Marx’s critique of classical economics targets the form, not the content

Evidence

For him, we may say, what is false is not so much the content of classical middle-class philosophy as its form; and in this, Lukács applies to the realm of philosophy the method that Marx himself had already practiced in his critique of middle-class economics. For Marx’s criticism of his predecessors (Smith, Say, Ricardo) was aimed not so much at the details of their work—theory of ground rent, market circulation, accumulation of capital, etc.—most of which he takes over into his own system, but rather at the overall model, or lack of it, in which these details find their interpretation, in which they are to be put in perspective as parts or functions of some larger totality. — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 374

Categorization

• XREF: The distinction between form and content as the target of critique is the core method Jameson inherits from Lukács and the Frankfurt School — connects directly to Adorno’s immanent critique and to the reader’s stated purpose of tracing this lineage. — connects to: The labour theory of value must be distinguished from Marx’s value-form analysis — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 514; Marx distinguishes material economic transformation from ideological forms of consciousness; The base-superstructure formula weakened Marxism by reducing ideas to mere reflections — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1693 (+1 more)
• DEFINE: Defines the key method of dialectical critique: falsity lies in the model/totality that organizes details, not the details themselves.
• SEED: A possible essay angle: ‘form not content’ as the unifying method across Marx, Lukács, and Jameson’s dialectical criticism — how to critique a system by attacking its organizing model rather than its empirical findings.

Broader Connections

• The labour theory of value must be distinguished from Marx’s value-form analysis #expands (0.85) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 514
• Marx distinguishes material economic transformation from ideological forms of consciousness #corroborates (0.82)
• The base-superstructure formula weakened Marxism by reducing ideas to mere reflections #corroborates (0.78) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1693