Journal article
On ‘The Problem with Brenner’: The Paradox of Agency and the Heresy of Reification
Historical materialism : research in critical Marxist theory, Vol.29(3), p.125
10/01/2021
DOI: 10.1163/1569206X-29032057
Abstract
Knafo and Teschke’s surprisingly polemical critique of Brenner’s work is derived from earlier work which applies the same critique arising out of the agency/structure debate in International Relations theory. Casting Brenner’s work as increasingly structuralist over time and therefore increasingly prone to reify social relations, thereby suppressing or downplaying the role of agency, Knafo and Teschke ask their readers to take such claims at face value, offering no close textual reading of Brenner’s work. Focusing almost entirely on method rather than on substance and by framing their critique within the confines of the unending debate over structure and agency, Knafo and Teschke’s claim that Brenner’s work consistently reifies social relations – presuming but not demonstrating that this is his intent – obscures and fails to engage substantively with his powerful historical contributions, or to offer alternative definitions or historical theories.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- On ‘The Problem with Brenner’: The Paradox of Agency and the Heresy of Reification
- Creators
- Michael Andrew Žmolek
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Historical materialism : research in critical Marxist theory, Vol.29(3), p.125
- Publisher
- Brill Academic Publishers, Inc
- DOI
- 10.1163/1569206X-29032057
- ISSN
- 1465-4466
- eISSN
- 1569-206X
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/01/2021
- Academic Unit
- History; Interdisciplinary Programs
- Record Identifier
- 9984186764202771
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