Western Marxism

A tradition of Marxist thought that originated in Western Europe after the Russian Revolution, distinct from Soviet orthodoxy. It is characterized by a shift away from economics and politics toward philosophy and culture, with a central concern for the aesthetics of developed capitalist culture, and is known for internal splits such as the structuralist-versus-humanist divide.

Claims that use this term

• Apartheid scholarship’s Marxist turn internalized Western Marxism’s structuralist-versus-humanist split.
• Western Marxism’s central concern was the aesthetics of developed capitalist culture.