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This chapter brings critical state theory into the Marx revival by developing a negative-dialecti... more This chapter brings critical state theory into the Marx revival by developing a negative-dialectical critique of the state. The chapter first points to a number of antitheses and shared assumptions between the two most prominent approaches to state theory in the Marx revival—the revolutionary crisis theory of the state and the democratic socialist theories of the state—that prevents both approaches from fully grasping the relationship between the state, the reproduction of capitalist society, and its emancipatory abolition. The chapter then proceeds to develop a negative-dialectical critique of the state’s role in the reproduction of the negative totality of capitalist society that draws together Horkheimer and Adorno’s Marxian critical theory and its subterranean lineage: the new readings of the critique of political economy as a critical social theory.

In what follows, I map the development of the critique of real abstrac- tion from its origins to ... more In what follows, I map the development of the critique of real abstrac- tion from its origins to the present.2 In the first section, I discuss the ambiguous status of the critique of real abstraction in Marx. In the second section, I provide an overview of the development of the critique of real abstraction as a critical theory of capitalist society in Sohn-Rethel, Adorno and Lefebvre’s work. In the third section, I look at their reception in the New Reading of Marx and the New Reading’s systematization of the the- ory of real abstraction in the critique of political economy. In the fourth section, I compare the new theories of real abstraction with Lotz and Bonefeld, pointing to the shortcomings of the former and demonstrating how the latter utilize the critique of real abstraction to integrate the critical theory of real abstraction and the new reading of real abstraction. I close by pointing to several ways I have further developed this new reading of the critical theory of real abstraction and indicate how it can be further developed by drawing on the ideas of Sohn-Rethel, Adorno and Lefebvre and integrating the work of Toscano/Bhandar, Endnotes and Moore.

Science & Society

The predominant approach to contemporary critical theory lacks a critical theory of capitalist so... more The predominant approach to contemporary critical theory lacks a critical theory of capitalist society. Nancy Fraser has endeavored to provide such a critical theory in her "systematic" "crisis-critique" of capitalism as an "institutionalized social order." Yet Fraser's "systematic" theory is not systematic, but fragmentary and internally inconsistent. The Marxian premises of Fraser's theory are at odds with its ensuing Habermasian notions of capitalism , contradiction, crises, and emancipation, and her theory consequently lacks a robust explication of these dynamics. This raises the alternative possibility of developing a contemporary critical theory of the crisis-ridden reproduction of the negative totality of capitalist society that brings Adorno and Horkheimer's critical theory together with the subterranean strand of contemporary critical theory: the New Reading of the critique of political economy as a critical social theory.

Review of Radical Political Economics, 2020

This Intervention brings the Open Marxist critical political economy perspective from the Confere... more This Intervention brings the Open Marxist critical political economy perspective from the Conference of Socialist Economists into contemporary heterodox economics by critically contrasting what I term the predominant contemporary heterodox economics discourse withe Simon's Clarke conceptions of the state and economic policy. I conclude by comparing these perspectives and drawing out points that I hope ignite a debate on these issues in heterodox economics.

Perspectives on Henri Lefebvre, 2018

I provide a new perspective on Henri Lefebvre’s social theory by examining his work in compariso... more I provide a new perspective on Henri Lefebvre’s social theory
by examining his work in comparison to Adorno and Adornian critical social
theory, ultimately pointing to their contemporary relevance for the critical theory
of society. To do so, I first provide an overview of how Adorno’s critical social theory
utilizes Marx’s critique of fetishism to articulate a critique of the social constitution and constituent autonomous supraindividual social domination of contemporary capitalist society in his negative anthropological critique of the negative
totality of capitalist society. I then turn to reconstructing Lefebvre’s interpretation
of Marx and the role the former plays in his theory of social space. Here I argue
that Lefebvre mirrors Adorno’s critical theory of society; using his interpretation
of Marx’s critique of fetishism to critique the constitution and constituent domination of capitalist society. But as I also demonstrate, in contrast to Adorno’s
negative anthropology, Lefebvre’s critique of capitalist society proceeds from
the basis of a humanism that constantly opposes the extent of domination to its
inherently humane content. This leads me to show how Lefebvre’s interpretation
of Marx serves as the basis for his critique of social space, where I also focus on how Lefebvre ties his humanist interpretation of Marx to a romantic humanist
and expansive conception of alienation that problematically conflates a myriad
of quantitative types of domination whilst promoting an eclectic array of humane
types of resistance. Following this reconstruction, I draw on Alfred Schmidt and
Greig Charnock’s work on Lefebvre and Adornian critical theory, along with
my own comparative reconstruction, to point the contemporary relevance of a
Lefebvrian and Adornian infused critique of contemporary capitalist society.

