As the contradictions of U.S. capitalist imperialism have intensified the hardships of working class and poor Americans, spontaneous mass mobilizations have arisen with more frequency than in decades past. However, these social movements have all fallen with the same speed as they arose, often leaving nothing but hashtags and slogans to account for their existence. In this thesis, I postulate that the futility of U.S. social movements stems from their lack of organization and theoretical guidance. I hold that the U.S. masses’ organization along the lines of a non-dogmatic and non-mechanistic dialectical materialist outlook stands as the precondition for a successful anti-capitalist movement. In light of this, this thesis explores questions and misunderstandings related to the dialectical materialist outlook and creates the conditions for its concise and systematized elaboration, a task which it fulfills in the process of demonstrating its indispensability for revolutionary socialist politics.

<p>Jean-Paul Sartre' s central purpose in writing the Critique of Dialectical Reason was to render intelligible Karl Marx's principle that circumstances make people just as much as people make circumstances. With the intent of complementing Marx's work, Sartre sought to theoretically connect the marxist outline of social process with its constituting parts--individuals. He sought to do this without ascribing to circumstances a superorganic existence, and in terms of the general structure of individual action per se. In place of a super organic being he attributed unintended consequences to all individual action (as well as intended consequences). The actual influence of circumstances upon people he explained by the fact that products bear some trace of the intentions of those who made them. The product becomes a sign, and people construct about them a world of signs.</p> <p>Within this world of signs people tend to become separated as mediations between constructed things. It is in this sense, that is, in explaining how social relations tend to occur indirectly through the products of praxis, that Sartre sought to justify a rejection of organicism by developing his interpretation of Marx's theory of fetishism.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Esta pesquisa busca examinar as categorias centrais do pensamento de Marx tendo em vista uma questão atual: a expansão da atividade intelectual como forma do trabalho subsumido ao capital. Em contraposição às teorias que veem esta transformação como fator que altera a teoria do valor e torna a compreensão marxiana do capital obsoleta, examino nos textos de Marx a relação geral entre trabalho e conhecimento, pautada em sua compreensão do indivíduo e da sociabilidade. Busco então conectar essas categorias fundantes com a história, distinguindo a dialética do desenvolvimento nas sociedades pré-capitalista e no modo de produção do capital. No interior deste último, destaco dois temas centrais, a categoria de trabalho abstrato como forma social específica do trabalho, e a relação contraditória entre o desenvolvimento das forças produtivas com a forma social do capital. É este desenvolvimento que transforma a relação entre trabalho e conhecimento, bem como a divisão entre trabalho material e trabalho intelectual nesta fase avançada do evolver do capital. A partir do exame deste tema, aponto por fim algumas das mudanças atuais que revelam o aprofundamento da contradição que permeia a reprodução capitalista. Na abordagem destes temas, discuto com autores que buscam explicar as vicissitudes atuais, bem como com comentadores da obra marxiana que privilegiam o ponto de vista lógico ao examinar seus textos. / This research seeks to examine the central categories of Marxs thought regarding a current issue: the expansion of intellectual activity as a form of labor subsumed to capital. In contrast to theories that see this transformation as a factor that changes the theory of value and makes the Marxian understanding of capital obsolete, this research examines the overall relationship between labor and knowledge in Marxs texts, based on his understanding of the individual and sociability. It aims then to connect these founding categories with history, distinguishing the dialectic of development in pre-capitalist societies and the capitalist mode of production. Inside the latter, two central themes are highlighted, the abstract labor category as a specific social form of work, and the contradictory relationship between the development of productive forces and capital-relation. It is this development that transforms the relationship between labor and knowledge, as well as the division between material and intellectual production, at this late stage of capital expansion. From the examination of this issue, it is pointed at last some of the current changes that reveal the depth of the contradiction that pervades capitalist reproduction. In addressing these issues, authors who seek to explain the current changes are discussed as well as interpretations of Marxs thought that favor the logical point of view.

