Neue Marx-Lektüre: an analysis of the origins and horizons of contemporary value theory readings

• Grant number: 14/18403-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2014
• End date: December 16, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Fundamentals of Sociology
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Musse
• Grantee: Zaira Rodrigues Vieira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Among the major Marxist intellectuals of the 20th century, a disciple and collaborator of Adorno, Hans-Georg Backhaus influenced, with his works, a large part of the new readings of Marx, such as the Wertkritik in Germany; Postone's thought in the United States and Jean-Marie Vincent's one in France. The merit of this interpretation stream consists in proposing a reading of Marx that doesn't limit itself to the themes of the class and the exploitation, but stresses the wideness of the Marxian value theory as a mode of characterization of modern society. Aiming at this, Backhaus' analysis, likewise Postone's one, ended up nevertheless by a one-sided focus on the circulation sphere, to the detriment of the value theory itself. We intend investigate, on the one hand, to which extent these authors' understanding of the value theory categories, such as the money, in Backhaus, and the abstract labor, in Postone, originate from their choice of taking as criteria in The Capital's explanation analysis from the Grundrisse, subsequently surpassed by Marx, and, on the other hand, to which extent these readings - particularly Backhaus' one - are grounded on Adorno's formulations concerning exchange relations. (AU)