent versus worker resignation to delineating between asymmetries of power between the employed and the employer, Chibber vividly charts out how we have arrived at this depressing moment.
The Class Matrix is a must read for all organizers and intellectuals who are thirsty for a material analysis of capitalist working relations—a material analysis that refuses to masquerade itself with either pretension or pedantry.
April 20, 2022
6/5
This is social studies done right.
This is social studies done right.
February 18, 2024
One of the annoying things about academic training in philosophy is that you end up nitpicking even things you basically agree with and so, having finally gotten around to reading this, I do in fact have a nit or two to pick--I'll probably write about it sooner or later, so I'll save my nits for then--but overall this was both extremely persuasive analytically and extremely on-point politically. I'm a fan.
March 27, 2022
Groundbreaking, honestly.
June 1, 2025
Very insightful.
July 1, 2025
If you have an eclectic taste in leftist theory, this book is everything: it brings together classical Marx, Althusser, Gramsci, Jameson, and even varieties of capitalism scholarship, and makes them fit into one coherent whole.
January 21, 2025
Understanding class through an asset-exclusive parameter. Chibber expand on Marxist class structure and goes beyond, updating class to the structures that exist in our current capitalist system.
October 21, 2024
A refreshing, insightful and straightforward read but a bit disappointing in the end. His main argument is that the stability of capitalism relies on materialist conditions and not on false consciousness. Those conditions incentivize an individualistic form of resistance or even widespread resignation. I fully buy this argument but it is not new, relies heavily on a classical decision theory framework and is not so complex to justify his endless repetitions. And it seems like he does not appropriately represent the cultural theorist he criticizes. I don't know the literature well enough myself but in the text he explicitly emphasizes the role of culture for fostering political labor organizations. If that is the case then culture can in the same way prevent the creation of those organizations. But he doesn't talk about this "negative" role of culture. He talks only about the material hindrances even though he wants to keep the "good stuff" of cultural theory. In the end I had the feeling he should have written more pages about the good stuff and expand on the creation of a labor culture of solidarity which is able to overcome the individual obstacles.
March 7, 2025
A small, powerful work. Perhaps the most eye-opening work of theory I've read since the first volume of Capital.
A lot of what's laid out in this work seems obvious in hindsight. Most working people can feel or perceive a lot of what Chibber's outlining in this book, but most of us couldn't articulate it as clearly and concisely as he does.
Big takeaways:
...
When capitalism did not produce it's own demise as predicted by Marx and classical Marxists — i.e., a working class revolution — theorists had to find an explanation for why. The popular theoretical turn was to culture: cultural differences and decisions were the explanation for why class warfare ultimately did not develop. Subsequently, many theorists began to question the validity of the class structure and the antagonisms therein. How valid could the antagonisms between classes really be if the final showdown never occurred, especially when working class strength was at its peak?
Chibber argues that the class structure and its antagonisms are very real and very valid, but the predicted outcome of these things was drastically under theorized by classical Marxists. Chibber acknowledges that Marx and classical Marxists were correct in thinking that class structure generates antagonism. However, the power balance within the class structure is so lopsided in favor of capitalists that it ensures capitalism's stability despite these antagonisms.
The stability and durability of capitalism is not held in place by material or ideological consent nor overt coercion. It is held in place, Chibber argues, by mass resignation of the working class. The precarity, economic pressures, and power differential inherent to the class structure leave workers with the perception that there is no viable alternative save selling their labor. Workers, through various means, are pressured to resign themselves to their class role and capitalism itself.
To me, this tracks with a lot of what I've seen in day-to-day life. Many folks I know are savvy enough to know, or at least feel, that the whole system is bullshit and immoral, and that the jobs they work are ultimately sending them in circles. But they have no union to join. Many of them work remote, so they don't even have coworkers in a traditional sense. Collective action, therefore, is more-or-less a pipedream. And every month they have rent to pay. They have groceries to buy. They have spouses and kids to support. Capitalism is eroding our world and crushing the collective spirit of Americans, and most Americans can feel this, but there is seemingly no viable way to stave off destitution, homelessness, or grave bodily harm without being an active participant in the system itself.