Cette étude de philosophie sociale vise à comprendre la spécificité du capitalisme en tant que forme historique d’organisation sociale et de transformation du monde. Elle propose une réflexion descriptive et normative sur la pratique sociale capitaliste, afin de mieux cerner la complexité, la diversité et la plasticité de la dynamique capitaliste. Nous avons choisi de partir de la façon dont Marx conçoit la logique du capital sous l’angle de l’abstraction réelle, ce qui nous permet de saisir la pratique capitaliste selon les termes d’une normativité abstraite, d’un « devoir-être » qui pose comme fin « suprasensible » l’idéalisation d’une survaleur infinie. Marx fournit de précieuses ressources théoriques non seulement pour comprendre l’abstraction capitaliste, mais aussi pour déterminer les formes selon lesquelles celle-ci intervient et restructure la réalité concrète à travers l’action des capitalistes, en rendant explicites les tensions liées à une telle restructuration de l’existant selon des postulats abstraits. À travers la confrontation de la conceptualisation marxienne avec des courants plus contemporains d’interprétation de la dynamique capitaliste, comme les analyses macroéconomiques et institutionnalistes de la Théorie de la Régulation et les travaux psycho-sociologiques portant sur l’organisation néomanagériale du travail et de la consommation, nous montrons que la théorisation de la pratique capitaliste doit rendre compte de la diversité et de la plasticité de la trajectoire du capitalisme, ainsi que de la manière dont celui-ci réussit à se reproduire, même parmi tant de crises et d’obstacles, au moins jusqu'à présent. C’est pourquoi nous proposons une esquisse de modèle de pratique capitaliste qui, s’inspirant de certains aspects de la philosophie pratique kantienne (notamment le concept d’imagination), tente de forger un concept d’imagination capitaliste, lequel permet de comprendre l’ouverture constante à de nouveaux modes de réalisation des idéalisations capitalistes. Cette conception de la pratique capitaliste nous conduit finalement à repenser sur de bases plus créatives et imaginatives la critique immanente du capitalisme. / This work on social philosophy aims at understanding the specificity of capitalism as a historical form of social organization and transformation of the world. It presents a descriptive and normative reflection on the capitalist social practice in order to better understand the complexity, diversity and plasticity of capitalist dynamics. Our starting point is Marx’s understanding of the logic of capital as a real abstraction. This enables us to grasp the capitalist practice by way of an abstract normativity, a “duty” which sets the idealisation of an infinite surplus value as a “suprasensible” end. Marx provides valuable theoretical resources not only to understand capitalist abstraction, but also to determine the form in which it operates and restructures concrete reality through the action of capitalists. It does so by making explicit the tensions related to such restructuring. Moreover, we contrast the Marxist conceptualization with more contemporary currents of interpretation of capitalist dynamics such as the macroeconomic and the institutionalist analyses of Regulation Theory and psycho-sociological studies on the neomanagement organization of labor and consumption. In this way, we show that the theory of capitalist practice must not only reflect the diversity and plasticity of the trajectory of capitalism but also reveal how it manages to reproduce itself (at least so far) even among so many crises and obstacles. That is why we propose an outline of a model of capitalist practice inspired by certain aspects of Kantian practical philosophy (especially the concept of imagination). With this model we intend to create a concept of capitalist imagination, which helps to understand the constant openness to new embodiments of capitalist idealizations. This conception of capitalist practice finally leads us to rethink the immanent critique of capitalism on a more creative and imaginative basis.

