The State in Capitalist Society: The Analysis of the Western System of Power
by Ralph Miliband
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Presenting a sustained and concrete challenge to the current political consensus, this reference identifies the radical alternative of adopting socialism as the key issue facing civilization and the crucial condition of making substantial progress. Demonstrating that capitalist control of the state was so comprehensive that partial reforms were impossible, this reference attempts to explain how society has managed to evade socialism, exploring how its claims have failed to persuade many show more intellectuals and the potential benefactors of an alternative order. Reviewing the influence of economic elites and the dominant class, this study also probes the state’s claims to legitimacy, defines the purpose and role of governments, and analyzes the concepts of reform and repression. Depicting how the state reemerged from behind the mystifications of the political system and its behavior to become the central theme of political studies, this radical and philosophical investigation combines a political appeal with thorough, detailed scholarship. A discussion of servants of the state and the concept of imperfect competition are also included. show lessTags
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When i did my degree in politics which was 10 years after this book was published, reading it was a window in how to dismantle a "consensus of common sense". It let me have an left perspective that avoided falling into revolutionary cant of the middle class student(all too often on the start of a journey to the thatcherite right). It is dated now but remans a classic view of how Marxism can be rescued from the Marxists. And we can make for a fairer society.
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Ralph Miliband (1924-1994) was one of the key intellectual figures of the British New Left. He was the founder of the Socialist Register and author of Marxism and Politics, Parliamentary Socialism (reprinted 2009) and Socialism for a Sceptical Age. He held the Chair of Politics at the University of Leeds; he also taught at the London School of show more Economics, Brandeis in Boston, York University in Toronto and the City University of New York. show less
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- Canonical title
- The State in Capitalist Society: The Analysis of the Western System of Power
Classifications
- Genres
- Sociology, Economics, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Politics and Government, Philosophy, Biography & Memoir, History
- DDC/MDS
- 320.1 — Society, Government, and Culture Political science Types of Government The State
- LCC
- JC257 .M54 — Political Science Political theory Political theory. The state. Theories of the state Modern state
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 245
- Popularity
- 130,938
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.83)
- Languages
- 8 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 19
- ASINs
- 4