...
The class structure is not the sole determiner of culture in society. Individuals have agency and intelligence, and they can and often do act rationally. However, the class structure does exhibit strong coercive forces that shape certain parts of culture, specifically any parts of culture that may impede or prevent the productive dynamism of capitalism. No matter what your distinct cultural beliefs and practices may be, if you're a wage laborer, you'll be compelled to comport yourself in a certain way to keep your job. This means you may have to alter, retire, or compromise certain parts of your culture. This doesn't mean you're robbed of your agency wholesale — it means you're being coerced, and are making (rational) cultural decisions as a result to ensure the continuation of your well-being.
The same goes for capitalists as well. No matter what your distinct religious or moral beliefs, if you do not extract value from the labor of your employees, you will not survive. You must alter any cultural beliefs you have that will impede that action.
Individuals also have agency to choose different methods and variations of how they operate culturally within the class structure, but the class structure sets guardrails and hard limits to what is tolerated. There are many ways to keep your job if you're a wage laborer. There are many ways to maximize profits and minimize costs if you're a capitalist. However, the structure will not tolerate wage laborers who refuse to hold a job nor capitalists who refuse to pursue growth. Actors have agency to make every type of decision except those ones.
...
Some banger quotes I wanted to pull out:
"But a theory that relies on attributing a systematic failure in judgement to large groups is indulging in a spectacular bit of special pleading."
...
"But [the precariousness of employment] also destabilizes much of his life outside the workplace in that the rest of his life choices have to be subordinated to ensuring that he prioritizes his attractiveness to a current or future employer. The loss of power at work is complemented by a general anxiety at home."
...
"Culturalists are in the embarrassing position of claiming implicitly that while they can discern the exploitative — and hence unjust — character of the employment relation, the actors who are, in fact, being exploited, who are experiencing its brute facts, are not capable of doing so."
...
"But the remorseless burden of economic pressures, the enormous disparity in power between [laborers] and their employer, and the prohibitive costs of collective action — all these factors combine to give the [class] structures an appearance of immutability."
A lot of what's laid out in this work seems obvious in hindsight. Most working people can feel or perceive a lot of what Chibber's outlining in this book, but most of us couldn't articulate it as clearly and concisely as he does.
Big takeaways:
...
When capitalism did not produce it's own demise as predicted by Marx and classical Marxists — i.e., a working class revolution — theorists had to find an explanation for why. The popular theoretical turn was to culture: cultural differences and decisions were the explanation for why class warfare ultimately did not develop. Subsequently, many theorists began to question the validity of the class structure and the antagonisms therein. How valid could the antagonisms between classes really be if the final showdown never occurred, especially when working class strength was at its peak?
Chibber argues that the class structure and its antagonisms are very real and very valid, but the predicted outcome of these things was drastically under theorized by classical Marxists. Chibber acknowledges that Marx and classical Marxists were correct in thinking that class structure generates antagonism. However, the power balance within the class structure is so lopsided in favor of capitalists that it ensures capitalism's stability despite these antagonisms.
The stability and durability of capitalism is not held in place by material or ideological consent nor overt coercion. It is held in place, Chibber argues, by mass resignation of the working class. The precarity, economic pressures, and power differential inherent to the class structure leave workers with the perception that there is no viable alternative save selling their labor. Workers, through various means, are pressured to resign themselves to their class role and capitalism itself.
To me, this tracks with a lot of what I've seen in day-to-day life. Many folks I know are savvy enough to know, or at least feel, that the whole system is bullshit and immoral, and that the jobs they work are ultimately sending them in circles. But they have no union to join. Many of them work remote, so they don't even have coworkers in a traditional sense. Collective action, therefore, is more-or-less a pipedream. And every month they have rent to pay. They have groceries to buy. They have spouses and kids to support. Capitalism is eroding our world and crushing the collective spirit of Americans, and most Americans can feel this, but there is seemingly no viable way to stave off destitution, homelessness, or grave bodily harm without being an active participant in the system itself.