Esta pesquisa busca examinar as categorias centrais do pensamento de Marx tendo em vista uma questão atual: a expansão da atividade intelectual como forma do trabalho subsumido ao capital. Em contraposição às teorias que veem esta transformação como fator que altera a teoria do valor e torna a compreensão marxiana do capital obsoleta, examino nos textos de Marx a relação geral entre trabalho e conhecimento, pautada em sua compreensão do indivíduo e da sociabilidade. Busco então conectar essas categorias fundantes com a história, distinguindo a dialética do desenvolvimento nas sociedades pré-capitalista e no modo de produção do capital. No interior deste último, destaco dois temas centrais, a categoria de trabalho abstrato como forma social específica do trabalho, e a relação contraditória entre o desenvolvimento das forças produtivas com a forma social do capital. É este desenvolvimento que transforma a relação entre trabalho e conhecimento, bem como a divisão entre trabalho material e trabalho intelectual nesta fase avançada do evolver do capital. A partir do exame deste tema, aponto por fim algumas das mudanças atuais que revelam o aprofundamento da contradição que permeia a reprodução capitalista. Na abordagem destes temas, discuto com autores que buscam explicar as vicissitudes atuais, bem como com comentadores da obra marxiana que privilegiam o ponto de vista lógico ao examinar seus textos. / This research seeks to examine the central categories of Marxs thought regarding a current issue: the expansion of intellectual activity as a form of labor subsumed to capital. In contrast to theories that see this transformation as a factor that changes the theory of value and makes the Marxian understanding of capital obsolete, this research examines the overall relationship between labor and knowledge in Marxs texts, based on his understanding of the individual and sociability. It aims then to connect these founding categories with history, distinguishing the dialectic of development in pre-capitalist societies and the capitalist mode of production. Inside the latter, two central themes are highlighted, the abstract labor category as a specific social form of work, and the contradictory relationship between the development of productive forces and capital-relation. It is this development that transforms the relationship between labor and knowledge, as well as the division between material and intellectual production, at this late stage of capital expansion. From the examination of this issue, it is pointed at last some of the current changes that reveal the depth of the contradiction that pervades capitalist reproduction. In addressing these issues, authors who seek to explain the current changes are discussed as well as interpretations of Marxs thought that favor the logical point of view.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-29T11:13:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_7469_DISSERTAÇÃO_POLLYANNA_TRABALHO IMATERIAL E A TEORIA DO VALOR_versão final.pdf: 1655764 bytes, checksum: 2a7e1f233861f15daa6ed2d2b39eb741 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-07-10 / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo discutir a problemática central existente entre a teoria do valor de Karl Marx e a chamada teoria do trabalho imaterial. Refere-se essa divergência à tese da superação da teoria do valor trabalho de Marx para compreensão da atual dinâmica do modo de produção capitalista, que para alguns, encontra-se hoje sob a égide da produção imaterial. Segundo os autores alinhados a essa corrente, como André Gorz, Antônio Negri e Mauricio Lazzarato, por ser essa produção repleta de caráteres subjetivos e, portanto irreprodutíveis, torna-se impossível estabelecer uma relação entre seu preço e o tempo de trabalho dispendido para sua reprodução. Logo, a teoria marxista do valor torna-se insuficiente para subsidiar as análises desse novo momento econômico. Nosso trabalho apresenta uma crítica a essa perspectiva, chegando à conclusão que a teoria do valor de Marx tem ainda enorme pertinência para análise das novas formas assumidas pelo capitalismo contemporâneo e que, principalmente, fornece as bases teóricas para a compreensão das temáticas referentes ao que se denomina imaterial. Para isso, avançamos em um aspecto central, que reside na constatação de que há uma incompreensão acerca da [verdadeira] natureza do imaterial, que podemos entender como toda ideia e elaboração intelectual humana. A não apreensão desse sentido faz com que aqueles autores vinculados à teoria do trabalho imaterial, incorram em dois equívocos essenciais: em primeiro lugar, essa confusão leva-os a classificar os setores produtores de serviços muitos deles produtivos e materiais para Marx como parte da produção imaterial. Revelamos dessa forma, como a determinação dos preços desses serviços ainda se assenta sobre a magnitude de seus valores. Em segundo, há um desconhecimento da verdadeira forma de produção desse imaterial a produção do conhecimento e de como se determina seu preço. Assim, à luz da teoria de Marx, é possível perceber que o conhecimento em si não é criador de riqueza e que sua remuneração ocorre por meio da apropriação de parcela do valor gerado na produção material, de forma semelhante ao que ocorre à renda da terra, de modo que a compreensão de sua dinâmica só