Review

Author(s): David Zaret

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276 BOOK REVIEWS
cepts -or refuses the imposition of the exegesis neatly clarifies Marx's remarks on
commodity-form and seeks new forms of contradictionsbetween forces and relationsof
struggle and unity in order to burst the di- production.But such conceptualtidiness leads
visions of the class. By juxtaposingthe expla- Cohen to a pre-Kuhnianview of science, since
nation of the commodity-form,use and ex- science becomes part of the presocial level of
change value, useful labor and abstract labor productive forces. For Cohen, science "is a
with both capital's and the working class's naturalpower of the species man" (p. 98). He
perspective, we see how the current social later develops this point (pp. 150-52) when
and economic crisis develops over food, en- defining three "enduringfacts of human na-
ergy, and money, and more important, how ture": (1) rational individuals(2) who live in
the working class can circulate its initiatives an environment of scarcity (3) tend "to im-
or struggles. The perspective is grounded in prove their situation." These facts explain a
the notion that capital is a class relation of basic datum of historical materialism:
power over imposed work whose foundation "Societies rarely replace superior productive
is a socially controlled, hierarchical waged forces by inferior ones.'
and unwagedsocial system. It is precisely this The propensity of productive forces to de-
struggle for more money and less imposed velop indicates why forces have primacyover
work that has resulted in the current crisis. relations of production. The latter "are as
Thus sociologists who would use this text in they are because they are appropriateto pro-
social theory, stratification, or political ductive development" (p. 136). This
sociology courses will avail themselves of one functional argument ingenuously allows
of the most refreshing, positive, and under- Cohen to acknowledge reciprocity between
standableworks in political economy to date. forces and relations while retaining the pri-
Indeed, this book breaks out of the "normal macy of the forces. Subsequent chapters on
science" of sociology. functional explanationin Marxismdefine and
defend a type of explanationwhere "the char-
acter of what is explainedis determinedby its
Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence, by effect on what explains it" (p. 278).
G. A. COHEN.Princeton:PrincetonUniver- Ironically, Cohen's pursuit of internalcon-
sity Press, 1978. 369 pp. $18.50 cloth. sistency leads to some awkwardpositions. He
argues that productive relations exist to pro-
DAVID ZARET mote development of productive forces, but
Indiana University notes that only capitalist relations unambigu-
ously promote such development. Pre-
This book defends Marx's theory of history capitalist societies often have relations that
by reconstructing historical materialism ac- are "conservative" in this regard. Cohen's
cording to "standards of clarity and rigour conclusion (p.- 171): Restrictive relations in
which distinguishtwentieth-centuryanalytical precapitalist societies "may be best for the
philosophy" (p. ix). Its achievement is mod- developmentof the forces, even though [they]
est: an old-fashioned version of historical ... pose many obstacles to their develop-
materialism, technological determinism, ment. . . . (Sport cars are faster than jeeps,
whose carefully defined propositionsare cast- but jeeps are faster on boggy land.)"
in a functionalistmold. Its flaws are consider- This not untypical passage points to two,
able: tendentious argumentsuphold positions more generalproblemsin the book. First, Co-
well established by Kautsky and Plekhanov. hen's emphasison developmentcreates a kind
Its lesson is compelling: standards of rigor of materialismthat is panglossianratherthan
associated with analytical philosophy provide historical. Social arrangementsexist because
no remedy against the tendency toward pre- they are best at promotingtechnical develop-
mature closure in Marxist theory. ment; when this is no longer true, they-will
A major portion of the book distinguishes soon cease. to exist. Nowhere does Cohen
forces (materialcontent) from relations(social confront the critical issue of technological
form) of production.Cohen excludes produc- determinism;he evades it. In a footnote (p.
tive forces from the economic base that refers 147) he notes that his version of historical
solely to productive relations. The economic materialism"may be called technological,but
base rests on a presocial, materialsubstratum the issue of determinism-will not be dis-
of productiveforces, chiefly technicallyuseful cussed."
knowledge and skills. This -unexceptional Second, the allusion to sport cars andjeeps
ContemporarySociology, March 1981, Volume 10, Number 2