...
The class structure is not the sole determiner of culture in society. Individuals have agency and intelligence, and they can and often do act rationally. However, the class structure does exhibit strong coercive forces that shape certain parts of culture, specifically any parts of culture that may impede or prevent the productive dynamism of capitalism. No matter what your distinct cultural beliefs and practices may be, if you're a wage laborer, you'll be compelled to comport yourself in a certain way to keep your job. This means you may have to alter, retire, or compromise certain parts of your culture. This doesn't mean you're robbed of your agency wholesale — it means you're being coerced, and are making (rational) cultural decisions as a result to ensure the continuation of your well-being.
The same goes for capitalists as well. No matter what your distinct religious or moral beliefs, if you do not extract value from the labor of your employees, you will not survive. You must alter any cultural beliefs you have that will impede that action.
Individuals also have agency to choose different methods and variations of how they operate culturally within the class structure, but the class structure sets guardrails and hard limits to what is tolerated. There are many ways to keep your job if you're a wage laborer. There are many ways to maximize profits and minimize costs if you're a capitalist. However, the structure will not tolerate wage laborers who refuse to hold a job nor capitalists who refuse to pursue growth. Actors have agency to make every type of decision except those ones.
...
Some banger quotes I wanted to pull out:
"But a theory that relies on attributing a systematic failure in judgement to large groups is indulging in a spectacular bit of special pleading."
...
"But [the precariousness of employment] also destabilizes much of his life outside the workplace in that the rest of his life choices have to be subordinated to ensuring that he prioritizes his attractiveness to a current or future employer. The loss of power at work is complemented by a general anxiety at home."
...
"Culturalists are in the embarrassing position of claiming implicitly that while they can discern the exploitative — and hence unjust — character of the employment relation, the actors who are, in fact, being exploited, who are experiencing its brute facts, are not capable of doing so."
...
"But the remorseless burden of economic pressures, the enormous disparity in power between [laborers] and their employer, and the prohibitive costs of collective action — all these factors combine to give the [class] structures an appearance of immutability."
August 27, 2022
5 stars for the clear, interesting thesis and accessibility of the writing. Don’t know enough about the “cultural turn”, but the author seemed to be pretty generous to the alternative views he was challenging.
Anyway, politics is hard.
Anyway, politics is hard.
February 1, 2023
Ainda que por vezes repetitivo (não só nos argumentos, mas literalmente ao nível de frases), é inegável que Vivek recentra o debate e invoca argumentos sólidos para uma análise estruturalista do capitalismo e das relações de classe. Torna-se especialmente entusiasmante esta perspectiva se tivermos em conta que uma parte da esquerda intelectual, a partir dos anos 70, considerou que a desmobilização do movimento operário se devia, no fundo, a uma falsa consciência, a uma ilusão criada e incorporada pelos trabalhadores a partir da ideologia capitalista neo-liberal e, mais concretamente, dos media. Esta perspectiva foi reforçada, ainda mais, com os desenvolvimentos tecnológicos e a constante abstracção da realidade, sendo Baudrillard (que respeito, atenção!) um dos representantes contemporâneos. Naturalmente, a ideologia tem um papel a desempenhar, mas parece-me, na mesma linha de Vivek, que cumpre menos o papel de consentimento e mais de fazer sentido da realidade material. Dito por outras palavras, por mais complexo que o aparato ideológico seja necessita necessariamente de uma base material que torna mais difícil o desenvolvimento de uma consciência de classe e, consequentemente, uma mobilização colectiva.
June 18, 2025
A good overview of classical Marxism, critical theory, and the mis-theorizations of both schools when it came to the role of culture (ideology) in class structure, formation, and conflict. Chibber teeters on the very resignation to the status quo he critiques, but he does offer some action points in the end: that to close the gap between the left today and the actual labouring working class, we need to return to an economic view of class and materialism, while still attending to how this aspect of Marxism produces culture, not the other other way around (which has set the left back since the 1980s). Good reading, but a basic understanding of Marx is needed.