Consecutio rerum, 2018

This article examines Moishe Postone's new reading of the critique of political economy. Part One... more This article examines Moishe Postone's new reading of the critique of political economy. Part One contextualizes the underlying justification of Postone's interpretation of Marx by discussing his critique of traditional marxism and frankfurt school critical theory. Part Two exposits Postone's interpretation of the fundamental categories of Capital in Time, Labor and Social Domination from this perspective: arguing that Postone attempts to rejuvenate Marxian critical theory by conceiving of the critique of political economy as a critique of the historically specific and contradictory dynamic of abstract and concrete labour. Part three discusses the shortcomings of Postone's interpretation of Capital in Time, Labor and Social Domination, reconstructing his later work from this perspective. I conclude by pointing to the ways that Postone's interpretation can be further developed. Keywords: Moishe Postone; Marxism and Frankfurt School Critical Theory; Abstract and Concrete Labour. Moishe Postone's tragic passing last March robbed us of one of the foremost thinkers working on the relationship between the critique of political economy and the critical theory of society at a time when we needed him most. For as Postone (2017) emphasizes; the 2007 crisis, ensuing rise of right wing populism, and the increasingly pronounced and irreversible effects of climate change, should be seen as the inherent outcomes of the capitalist social dynamics his work on the critique of political economy had first pointed to several decades ago. As this indicates, Postone ultimately intended to put his interpretation of the critique of political economy at the center of a critical theory of modernity 1. In this article I focus on how Postone's interpretation of Marx contributed to the new reading of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY (cokane@jjay.cuny.edu) 1 In forthcoming works I will reconstruct and argue for the importance of Postone's critique of crises and ecological destruction for contemporary critical theory. In another, reconstruct and consider the entire corpus of Postone's work as a critical theory of mo-dernity.

This article reconstructs the role that fetishistic concrete abstraction plays in Henri Lefebvre'... more This article reconstructs the role that fetishistic concrete abstraction plays in Henri Lefebvre's writings on everyday life, cities and space. I begin by distinguishing between Lefebvre's theories of alienation and romantic domination and fetishistic social domination. I then reconstruct the latter showing how Lefebvre interprets Marx's critique of political economy as an account of the social constitution of the fetishistic concrete abstractions of economic social forms, which as supraindividual and autonomous entities invert to collectively dominate, but not entirely determine, the individuals within the social relations that collectively create them. Finally, I show how this conception of fetishistic concrete abstraction runs through Lefebvre's work, where it serves as a 'basis' for his attempts to 'elaborate, refine and complement' Marx's critique of political economy by conceiving how abstract social domination is constituted, embedded and resisted in everyday life, cities and space while also pointing out where it is amalgamated but not reduced to Lefebvre's expansive theory of alienation and romantic domination. Consequently, rather than simply seeing Lefebvre as the 'reigning prophet of alienation' with an expansive transhistorical notion of alienation and romantic domination founded on a problematic opposition between quantity and quality, I show that Lefebvre's work on everyday life, cities and space should also be seen

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, a number of movements arose which in different ways, op... more In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, a number of movements arose which in different ways, opposed the status quo. 1 At the time, many of us in our exuberance thought these events signaled the end -or at least the beginning of the end -of capitalism. Yet from London to Oakland to Madrid to Athens to Cairo, each of these movements were met and outmaneuvered by an institution which was generally neglected in analyses of the final crisis, and the calls to communize everything by abolishing the value-form: the state.