é possível a partir da categoria marxista do valor. / This research aims to discuss the existing problems between the central theory of value of Karl Marx and the so-called "theory of immaterial labor". It refers to the thesis of this divergence overcoming Marx's labor theory of value to understand the current dynamics of the capitalist mode of production, which for some, is today under the aegis of immaterial production. According to the authors aligned to this current, as André Gorz, Antonio Negri and Maurizio Lazzarato, being this production full of subjective characters and thus irreproducible, it is impossible to establish a relationship between its price and the time spent in it‘s production. Hence, the Marxist theory of value becomes insufficient to support the analysis of the ―new‖ economic times. Our work presents a critique of this perspective and concludes that Marx's labor theory of value is still relevant to the analysis of the new forms taken by contemporary capitalism, and that it mainly provides the theoretical basis for understanding the issues related to it is called ―immaterial‖. In order to carry it out, we move forward in an central aspect, which lies at the realization that there is a misunderstanding about the true nature of the immaterial, understood as every idea and human intellectual development. The failure to grasp this meaning makes those authors linked to the theory of immaterial labor, incur in two basic misconceptions: first, this confusion leads them to classify the sectors producing services - many of them productive and materials for Marx - as part of immaterial production. We show that the pricing of these services is still based on the magnitude of their values. Second, there is a lack of understanding the form of production of immaterial - the production of knowledge - and how to determine its price. Thus, in the light of Marx's theory, one can see that knowledge itself is not wealth creator, and that its revenue is obtained through the appropriation of the share of the value generated in the material production, similarly to what happens to the ground rent so that understanding of its dynamics is only possible from the marxist value category

Cette thèse propose un matériau d’étude constitué par le récit de vie d’un travailleur, syndicaliste, analyste de situations sociales et réalisateur de films vidéo.Une investigation théorique a été nécessaire pour exposer le récit à un matérialisme dialectique et historique. Il a permis de repérer les principales contradictions pour définir des objets de connaisance et appliquer l’approche marxienne dont il ressort huit catégories qui sont autant de nouveaux objets de pensée et renvoient à huit couples de mots. Le premier est issu de l’analyse du récit alors que le second se projette dans l’avenir.Le constat est fait que l’écriture individuelle de l’activité sensible des travailleurs comporte de nombreux obstacles épistémologiques et n’autorise guère en retour de pouvoir agir sur la transformation des milieux de travail. L’hypothèse est avancée que les techniques numériques actuelles permettent de lire cette expérience du travail grâce à une méthode alliant la photographie (concret réel) et le film des dialogues entre pairs et spécialistes (concret pensé).Nous conclurons à une place des travailleurs bien différente des témoignages auxquels ils sont réduits la plupart du temps. La perspective de notre thèse vise à produire des points de vue collectifs qui s’inscrivent dans une vie démocratique au travail où les protagonistes arriveraient à connaître leurs intentions respectives. Nous soutiendrons pour cela la nécessité de cliniques du travail.Nous nous situons dans la filiation d'Ivar Oddone, d’une méthode qui permette de lire collectivement l’expérience du travail par un mouvement du réel vers le concret entre deux registres d’analyse. / This thesis offers a comprehensive study of the life story of a union worker, social commentator and film director.A theorical investigation was necessary in order to expose the narrration to a dialectic and historical materialism. It allowed to identify the main contardictions to define key knowledge and apply the marxian approach. We identified eight categories allowing new thought processes and reflecting eight keywords. The first stems from the analysis of the narration, while the second is future-oriented.The workers’ writing of their own life and experience brings several epistemological obstacles and do not allow any considerable change of the working conditions.We advanced the hypothesis that current digital technologies allow to whitness these work experiences through a method using both photography (practical approach) and film – with the interaction of the peers and experts - (theorical approach.)We will conclude that workers’ roles are significantly different from what testimonies usually lead the public to believe. This thesis’ perspective aims at creating collective view points supporting democratic work conditions, where protagonists are able to identify their own intentions as well as other’s. To this end, we will emphasize the necessity of work cliniques. Our approach is in line with Ivar Oddone’s teachings, supporting a method allowing to collectively read the workplace experience via a movement from realistic to concrete, between two types of analysis.

