Marx and Law?
Apr 13 2008
'What parts of Marx's approach are most useful in analysing the social operation of law?'
This question has me stumped... can anyone help?
Apr 14 2008
#2
Marx started to study law at the University of Bonn but I don't think he said anything interesting about it at the time (after all he was then still a teenaged student). One problem is that in German the word for "law" is the same as the word for "right". In fact, it is the word for "right", which in English is a rather broader concept than "law". So, when Marx criticised "Hegel's philosophy of Right" he was criticising much more than a theory of law. In fact, it's where his famous saying about religion being the opinion of the people comes from. In any event, I think it clear that Marx regarded the law as part of the superstructure of society that arose on the basis of its economic structure. And in fact actually says so textually, in his famous Preface to the A Critique of Political Economy where he sets out his materialist conception of history. So, that's where I'd start.
I don't know how deeply you want to go into it but there have been a few studies on law by people calling themselves "Marxists". For instance, Criminality and Economic Conditions by William Bonger (which deals with criminal law) and E. Pashukanis Law and Marxism (mainly about civil law)
Apr 14 2008
#3
Thanks
capricorn wrote:
Marx started to study law at the University of Bonn but I don't think he said anything interesting about it at the time (after all he was then still a teenaged student). One problem is that in German the word for "law" is the same as the word for "right". In fact, it is the word for "right", which in English is a rather broader concept than "law". So, when Marx criticised "Hegel's philosophy of Right" he was criticising much more than a theory of law. In fact, it's where his famous saying about religion being the opinion of the people comes from. In any event, I think it clear that Marx regarded the law as part of the superstructure of society that arose on the basis of its economic structure. And in fact actually says so textually, in his famous Preface to the A Critique of Political Economy where he sets out his materialist conception of history. So, that's where I'd start.
Ok thanks
capricorn wrote:
I don't know how deeply you want to go into it
About as deep as 2000 words and the bare minimum of work necessary to get a low credit =D
capricorn wrote:
but there have been a few studies on law by people calling themselves "Marxists". For instance, Criminality and Economic Conditions by William Bonger (which deals with criminal law) and E. Pashukanis Law and Marxism (mainly about civil law)
Do you know if any of these are available online (Marxist archives, etc) ? I will give the library a shot tomorrow if not.
Apr 14 2008
#4
Quote:
In any event, I think it clear that Marx regarded the law as part of the superstructure of society that arose on the basis of its economic structure.
This, but bare in mind that the superstructure has certain degrees of autonomy from production relations provided they serve the the reproduction of capitalism in the long run. This is why in certain scenarios we can see the creation of laws that are in conflict with the immediate needs of the dominant class. E.g.: laws regarding overtime, minimum wage, etc. These ultimately operate to try and maintain capitalist production relationships despite coming at the expense of capital.
Apr 15 2008
#5
Still_Reign_Supreme wrote:
'What parts of Marx's approach are most useful in analysing the social operation of law?'This question has me stumped... can anyone help?
If this is an essay question that you;ve been set they presumably want you to say to what extent Marx allows a form of criticism that is not based on existing social norms but rather on their failings.
I'm not sure what level you're working at (BA or MA?) but an easy and accessible (possibly too easy and accessible depending on the level) way to do this would be to base it on the chapter entitled The Working Day in Volume 1; its full of quotations from factory inspectors, decrees from the house of commons,struggle to improve conditions, resistance from factory owners to such change and general strife. Throughout it all Marx consistently takes a moral position (i'e he makes a judgement) - poverty, suffering and exploitation are wrong - and shows how bouyrgeois society (for whic you could read modern society, i.e. the society whose notionm of justice you are being asked to think about) rests on injustice, and shows just how resistant that society is to rectifying that issue. However, his moral judgement is based on his claim that exploitation is inherent to the operation of capital (as set out in the preceding chapters), and as such it constitutes more than just saying 'stop bad stuff now': it does so on a much more concrete base, and has the added pragmatic claim (i.e. not moral) that this 'bad stuff' is not only cruel but also inefficient. As such it attacks the hypocrisy inherent in bouregois justice.
If you do this it woudl be a good idea to pay attention to the statement made in the first preface to the first German edition of Vol. 1 that the figures of capitalist and proletarian are abstractions. It would also be a good idea to look at some of the material in the final section of the book on Primitive Accumulation, which argues that the bouregois, capitalist society is absolutely reliant on creating and maintinaing the exisetnec of a class of workers who have no choice but to work (i.e. the bouregois state and justice system is goign to eb geared towards maintiaining a particular status quo).
I owuldn't get into the critiquye of teh philosophy of right unless you're feeling pretty determined, as it requires a lot of general Hegel as well as a knowledge of the P of R.
If you do take any of this up let me know and I'll give this a little more thought
Apr 15 2008
#6
...and if you want to do something a little more interesting and ambitious you cvould have a l;ook at Louis Althusser's essay Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. It's not that hard and is very interesting
http://www.gegenstandpunkt.com/english/state/3.html