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    Marxist development theory and state formation : a theoretical and empirical assessment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1995) Wright, Huntley Lloyd Rayne
    First and foremost, it is argued that contrary to traditional interpretations of Marx's work, his sociology does not provide a recipe for advancing a putative set of universal categories. The categories of the forces and social relations of production and the ideal superstructures are transhistorical categories. Taken alone, these categories are independent of any particular society and as such, have almost no explanatory value. This means, that to equate the productive forces with 'things', the social relations with economic relations and the superstructure with a 'relatively autonomous' level, irrespective of their particular mode of production, is at the same time to fetishize them. In terms of state formation, Marxism's failure to grasp this point reflects an inability to develop a mode of abstraction which is able to avoid arriving at a generic, dualistic notion of the state 'in general'. The result is a dehistorizing one: since conventional historical materialism takes the appearance of an isolated 'economic' sphere and an isolated 'political' sphere as a characteristic common to all human productive forms, this specifically capitalist form of appearance is transposed from a determinant historical form to a property political forms 'possess' transhistorically. The task which Marx set himself was to explain what definite form of labour organizes surplus value, capital, private property and the state as its outcome? In terms of the state, Marx was never to answering this question in anything like the detail in which he traced the development of surplus value and capital. Nonetheless, what we have in Marx's writing is a unity between object and method. Thus, while it is true that comparatively little attention is paid to bourgeois society as an effective phenomenal form, the analytic foundations for such a critique is clearly articulated. Thus, while part one of the present thesis is concerned with the impasse in Marxist development theory, parts two and three focus on Marx's theories of circulation, the labour theory of value and the law of equivalence in exchange. It is argued that the foregoing moments are organically linked via the category of abstract labour. However, because Marxists' have failed to grasp the originality of this category, they have also failed to identify the object of Marx's work. Furthermore, it is only through the category of abstract labour that we are able to develop a theory of state formation which can encompass the differences presented by the modern state in relation to all antecedent forms, and which does not, therefore, arrive at a generic notion of the state 'in general' (Colletti, 1972:8). This thesis is thus a study of Marx's ideas. It draws on a variety of texts, ranging from such early works as 'The Holy Family' (1844) through to the 'Marginal Notes of Adolf Wagner' (1880). How I interpret and link these ideas is by no means original, but is greatly influenced by the writings of Derek Sayer, Lucio Colletti, Ben Fine and Henry Bernstein.
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    Clearing the ground : historical sociology and the State in Aotearoa/New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1995) Speight, Emma Katharine
    This thesis attempts to "clear the ground" for the socio-historical study of the state in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The rationale for this type of reflexive or "meta-level" study is a) that the existing substantive literature remains somewhat under-theorised, and b) that the complexity of current sociological debates is such as to perhaps raise doubts about their applicability to concrete social formations. In this work, I try to develop a critical pathway through some of these problematic theoretical areas, showing how in spite of their considerable complexity, there are ways of coherently and usefully managing the general issues. In that spirit of optimism, I go on to develop ideas about how my preferred theoretical perspectives might be "applied" within the context of New Zealand history. The study has three main phases. Initially, I map the field of historical sociology, indicating my preference for a realist philosophical basis and a critical-pluralist theoretical approach. Then I tackle some of the key definitional and analytic questions around "the state" as a domain of study for the historical sociologist. Surveying the debate between society-centred and state-centred approaches, and between monocausal and pluralist explanatory frameworks, I articulate a neo-Gramscian model of analysis derived from the work of Stuart Hall and Bill Schwarz. Finally, taking elements of this model into my own field of empirical and political interest, I show, using a selection of existing analytical texts on the history of Aotearoa/New Zealand, how this preferred perspective can provide an improved overview of state formation in this country. It also, I hope, contributes to the impetus of post-colonial reflection on our political past and future.