A teoria da sociedade de Niklas Luhmann, construída como teoria de sistemas sociais, encontra freqüentes críticas voltadas contra seu pretendido distanciamento moral e político no diagnóstico da sociedade contemporânea. Pesa sobre a teoria de sistemas sociais a generalização de um juízo prematuro conforme o qual ela se reduziria a uma sociologia conservadora de tendência tecnocrata, uma herdeira radicalizada do positivismo. Contudo, e contrariamente a essa percepção geral, a teoria de sistemas sociais parece ter um potencial crítico ainda inexplorado em toda a sua extensão, e que pode ser ativado por uma leitura que permita expandir o alcance da teoria. Essa expansão pode ser promovida quando a teoria de sistemas sociais é mobilizada para fundamentar uma teoria da comunicação de matriz materialista (capítulo 1), capaz de permitir que sua categoria fundamental a autopoiese seja compreendida em estreita relação com a apresentação do capital por Karl Marx (capítulo 2) e confrontada com uma teoria do capitalismo (capítulo e 3). Na seqüência, a teoria de sistemas sociais é empregada para dar conta das múltiplas dimensões da desigualdade social (capítulo 4) e da dinâmica dos conflitos e das contradições da sociedade atual (capítulo 5). Esta tese propõe um primeiro passo na direção de uma recepção crítica da obra teórica de Niklas Luhmann. Trata-se de testar os limites e as possibilidades da teoria de sistemas sociais. / Niklas Luhmanns theory of society, built as theory of social systems, is usually met with criticisms pointed against its intended moral and political distance in diagnosing contemporary society. Weights upon the social systems theory the generalization of a premature judgement according to which, this theory would be reduced to a conservative sociology with technocratic tendencies, a radicalised heir to positivism. However, and against this usual perception, the theory of social systems seems to have a critical potential not yet developed in its full extension and which may be activated by an interpretation capable of expanding its range. This extension can be carried out when we handle social systems theory in order to ground a materialistic theory of communication (chapter 1), enabling a close connection between its main conceptual category autopoiesis and Karl Marxs presentation of the capital (chapter 2), as well as a confrontation with a theory of capitalism (chapter 3). Afterwards, social systems theory is used to explaining the manifoldness of social inequality (chapter 4) and the dynamics of contemporary conflicts and societal contradictions (chapter 5). This thesis proposes a first step in the direction of a critical reception of Niklas Luhmanns theoretical work. It is a matter of testing limits and possibilities of social systems theory

A presente dissertação realiza uma análise dos artigos jornalísticos de Karl Marx e Frie-drich Engels publicados no jornal norte-americano New York Daily Tribune, entre 1851 e 1862. Durante esse período, Marx trabalhou como correspondente europeu e era o responsável pelos assuntos militares e financeiros do jornal. Engels, como uma espécie de ghost writer, ajudou Marx na tarefa de despachar semanalmente os artigos para Nova Iorque. Dentre os diversos assuntos abordados por Marx nesses artigos, selecionamos a crise de econômica de 1857-1858 e a Guerra Civil Americana de 1861-1865 como focos de nosso trabalho A escolha desses dois temas nos permite demonstrar a interação entre os estudos de economia desenvolvidos por Marx para elaboração de sua crítica da eco-nomia política e os estudos dos acontecimentos históricos particulares. Essa interação é fundamental para pensarmos o que Marx chamou em O Capital de método de pesqui-sa e método de apresentação. Ela é fundamental também para entendermos a especi-ficidade da apresentação ou da narrativa histórica desenvolvida por Marx nos artigos jornalísticos. Dos artigos sobre a crise destacamos como, a partir da análise detalhada do sistema financeiro, em especial do banco francês Crédit Mobilier, Marx aponta para a centralidade do sistema de crédito na expansão da economia capitalista e no estouro das crises. A partir dos artigos sobre a guerra civil americana, descrevemos como Marx procurou entender a guerra como um conflito entre dois sistemas sociais a escravi-dão e o trabalho assalariado tendo em vista a necessidade expansiva do escravismo. / This dissertation makes an analysis of journalistic articles of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published in the American