Marx’s orientalism concerned land tenure and government, not racial feeling

Evidence

Why do we not find here some discussion of the Asiatic mode of production, Oriental despotism and Marx’s belief that there was no private property in land in the East? For it was these elements – they could be termed idées reçues – that came to form Marx’s vision of the Orient. It is of course true that Marx was the victim of Western generalizations about the Orient, but these were generalizations about types of government and land tenure, not born out of a romantic sentiment that the dark-skinned do not feel as much pain as the white-skinned. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 531

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes the ‘Asiatic mode of production’ and ‘Oriental despotism’ — the materialist concepts that actually shaped Marx’s view of the East.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s background in economic institutions (law merchant, social capital) — Marx’s economic determinism of the Orient parallels institutionalist explanations.

Related

• Said distorted Marx’s writings in Orientalism (similarity 0.80)
• Marx deemed Islamicate societies stagnant and lacking the preconditions for capitalism. (similarity 0.80)
• Marx considered Asiatic village communities foundations of Oriental despotism (similarity 0.80)
• Marx characterized idyllic Indian villages as foundations of Oriental despotism (similarity 0.79)
• Marx saw British colonial destruction as enabling Asia’s social revolution (similarity 0.79)
• Imperial theses produced the Orient as a space to be cultivated and possessed (similarity 0.78)