Reinventing Marxism
Author: Howard J Sherman
The collapse of the Soviet Union provides economist Howard Sherman the opportunity to re-evaluate Marxism as an alternative to conventional pro-capitalist perspectives. Arguing that Soviet Marxism distorted Marxian thought, Sherman acknowledges that Marxism must move beyond its traditional Soviet formulation. What is needed, he writes, is a new, critical Marxism that is integral to a radical political economy--a Marxism that sees society as an organic whole, dependent upon an integrated set of relationships.
"There is no other book that shows the relevance and importance of dialectics to so many major debates now going on in the Academy, and it does all this with a thorough grasp of the relevant scholarship and a clear and crisp writing style that shouldn't be possible on such a complex topic (but obviously is)."--Bertell Ollman, Department of Politics, New York University.
"A major contributor for many years to the tradition of political economy, Sherman offers a persuasive argument for a new kind of Marxism. The timing is right, partly because it ties into current postmodern/modern debates, and partly because it offers a difference to that heretofore reigning orthodoxy produced above all within the former USSR. This is an extraordinarily ambitious book. It deserves to be read."--Stephen Resnick, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
"Reinventing Marxism is the product of three decades of intense scholarly work. It will be exciting to institutional economists because it is high-quality Marxism utilizing an evolutionary andholistic approach."--William M. Dugger, University of Tulsa
Booknews
Eschewing the obscurantist jargon of technical economics, Sherman presents a basic framework for the entire field of Marxism which is critical of conventional social science, but also critical of the old, Stalinist, Soviet Marxism. He effectively synthesizes the numerous specialized contributions to a new critical Marxism into a coherent paradigm, stating the new Marxism as a unity of all the social sciences. The volume is divided into four parts: the political economy of history; political economy--a relational-historical approach; the critical method; and a radical program for the 21st century. Paper edition (unseen), $16.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Table of Contents:
| Preface | ||
| Acknowledgments | ||
| Pt. I | The Political Economy of History | 1 |
| Ch. 1 | Why Reinvent Marxism? | 3 |
| Ch. 2 | A Critique of Reductionism | 13 |
| Ch. 3 | The Relational Approach | 29 |
| Ch. 4 | The Historical Approach | 56 |
| Ch. 5 | A Critique of Individualism and Extreme Collectivism | 85 |
| Ch. 6 | Class Analysis | 109 |
| Pt. II | Political Economy: A Relational-Historical Approach | |
| Ch. 7 | Poverty, Inequality, and Exploitation | 129 |
| Ch. 8 | Unemployment and Business Cycles | 152 |
| Ch. 9 | Democracy and Capitalism | 177 |
| Ch. 10 | The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union | 193 |
| Pt. III | The Critical Method | |
| Ch. 11 | Dialectics as a Critical Method | 215 |
| Ch. 12 | The Conflict of Paradigms | 243 |
| Ch. 13 | Determinism and Predeterminism | 270 |
| Ch. 14 | Marxian Humanism and Liberal Humanism | 286 |
| Pt. IV | A Radical Program for the Twenty-first Century | |
| Ch. 15 | Reinventing Socialism | 317 |
| References | 339 | |
| Name Index | 359 | |
| Subject Index | 364 |
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Urban Economics
Author: Arthur OSullivan
Arthur O’Sullivan’s Urban Economics is the leading text for this small, but exciting market. This book covers urban economics as the discipline that lies at the intersection of geography and economics. The sixth edition is a thorough revision of previous incarnations—the author has reorganized and rewritten every chapter to produce a sleek and up-to-date text that will bring renewed attention to the Urban Economics course.
This sixth edition offers an extreme makeover from previous editions while also incorporating the remarkable progress in the field of urban economics in the last ten to fifteen years. Part I of the book explains why cities exist and what causes them to grow or shrink. Part II examines the market forces that shape cities and the role of government in determining land-use patterns. Part III looks at the urban transportation system, exploring the pricing and design of public transit systems and the externalities associated with automobile use (congestion, environmental damage, collisions). Part IV uses a model of the rational criminal to explore the causes of urban crime and the spatial consequences. Part V explains the unique features of the housing market and examines the effects of government housing policies. The final part of the book explains the rationale for our fragmented system of local government and explores the responses of local governments to intergovernmental grants and the responses of taxpayers to local taxes.
All of the economic concepts used in the book are covered in the typical intermediate microeconomics course, but a Tools of Microeconomics appendix isincluded that covers the key concepts for students whose exposure to microeconomics is limited to an introductory course or who could benefit from a review of intermediate concepts.
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