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 BOOK REVIEWS 277
exemplifies the style of argumentation.The deals with how law is treated in Marxist
text is cluttered with -metaphorical illus- thinking. In this context the work of
trations, stories (about Sven & Lars, wood- Pashukanis,among others, is discussed. Hirst
cutters, and Schwartz & Weiss, garment continues the theme that Marxists have over-
workers), and hypotheticalcases. References stretched their theory and, contrary to
to historical cases often cite old chestnuts, Pashukanis, all laws are not derivable from
e.g., the early bourgeoisie "was in part the conditions of production. But because
formed out of serfs who ran away .. . and Marxists have held that certain laws are inev-
settled in fortified cities" (p. 227, but cf. p. itable given a specific system of production,
188n where he notes the dubiousness of this they have neglected strugglesconcerninglegal
claim). regulations.
To conclude, the tedious efforts of this book These examples of Hirst's reasoningshould
are hardly commensuratewith its sparse re- demonstratethe value of this collection of es-
sults. The book might possibly interest those says. Unlike most analyses of Marxistideas it
wanting to use the tools of analytical is neither a doctrinaire acceptance of the
philosophy to reconstruct Marx's theory of words of Marx nor an unfriendly and un-
history. They are bound to be disappointed. thinking rejection of Marxism.

On Law and Ideology, by PAUL HIRST. At- Praxis and Method: A Sociological Dialogue
lantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, with Lukacs, Gramsci and the Early
1979. 181 pp. $20,00 cloth. $10.00 paper. Frankfurt School, by RICHARD KILMIN-
STER. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul,
JOHN F. GALLIHER 1979, 334 pp. $28.50 cloth.
University of Missouri, Columbia
MICHAEL E. BROWN
This collection of short essays written by Queens College/CUNY
Paul Hirst contains two types of commentary,
criticismof -the work of Marx and criticismof Praxis and Method is an ambitious book. It
various interpreters of Marx and Marxism. attemptsto put Lenin and the "philosophyof,
One of Hirst's central complaints about praxis" to rest and to locate the problems of
Marxism is that it is used by many of its "Western Marxism" in certain errors on the
proponents far beyond its explanatory ca- part of its proponents,foremost among which
pacity to include questions of sexuality and is a tendency to reify classical texts. The first
family forms. And the author observes that of-these aims representsKilminster'spolitical
Marxism cannot explain a variety of major project, the second his intellectualone. It is
developments including the women's move- the latter that, I believe, fails. This is largely
ment. While he sees Marxism'sfalse claims of due to the author's continual attributionof
being a science as broadeningits appeal, these errors to the dogged irrationality(and, there-
same assertions have led to incorrect predic- fore, personalities)of the Western Marxists,
tions, such as the one involving the withering characterizedvariously as a "preoccupation
away of the state. with mass praxis," uncontrolledand archai-
As the title indicates, ideology is one of the cally philosophicalanti-positivism,moralism,
two central concerns of this book, and Louis romanticism, and a lack of self-criticism.
Althusser's examination of relevant Marxist The result is that the ideas are not sufficiently
thoughtis discussed. Unlike traditionalMarx- engaged to bear the burden of the book's in-
ist theorists, Althusser stresses that there tellectual aims: Since the political project de-
can be no false consciousness, since ideology pends for its own rationalityon the success of
cannot be false or illusory if it has some ef- the other, this failure restricts-the coherence
fect. Althusser also claims, unlike Marx, that of the text to the immediate appeal of its
ideology is not predictablefrom subjects' eco- polemic. But even there one finds apparently
nomic positions. So for example, the ungovernableinconsistency.
ideologies held by manual workers are not The book promises a dialogue with
necessarily progressive. Hirst considers these giants-Lukacs, Gramsci, Horkheimer-
ideas some of the positive contributionsfound ratherthan commentary,critique, or even in-
in Althusser's work. quiry. Yet, it is certainly an uncommon
The other substantive thrust of this book "dialogue" that engages a literatureas a to-

ContemporarySociology, March 1981, Volume 10, Number 2

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