Re: [OPE] Are Regulation Theorists Marxists?

Ian Wright wrote:
> I can't answer your specific question, since I have yet to read
> anything by the regulation school. But I'd argue that a litmus test
> for a body of economic work to be classified as Marxist is acceptance
> of the labor theory of value. This may seem blindingly obvious [...]
>

I think this is incorrect. There are Marxist economists that either do
not bother about the labour theory of value or have abandoned it. For
instance, Robert Brenner or Prabhat Patnaik.

Of course, rigid classifications are futile here. But I'd say in general
that Marxism is a political philosophy that entails two things:
subscribing to a materialist concept of history and applying this
analysis in political advancement for the benefit of the oppressed.

I haven't read sufficient material by the regulation theorists. But from
what I can recall from Brenner and Glick's article on the topic is that
this school has a historical-materialist framework although they are not
necessarily Marxists.

See:

    Robert Brenner and Mark Glick
    New Left Review I/188, July-August 1991
    <http://www.newleftreview.org/?view=1643>

//Dave Z
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Received on Wed Aug 19 13:17:11 2009