Book Reviews by Chris O'Kane

Marx & Philosophy Review of Books

Papers by Chris O'Kane

Critical Historical Studies

This article concerns how a critical theory of reification should be conceptualized to grasp the ... more This article concerns how a critical theory of reification should be conceptualized to grasp the 2007 crisis, state-imposed austerity, and the rise of right-wing authoritarian populism. It argues that Jürgen Habermas's, Axel Honneth's, and Georg Lukacs's interpretations of reification cannot provide a theoretical framework for a critical social theory of these developments due to their inadequate theories of domination, crises, character formation, and historical development. It then outlines a critical theory of reification that draws on Max Horkheimer's notion of reified authority and contemporary Marxian critical theory's interpretation of the critique of political economy to conceive of domination, crises, and character formation as inherent to the reproduction of capitalist society, which is characterized by a process of historical development that drives humanity into new types of barbarism. It concludes by indicating how such an approach, in contrast to Habermas's, Honneth's, and Lukács's theories, provides a conception of reification that can grasp our present moment. R eification is a, if not the, core concept in Frankfurt School Critical Theory. Across "generations" and theoretical perspectives, thinkers associated with this tradition have developed different interpretations of reification to criticize different notions of domination and crises from different emancipatory perspectives. The 2007 financial crisis, state-imposed austerity, and the popular embrace of right-wing authoritarianism calls for the development of an interpretation of reification that can grasp these harrowing developments. Yet surprisingly one has not yet been developed. I would like to thank the three anonymous readers and the editors of Critical Historical Studies for their invaluable feedback and assistance.

Research Handbook on Law and Marxism, 2021

Introduction to volume II of the SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory

Science & Society

Review of Radical Political Economics, 2020

Perspectives on Henri Lefebvre, 2018

Consecutio rerum, 2018

Marx & Philosophy Review of Books

Critical Historical Studies

Research Handbook on Law and Marxism, 2021

Introduction to volume II of the SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory

Perspectives on Henri Lefebvre, 2018

I provide a new perspective on Henri Lefebvre’s social theory by examining his work in comparison... more I provide a new perspective on Henri Lefebvre’s social theory by examining his work in comparison to Adorno and Adornian critical social theory, ultimately pointing to their contemporary relevance for the critical theory of society. To do so, I first provide an overview of how Adorno’s critical social theory utilizes Marx’s critique of fetishism to articulate a critique of the social constitution and constituent autonomous supraindividual social domination of contemporary capitalist society in his negative anthropological critique of the negative totality of capitalist society. I then turn to reconstructing Lefebvre’s interpretation of Marx and the role the former plays in his theory of social space. Here I argue that Lefebvre mirrors Adorno’s critical theory of society; using his interpretation of Marx’s critique of fetishism to critique the constitution and constituent domination of capitalist society. But as I also demonstrate, in contrast to Adorno’s negative anthropology, Lefebvre’s critique of capitalist society proceeds from the basis of a humanism that constantly opposes the extent of domination to its inherently humane content. This leads me to show how Lefebvre’s interpretation of Marx serves as the basis for his critique of social space, where I also focus on how Lefebvre ties his humanist interpretation of Marx to a romantic humanist and expansive conception of alienation that problematically conflates a myriad of quantitative types of domination whilst promoting an eclectic array of humane types of resistance. Following this reconstruction, I draw on Alfred Schmidt and Greig Charnock’s work on Lefebvre and Adornian critical theory, along with my own comparative reconstruction, to point the contemporary relevance of a Lefebvrian and Adornian infused critique of contemporary capitalist society.

The SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory

The SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory: Introduction to Volume III

The SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory

(Main) Introduction to the three volume SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School critical theory

The SAGE Handbook of Marxism, 2022

ions of ‘neo-capitalism’ meet their inherent qualitative opposition in qualitative, localized, di... more ions of ‘neo-capitalism’ meet their inherent qualitative opposition in qualitative, localized, differentiated oppositions. As I have shown, Lefebvre’s critique of the real abstraction of abstract space drew on his interpretation of fetishistic forms of concrete abstraction; complementing Marx’s critique of political economy by showing where the concrete abstraction of the ‘great fetish’ forms of domination emerge and how they dominate and regulate life in the realm of spatial practice. At the same time, the real abstraction of abstract space is opposed by the qualitative contents of concrete space. Consequently, mirroring Sohn-Rethel and Adorno, Lefebvre’s notion of concrete abstraction can be said to be integral to his critical theory of the reproduction of capitalist society via his elaboration of the domination of lived experience by the real abstractions of capitalist society in abstract space. Moreover, further echoing Sohn-Rethel and Adorno, In promulgating such a critique, Le...

This article examines Moishe Postone’s new reading of the critique of political economy. Part One... more This article examines Moishe Postone’s new reading of the critique of political economy. Part One contextualizes the underlying justification of Postone’s interpretation of Marx by discussing his critique of traditional marxism and frankfurt school critical theory. Part Two exposits Postone’s interpretation of the fundamental categories of Capital in Time, Labor and Social Domination from this perspective: arguing that Postone attempts to rejuvenate Marxian critical theory by conceiving of the critique of political economy as a critique of the historically specific and contradictory dynamic of abstract and concrete labour. Part three discusses the shortcomings of Postone’s interpretation of Capital in Time, Labor and Social Domination, reconstructing his later work from this perspective. I conclude by pointing to the ways that Postone’s interpretation can be further developed.

Science & Society, 2021

The predominant approach to contemporary critical theory lacks a critical theory of capitalist so... more The predominant approach to contemporary critical theory lacks a critical theory of capitalist society. Nancy Fraser has endeavored to provide such a critical theory in her “systematic” “crisis–critique” of capitalism as an “institutionalized social order.” Yet Fraser's “systematic” theory is not systematic, but fragmentary and internally inconsistent. The Marxian premises of Fraser's theory are at odds with its ensuing Habermasian notions of capitalism, contradiction, crises, and emancipation, and her theory consequently lacks a robust explication of these dynamics. This raises the alternative possibility of developing a contemporary critical theory of the crisis–ridden reproduction of the negative totality of capitalist society that brings Adorno and Horkheimer's critical theory together with the subterranean strand of contemporary critical theory: the New Reading of the critique of political economy as a critical social theory.

Review of Radical Political Economics, 2020

This intervention brings the Open Marxist critical political economy perspective from the Confere... more This intervention brings the Open Marxist critical political economy perspective from the Conference for Socialist Economists into contemporary heterodox economics by critically contrasting what I term the predominant contemporary heterodox economics discourse with Simon Clarke’s conceptions of the state and economic policy. I conclude by comparing these perspectives and drawing out points that I hope ignite a debate in heterodox economics.

Critical Sociology, 2021

Against the backdrop of deindustrialization and the rise of the service economy, small artisan bu... more Against the backdrop of deindustrialization and the rise of the service economy, small artisan businesses have been promoted as a liberatory alternative to large-scale enterprise and mass production in the wake of the 2007 global financial crisis. We analyze advice manuals for aspiring artisan entrepreneurs by adapting Boltanski and Chiapello’s (2005) framework and analysis of management textbooks to investigate books for would-be artisan business owners. These texts are “manuals of moral instruction” (58) that offer the reader the promise of a more fulfilling and ethical life through self-employment. We reveal that the artisan economy promoted by these advice manuals represents a further evolution in capitalism’s co-optation of the artistic critique via the oppositional strata of punk and indie youth subcultures—and their style.

