Christian Fuchs. 2020. Marxism: Karl Marx’s Fifteen Key Concepts for Cultural & Communication Studies. New York: Routledge.
ISBN Paperback 978-0-367-41877-9, ISBN Hardcover 978-0-367-41878-6, ISBN ebook 978-0-367-81675-9. 296 pages.
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German translation published by UVK/utb (translated by Christian Fuchs)
Table of Contents:
1 Introduction 1
2 The Dialectic 4
3 Materialism: The Base/Superstructure Problem 19
4 Commodities, Capital, Capitalism 38
5 Labour and Surplus-Value 77
6 The Working Class 105
7 Alienation 127
8 Means of Communication and the General Intellect 147
9 Ideology 178
10 Socialism and Communism 205
11 Class Struggles 247
Index 280
This introductory text is a critical theory toolkit on how to how to make use of Karl Marx’s ideas in media, communication, and cultural studies.
Karl Marx’s ideas remain of crucial relevance, and in this short, student-friendly book, Christian Fuchs introduces Marx to the reader by discussing 15 of his key concepts and showing how they matter for understanding the digital and communicative capitalism that shapes human life in twenty-first century society. Key concepts covered include: the dialectic, materialism, commodities, capital, capitalism, labour, surplus-value, the working class, alienation, means of communication, the general intellect, ideology, socialism, communism, and class struggles.
Students taking courses in Media, Culture and Society; Communication Theory; Media Economics; Political Communication; and Cultural Studies will find Fuchs’ concise introduction an essential guide to Marx.