newspaper New York Daily Tribune between 1851 and 1862. During this period, Marx worked as European correspondent and was respon-sible for the newspapers military and financial matters. Engels, as a sort of ghostwriter, helped Marx in the task weekly dispatch the articles to New York. Among the many matters discussed by Marx in these articles, we selected the economic crisis of 1857-1858 and the American Civil War of 1861-1865 as the central focus of our analysis. The choice of these two topics allows us to demonstrate the interaction between the econom-ic studies developed by Marx to elaborate his critique of political economy and studies of particular historical events. This interaction is crucial to think what Marx called in The Capital research method and presentation method. It is also fundamental to understand the specificity of the presentation or the historical narrative developed by Marx in newspaper articles. Articles about the crisis highlight how, from the detailed analysis of the financial system, especially the French Crédit Mobilier, Marx points to the centrality of the credit system in the expansion of the capitalist economy and the bursting of the crisis. From the articles on the American Civil War, we described as Marx tried to understand the war as a conflict between two social systems the slav-ery and the free-labor having in mind the expansive necessity of slavery.

A presente dissertação realiza uma análise dos artigos jornalísticos de Karl Marx e Frie-drich Engels publicados no jornal norte-americano New York Daily Tribune, entre 1851 e 1862. Durante esse período, Marx trabalhou como correspondente europeu e era o responsável pelos assuntos militares e financeiros do jornal. Engels, como uma espécie de ghost writer, ajudou Marx na tarefa de despachar semanalmente os artigos para Nova Iorque. Dentre os diversos assuntos abordados por Marx nesses artigos, selecionamos a crise de econômica de 1857-1858 e a Guerra Civil Americana de 1861-1865 como focos de nosso trabalho A escolha desses dois temas nos permite demonstrar a interação entre os estudos de economia desenvolvidos por Marx para elaboração de sua crítica da eco-nomia política e os estudos dos acontecimentos históricos particulares. Essa interação é fundamental para pensarmos o que Marx chamou em O Capital de método de pesqui-sa e método de apresentação. Ela é fundamental também para entendermos a especi-ficidade da apresentação ou da narrativa histórica desenvolvida por Marx nos artigos jornalísticos. Dos artigos sobre a crise destacamos como, a partir da análise detalhada do sistema financeiro, em especial do banco francês Crédit Mobilier, Marx aponta para a centralidade do sistema de crédito na expansão da economia capitalista e no estouro das crises. A partir dos artigos sobre a guerra civil americana, descrevemos como Marx procurou entender a guerra como um conflito entre dois sistemas sociais a escravi-dão e o trabalho assalariado tendo em vista a necessidade expansiva do escravismo. / This dissertation makes an analysis of journalistic articles of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published in the American newspaper New York Daily Tribune between 1851 and 1862. During this period, Marx worked as European correspondent and was respon-sible for the newspapers military and financial matters. Engels, as a sort of ghostwriter, helped Marx in the task weekly dispatch the articles to New York. Among the many matters discussed by Marx in these articles, we selected the economic crisis of 1857-1858 and the American Civil War of 1861-1865 as the central focus of our analysis. The choice of these two topics allows us to demonstrate the interaction between the econom-ic studies developed by Marx to elaborate his critique of political economy and studies of particular historical events. This interaction is crucial to think what Marx called in The Capital research method and presentation method. It is also fundamental to understand the specificity of the presentation or the historical narrative developed by Marx in newspaper articles. Articles about the crisis highlight how, from the detailed analysis of the financial system, especially the French Crédit Mobilier, Marx points to the centrality of the credit system in the expansion of the capitalist economy and the bursting of the crisis. From the articles on the American Civil War, we described as Marx tried to understand the war as a conflict between two social systems the slav-ery and the free-labor having in mind the expansive necessity of slavery.