Constellations, 2018

The 2008 global financial crisis led to the outbreak of the Great Recession, waves of bailouts, a... more The 2008 global financial crisis led to the outbreak of the Great Recession, waves of bailouts, austerity, and protest. As Albena Azmanova, (2014), Amy Kim (2014), and Anita Chari (2015) have shown this tumultuous sequence of events undermined the efficacy of the prevailing approaches to critical theory. For, as they demonstrate, despite their differences, the communicative and recognition theoretical approaches of Jürgen Habermas and Axel Honneth inadequately integrated the critique of political economy into their critical theories of society and these authors were thus unable to provide an adequate critical theory of contemporary society in light of the 2008 crisis. 1 Kim and Chari, in turn, showed how the critique of political economy should be integrated into contemporary critical theory. 2 Kim's neo-classical Marxist approach held that capitalism was in the midst of a structural crisis "against which once effective stabilizing measures seem ever more helpless" (Kim, 2014, p. 377). Critical theory should accordingly draw on Robert Brenner's (2006, 2009) and Gopal Balakrishnan's (2009) formulations of secular crisis to articulate a traditional Marxist 3 emancipatory theory of crisis; 4 because an "adequate Marxist critical theory needs to be able to articulate capitalism's structural limits and tendencies to crisis" in order to "gauge the historically specific possibilities of emancipation" (Kim, 2014, p. 377). Chari argued that a neo-Lukácsian notion of subjectivity and collective political agency which unites the critique of political economy with radical democracy, could de-reify and politicize subjectivities rendered passive by neoliberalism. This would aid the emancipatory movements for a reconfiguration of neoliberal political and economic relations that had arisen in response to the crisis, exemplified in Occupy. Unfortunately, these approaches have proven themselves inadequate to our current moment, despite the important points they raise. For the emancipatory potential of the crisis that Kim and Chari identified has been eclipsed, not only by a weak and miserable recovery, but also by the ebbing of emancipatory movements and the ensuing rise of rightwing authoritarian populism; an outcome that was not anticipated and not grasped as an immanent possibility by their traditional neo-classical Marxist or neo-Lukáscian frameworks. Thus, despite the fact that these two authors justify their respective formulations of the relationship between critical theory and the critique of political economy by referring to the early critical theory of Horkheimer and Adorno, the very models they formulate are ill-equipped to address the issues that concerned Adorno's critical theory of negative totality elucidated in the Introduction to The Positivist Dispute, "Late Capitalism or Industrial Society?," and other related works: namely, the relationship between capitalism's crisis-prone dynamic of accumulation, the regressive and

Capital & Class, 2017

This article reconstructs the role that fetishistic concrete abstraction plays in Henri Lefebvre’... more This article reconstructs the role that fetishistic concrete abstraction plays in Henri Lefebvre’s writings on everyday life, cities and space. I begin by distinguishing between Lefebvre’s theories of alienation and romantic domination and fetishistic social domination. I then reconstruct the latter showing how Lefebvre interprets Marx’s critique of political economy as an account of the social constitution of the fetishistic concrete abstractions of economic social forms, which as supraindividual and autonomous entities invert to collectively dominate, but not entirely determine, the individuals within the social relations that collectively create them. Finally, I show how this conception of fetishistic concrete abstraction runs through Lefebvre’s work, where it serves as a ‘basis’ for his attempts to ‘elaborate, refine and complement’ Marx’s critique of political economy by conceiving how abstract social domination is constituted, embedded and resisted in everyday life, cities and...

Historical Materialism, 2018

The following is the transcript of a lecture taken in shorthand by Hans-Georg Backhaus. The trans... more The following is the transcript of a lecture taken in shorthand by Hans-Georg Backhaus. The transcript was originally published as an appendix in Hans-Georg Backhaus, Dialektik der Wertform. Untersuchungen zur marxschen Ökonomiekritik (Freiburg: ça ira, 1997), a complete translation of which is forthcoming in the Historical Materialism book series.

Historical Materialism, 2018

This introduction outlines the importance that Hans-Georg Backhaus’s transcript of Adorno’s 1962 ... more This introduction outlines the importance that Hans-Georg Backhaus’s transcript of Adorno’s 1962 seminar on ‘Marx and the Basic Concepts of Sociological Theory’ has for shedding light on the relationship between Adorno’s critical theory and the critique of political economy. Part I signals the importance of the seminar by assaying the Anglophone scholarship on Adorno. Part II contextualises the seminar in the development of his thought. Parts III and IV focus on what the transcript tells us about Adorno’s interpretation of Marx and the importance this interpretation held for Adorno’s critical social theory. Part V points to the influence this interpretation of the critique of political economy had on the formation of the New German Reading of Marx.

Review of Radical Political Economics, 2017

Small artisan businesses have been promoted as a liberatory alternative to large-scale enterprise... more Small artisan businesses have been promoted as a liberatory alternative to large-scale enterprise. We analyze advice manuals for aspiring artisan entrepreneurs by extending Boltanski and Chiapello’s framework. While they analyze the transformation of large firms, we show the same themes have been adopted by small businesses. Focusing on themes of autonomy and creativity, we reveal that the artisan economy promoted by these texts represents a further evolution in capitalism’s co-option of the artistic critique.

This thesis presents a comparative account of the theory of fetishism and its role in the social ... more This thesis presents a comparative account of the theory of fetishism and its role in the social constitution and constituent properties of Marx’s, Lukács’, Adorno’s and Lefebvre’s theories of social domination. It aims to bring this unduly neglected aspect of fetishism to the fore and to stress its relevance for contemporary critical theory.
The thesis begins with an introductory chapter that highlights the lack of a satisfactory theory of fetishism and social domination in contemporary critical theory. It also demonstrates how this notion of fetishism has been neglected in contemporary critical theory and in studies of Marxian theory.
This frames the ensuing comparative, historical and theoretical study in the substantive chapters of my thesis, which differentiates, reconstructs and critically evaluates how Marx, Lukács, Adorno and Lefebvre utilize the theory of fetishism to articulate their theories of the composition and characteristics of social domination. Chapter 1 examines Marx’s theory of fetish-characteristic forms of value as a theory of domination socially embedded in his account of the Trinity Formula. It also evaluates the theoretical and sociological shortcomings of Capital. Chapter 2 focuses on how Lukács’ double-faceted account of fetishism as reification articulates his Hegelian, Marxian, Simmelian and Weberian account of dominating social mystification. Chapter 3 turns to Adorno’s theory of the fetish form of the exchange abstraction and unpacks how it serves as a basis for his dialectical critical social theory of domination. Chapter 4 provides an account of how Lefebvre’s theory of fetishism as concrete abstraction serves as the basis for a number of theories that attempt to socially embody an account of domination that is not overly deterministic. The critical evaluations in chapters 2-4 interrogate each thinker’s conception of fetishism and its role in their accounts of the genesis and pervasiveness of social domination.
The conclusion of the thesis consists of three parts. In the first part, I
bring together and compare my analysis of Marx, Lukács, Adorno and Lefebvre. In part two, I consider whether their respective theories provide a coherent and cohesive critical social theory of fetishism and of the mode of constitution and the constituents of social domination. In part three, I move toward a contemporary critical theory of fetishism and social domination by synthesising elements of Lukács’, Adorno’s and Lefebvre’s theories with a model of social constitution, reproduction and domination modelled on Marx’s account of the Trinity Formula.

Those who may have read my abstract probably noticed it was bit too ambitious for the time allott... more Those who may have read my abstract probably noticed it was bit too ambitious for the time allotted. So I decided to focus on expositing Adorno's theory of the fetish form of the objective exchange abstraction. Even this is rather condensed. If you would like an extended treatment im happy to email you my chapter.