July 13, 2023
I was inspired to read this book after seeing a talk online with Vivek Chibber and Slavoj Zizek. Chibber's ideas were sharply pointed, and had a refreshingly grounded quality to them. I felt he was describing the economic reality I've faced and illuminating the underlying dynamics of working for a wage in today's (ca. 2022) capitalism.
His book doesn't disappoint. His theory is laid out clearly and approachable for someone without any background in social theory.
His book doesn't disappoint. His theory is laid out clearly and approachable for someone without any background in social theory.
March 10, 2023
A really good book to understand the ideas behind Marxism. However, difficult to read because the language styles are complex and sometimes even unnerving. Still loved it because of the insight that I could gain.
August 28, 2024
I so wish I had a professor like Vivek Chibber during my time at university! One of the great minds of our time and I truly hope everyone gets a chance to read it - both because they deserve to and because this book deserves to be read far and wide.
April 1, 2025
Look, I will read every book on culture, class, and objective and subjective socioeconomic status out there, but this was a lot drier than I anticipated. Author could have mixed it up and had some fun with it.
May 19, 2022
I am a novice here, but this was written well enough for a novice to grasp!
September 24, 2022
Essential reading for contemporary marxists engaged in actual working class organising.
February 2, 2023
Dime store game theory masquerading as Marxism. Wildly insufficient; not a serious contribution.
January 30, 2024
Powerful theory well written.
File next to Fisher's "Capitalist Realism", Scott's "Domination and The Arts of Resistance".
File next to Fisher's "Capitalist Realism", Scott's "Domination and The Arts of Resistance".
July 2, 2025
An excellent and immensely clear account of class structure and the various ways in which it restricts and influences agency.
Starting from basic material premises --the capitalist drive towards profit-maximization and cost reduction-- Vivek lays bare the asymmetries inherent to the class structure / capitalism and how these asymmetries stack the deck against the working class, against the wage laborer; never have the dynamics of capitalism been presented so simply and accessibly.
At core, a book that sets out to answer one of the more vexing questions of Marxist theory: why, if capitalism carries within it the seeds of its own destruction, does it persist? What are the stabilizing mechanisms that allow it to weather its internal contradictions? After all, these very contradictions were predicted to lead to class formation and collective revolt -- why haven't they?
The 'Cultural Turn' marks an attempt to answer these questions by way of 'Ideology' and 'Hegemony' (though, as Vivek suggests, an ungenerous and perhaps superficial interpretation of Gramsci's notion of hegemony). In essence, the cultural explanation is one of either bamboozlement (laborers are blinded by ideology and fail to properly understand their own interests) or one of consent (workers consent to capitalism because it is made to seem favorable to them by the dominant class; just favorable enough to disincentivize any major pushback).
Vivek eschews these explanations in favor of a structural approach: collective action and class formation are the exception, not the rule, because the asymmetries of the system make individualized resistance less risky than collective resistance. Essentially, keeping your head down and striving to improve your own standing within the system has fewer "barriers to entry" and fewer consequences than collective action, even if the latter is the only way of engendering substantive change in the long-term. Rather than consent, the mechanism of stability resides in resignation. And this resignation has its roots in the antagonisms present in the class matrix itself. Ultimately, "A shitty job is better than no job."
Even if Marx and later theoreticians failed to fully deduce the implications of the class structure vis-à-vis capitalist stability, they were correct about the vehicle of change: the way forward is always through collective mobilization, unionization, and class formation. Only that these are far more difficult to achieve than initially understood, especially in the entrenched neoliberal landscape of the 21st century.
Labor organizers are more important than ever. And organized labor remains the sole meaningful way out.
Starting from basic material premises --the capitalist drive towards profit-maximization and cost reduction-- Vivek lays bare the asymmetries inherent to the class structure / capitalism and how these asymmetries stack the deck against the working class, against the wage laborer; never have the dynamics of capitalism been presented so simply and accessibly.
