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Att använda marxism? Marx i den introducerande sociologilitteraturen

Frohlund, Simon LU (2019) SOCK05 20191
Sociology
Abstract (Swedish)
Studien granskar de kontrasterande bilder av Karl Marx teorier och marxismen som ges av sociologiutbildningar på svenska universitet. Genom intervjuer med undervisande sociologer och en litteraturstudie över den vanligaste introduktionslitteraturen visar jag några centrala skiljelinjer inom sociologin. En riktning främst representerad av Anthony Giddens & Philip W. Suttons bok Sociologi (2014) behandlar Marx som en teoretiker med en strukturalisk tendens, med ett enkelt och dualistiskt klassbegrepp som övergripande förklaring och med ett deterministiskt revolutionsbegrepp. Uppkomsten av mer komplexa teorier å ena sidan och Sovjetunionens fall å andra sidan har inneburit att Marx teorier måste ses som antingen helt eller delvis förlegade.... (More)
Studien granskar de kontrasterande bilder av Karl Marx teorier och marxismen som ges av sociologiutbildningar på svenska universitet. Genom intervjuer med undervisande sociologer och en litteraturstudie över den vanligaste introduktionslitteraturen visar jag några centrala skiljelinjer inom sociologin. En riktning främst representerad av Anthony Giddens & Philip W. Suttons bok Sociologi (2014) behandlar Marx som en teoretiker med en strukturalisk tendens, med ett enkelt och dualistiskt klassbegrepp som övergripande förklaring och med ett deterministiskt revolutionsbegrepp. Uppkomsten av mer komplexa teorier å ena sidan och Sovjetunionens fall å andra sidan har inneburit att Marx teorier måste ses som antingen helt eller delvis förlegade. En annan tendends representerad av en grupp intervjupersoner och böcker tenderar å andra sidan att se Marx metod som en dialektisk växelverkan mellan struktur och handling, att klassbegreppet är komplext och beroende av den gällande abstraktionsnivån, samt att Marx i dag är mer relevant än någonsin. Det förstnämnda perspektivet använder marxismen som en uppsättning intressanta och valbara idéer. Det sistnämnda bygger marxismen som en sammanhängande helhet med en förmåga att utvecklas och appliceras på nya områden. Även om samtliga intervjupersoner betonar helheten mellan Marx teorier så tenderar undervisningen på olika sätt att placera helheten i skymundan. (Less)
Abstract
This study reviews the contrasting images of Karl Marx theoretical output and of Marxism offered by sociology courses at Swedish universities. By means of interviews with lecturing sociologists and a literature review covering the most common introductory textbooks I demonstrate some central dividing lines within sociology. One tendency is foremost represented by Anthony Giddens’ & Philip W. Sutton’s book Sociologi (2014) which treats Marx as a theoretician with a tendency towards structuralism, with a simplistic and dualistic concept of class as his overarching explanation and with a deterministic concept of revolution. The emergence of more complex theories on the one hand, and the fall of the Soviet Union on the other, has come to mean... (More)
This study reviews the contrasting images of Karl Marx theoretical output and of Marxism offered by sociology courses at Swedish universities. By means of interviews with lecturing sociologists and a literature review covering the most common introductory textbooks I demonstrate some central dividing lines within sociology. One tendency is foremost represented by Anthony Giddens’ & Philip W. Sutton’s book Sociologi (2014) which treats Marx as a theoretician with a tendency towards structuralism, with a simplistic and dualistic concept of class as his overarching explanation and with a deterministic concept of revolution. The emergence of more complex theories on the one hand, and the fall of the Soviet Union on the other, has come to mean that Marx theories must be seen as either completely or partially obsolete. On the other hand, another tendency represented by a group of interviewees and books tends to view Marx method as a dialectical interaction between structure and action, the concept of class as complex and dependent on which level of abstraction is in question, and that Marx is more relevant today than ever. The first mentioned perspective uses Marxism as a catalogue of interesting and optional ideas. The latter perspective builds Marxism as a cohesive unity with an ability to develop and to be applied to new areas. Even if all the interviewees emphasise the unity between Marx theories, the lectures still tend to deemphasise this unity in various ways. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Frohlund, Simon LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOCK05 20191
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Marx, Marxism, Sociologi, Kurslitteratur
language
Swedish
id
8985354
date added to LUP
2019-06-18 15:40:46
date last changed
2019-06-18 15:40:46
@misc{8985354,
  abstract     = {{This study reviews the contrasting images of Karl Marx theoretical output and of Marxism offered by sociology courses at Swedish universities. By means of interviews with lecturing sociologists and a literature review covering the most common introductory textbooks I demonstrate some central dividing lines within sociology. One tendency is foremost represented by Anthony Giddens’ & Philip W. Sutton’s book Sociologi (2014) which treats Marx as a theoretician with a tendency towards structuralism, with a simplistic and dualistic concept of class as his overarching explanation and with a deterministic concept of revolution. The emergence of more complex theories on the one hand, and the fall of the Soviet Union on the other, has come to mean that Marx theories must be seen as either completely or partially obsolete. On the other hand, another tendency represented by a group of interviewees and books tends to view Marx method as a dialectical interaction between structure and action, the concept of class as complex and dependent on which level of abstraction is in question, and that Marx is more relevant today than ever. The first mentioned perspective uses Marxism as a catalogue of interesting and optional ideas. The latter perspective builds Marxism as a cohesive unity with an ability to develop and to be applied to new areas. Even if all the interviewees emphasise the unity between Marx theories, the lectures still tend to deemphasise this unity in various ways.}},
  author       = {{Frohlund, Simon}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Att använda marxism? Marx i den introducerande sociologilitteraturen}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}