Reification: or The Anxiety of Late Capitalism

Timothy Bewes

ISBN 10: 1859844561 / ISBN 13: 9781859844564

Edité par Verso, 2002

A propos de cet article

THERE ARE NO TARIFFS OR CUSTOMS DUTIES ON BOOKS. Of all the concepts which have emerged to describe the effects of capitalism on the human world, none is more graphic or easily grasped than reification- the process by which men and women are turned into objects, things. Arising out of Marx's account of commodity fetishism, the concept of reification offers an unrivalled tool with which to explain the real consequences of the power of capital on consciousness itself.Symptoms of reification are proliferating around us-from the branding of goods and services to racial and sexual stereotypes, all forms of religious faith, the growth of nationalism, and recent concepts like spin and globalization. At such a time, the term ought to enjoy greater critical currency than ever. Recent thinkers, however, have expressed deep reservations about the concept, and the term has become marginalized in the humanities and social societies. Eschewing this trend, Timothy Bewes opens up a new formulation of the concept, claiming that, in the highly reflective age of late capitalism, reification is best understood as a form of social and cultural anxiety: further, that such an understanding returns the concept to its origins in the work of Georg Lukacs. Drawing upon writers including Kierkegaard, Herman Melville, Proust and Flannery O'Connor, he outlines a theory of reification which promises to unite politics with truth, art with experience, and philosophy with real life.

N° de réf. du vendeur 444404

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Reification: or The Anxiety of Late Capitalism
• Éditeur: Verso
• Date de parution: 2002
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1859844561
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781859844564
• Reliure: Paperback
• État de l'article: Good

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Of all the concepts which have emerged to describe the effects of capitalism on the human world, none is more graphic or easily grasped than "reification"--the process by which men and women are turned into objects, things. Arising out of Marx's account of commodity fetishism, the concept of reification offers an unrivalled tool with which to explain the real consequences of the power of capital on consciousness itself.

Symptoms of reification are proliferating around us--from the branding of goods and services to racial and sexual stereotypes, all forms of religious faith, the growth of nationalism, and recent concepts like "spin" and "globalization." At such a time, the term ought to enjoy greater critical currency than ever. Recent thinkers, however, have expressed deep reservations about the concept, and the term has become marginalized in the humanities and social societies.

Eschewing this trend, Timothy Bewes opens up a new formulation of the concept, claiming that, in the highly reflective age of "late capitalism," reification is best understood as a form of social and cultural anxiety further, that such an understanding returns the concept to its origins in the work of Georg Lukács. Drawing upon writers including Kierkegaard, Herman Melville, Proust and Flannery O'Connor, he outlines a theory of reification which promises to unite politics with truth, art with experience, and philosophy with real life.

À propos de l?auteur

Timothy Bewes is Associate Professor of English at Brown University. He is an editor of New Formations and a contributor to New Left Review, New Literary History and Parallax.