At core, a book that sets out to answer one of the more vexing questions of Marxist theory: why, if capitalism carries within it the seeds of its own destruction, does it persist? What are the stabilizing mechanisms that allow it to weather its internal contradictions? After all, these very contradictions were predicted to lead to class formation and collective revolt -- why haven't they?
The 'Cultural Turn' marks an attempt to answer these questions by way of 'Ideology' and 'Hegemony' (though, as Vivek suggests, an ungenerous and perhaps superficial interpretation of Gramsci's notion of hegemony). In essence, the cultural explanation is one of either bamboozlement (laborers are blinded by ideology and fail to properly understand their own interests) or one of consent (workers consent to capitalism because it is made to seem favorable to them by the dominant class; just favorable enough to disincentivize any major pushback).
Vivek eschews these explanations in favor of a structural approach: collective action and class formation are the exception, not the rule, because the asymmetries of the system make individualized resistance less risky than collective resistance. Essentially, keeping your head down and striving to improve your own standing within the system has fewer "barriers to entry" and fewer consequences than collective action, even if the latter is the only way of engendering substantive change in the long-term. Rather than consent, the mechanism of stability resides in resignation. And this resignation has its roots in the antagonisms present in the class matrix itself. Ultimately, "A shitty job is better than no job."
Even if Marx and later theoreticians failed to fully deduce the implications of the class structure vis-à-vis capitalist stability, they were correct about the vehicle of change: the way forward is always through collective mobilization, unionization, and class formation. Only that these are far more difficult to achieve than initially understood, especially in the entrenched neoliberal landscape of the 21st century.
Labor organizers are more important than ever. And organized labor remains the sole meaningful way out.
August 28, 2025
First of all, very repetitive, he repeats his points a lot, it very could have been a half length.
I agree with the main big point of this book that class structure is stabilizing in itself, because workers can pursue individualistic forms of resistance rather than collective ones is correct, but he completely misses why that is, it's just simply because we live in the Global North, I know from his interviews, he hates this line of Labor aristocrats arguments, even though he embraces materialism, but you can not deny the fact that us, westerners benefit materially from the South, that doesn't mean that we are not oppressed and are privileged, but that explains your point of why people are not rush to change or work towards it, you know?
The book doesn't also really provide the solution to the problem and didn't even provide a thorough analysis of, for example, worker composition in the Global North that might help how to overcome the problem of workers resigning themself to individualistic forms of resistance.
I guess I needn't read this book, in his interviews, he was straight to the point about the problem of the left now and seemed a lot to say, but this book only touches that at the very last and only sentences about it. His next book might be about that, but I don't know.
I agree with the main big point of this book that class structure is stabilizing in itself, because workers can pursue individualistic forms of resistance rather than collective ones is correct, but he completely misses why that is, it's just simply because we live in the Global North, I know from his interviews, he hates this line of Labor aristocrats arguments, even though he embraces materialism, but you can not deny the fact that us, westerners benefit materially from the South, that doesn't mean that we are not oppressed and are privileged, but that explains your point of why people are not rush to change or work towards it, you know?
The book doesn't also really provide the solution to the problem and didn't even provide a thorough analysis of, for example, worker composition in the Global North that might help how to overcome the problem of workers resigning themself to individualistic forms of resistance.
I guess I needn't read this book, in his interviews, he was straight to the point about the problem of the left now and seemed a lot to say, but this book only touches that at the very last and only sentences about it. His next book might be about that, but I don't know.
April 24, 2022
Chibber's clarion prose makes esoteric Marxist debates around materialism and culture accessible to a general audience. His persuasive argument that capitalism actually produces conditions that are conducive to its long-term stability should inspire vigorous debate. The book is so routinely excellent that an average chapter like "Agency, Contingency, and All That" sticks out like a sore thumb. But that is a minor quibble for a small but potent book that could prove to be one of the most important contributions to anti-capitalism struggle of the decade.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews