Marx’s drive for theoretical elegance made him dismiss race, gender, and culture

Evidence

The dismissal of culture, that is, a transmitted historical consciousness, as an aspect of class consciousness, did not equip the Marxian movement for the political forces that would not only erupt in Europe and the Third World but within the movement itself. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 363 (#expands, via linked claim)

The politics, religion, philosophy, and art of any epoch in human history are, according to Marx, an outcome of its methods of production, and, to a lesser extent, of distribution. … The doctrine is called the ‘materialist conception of history’. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2845 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

I think, however, that Marx is wrong in two respects. First, the social circumstances of which account must be taken are quite as much political as economic; they have to do with power, of which wealth is only one form. Second, social causation largely ceases to apply as soon as a problem becomes detailed and technical. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2847 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Marxism’s dismissal of culture left it unequipped for nationalism; Marx overemphasized economics while neglecting power and technical detail — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2847; Marx’s novelty lay in siding with wage laborers, yet he concealed faith in philosophy (+12 more)

Related

• Marxism’s theoretical elegance required discarding race, gender, and culture. (similarity 0.89)
• Marxism’s scientific-rigor pursuit led it to discard race and gender (similarity 0.86)
• Marx’s theory demanded categories that excluded race, gender, and non-European history (similarity 0.85)
• Dismissing culture as class consciousness left Marxism unequipped for political forces (similarity 0.85)
• Western Marxism failed as a total theory of liberation (similarity 0.84)
• Anglo-Marxists neglected the state while fixating on ideology within the superstructures (similarity 0.84)
• Political economy blinded Marx and Engels to industrial movements’ ideological nature. (similarity 0.84)
• Both social democrats and orthodox Marxists were reductionist about culture (similarity 0.84)
• Marx overemphasized economics while neglecting power and technical detail (similarity 0.84)
• Marx held that production methods determine an epoch’s culture (similarity 0.83)
• Marx presupposed a coherent racist and imperial ordering of world capitalism (similarity 0.83)
• Capitalist expansion pursued racial directions, not the rationalization Marx expected (similarity 0.83)
• Marxist class categories froze into a fixed historical image of class (similarity 0.83)
• Marx’s analysis could not apply to American Blacks without correction for the race problem (similarity 0.82)
• A new Marxist paradigm seeks to overcome economism and reductionism (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Dismissing culture as class consciousness left Marxism unequipped for political forces #expands (0.70) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 363
• Marx overemphasized economics while neglecting power and technical detail #expands (0.60) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2847
• Marx held that production methods determine an epoch’s culture #corroborates (0.60) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2845
• Marx’s novelty lay in siding with wage laborers, yet he concealed faith in philosophy #corroborates (0.50)
• Capitalism differentiated peoples into racial categories rather than homogenizing them #expands (0.50) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 205
• Marxism’s universalism attracted Black radicals yet proved insufficiently global #expands (0.50)
• Black Marxism grew as a new vision centered on cultural corruption of race #exemplifies (0.45)