Marx and the New Individual

by Ian Forbes

In what is the first sustained analysis of Marx’s attitude to the puzzle of the individual in history and society, this book, first published in 1990, challenges received views on the importance of class analysis and the place of a theory of human nature in Marx’s thought. The radical possibilities of individual agency in society are explored within a Marxian framework, and without recourse to the current fashions of methodological individualism or rational choice theory. In the context of the apparent antagonism between collectivist and individualist approaches to political explanation and social change, the author establishes that a ‘New Individual’, of singular importance for the understanding of contemporary society, can be identified. For the first time, the Grundrisse provides the basis of a major analysis of Marx’s thoughts on the individual. By illustrating the nature of the connections between collective existence and individual experience, Ian Forbes makes an important contribution towards the revitalization of socialist thought. He also develops a valuable counterpoint to rational actor models of politics and liberal theories of justice alike, by establishing the importance of a political theory that values human agency as much as it understands social and historical processes.

247 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly useful book! How often are Marxists harangued with the same tired old refrain that Marxism denigrates the individual? Too often, and usually by people who haven't read a lick of Marx besides the copy of the Manifesto they picked up during their rebellious teen years.

In fact, Marx's works are permeated with analyses of the individual in class society, and criticisms of the manner in which class society limits the activity and full expression of the individuals. This is something I've noticed in my own research on Marx, and in subsequently searching for the work of authors who have argued along these lines, Forbes's is the only book I found, and it is out of print, which strikes me as something of a scandal.

In any case, Marx and the New Individual is a careful, thorough study of Marx's conception of individuality, and argues that Marx has much more interesting and insightful things to say about individuals than do any of the explicitly "individualist" political and philosophical theories. Not only this, but this book also does double-duty as an attack on Althusserianism and its proposed Anglophone palliative, so-called "rational choice" Marxism. Marxism does not require "rational choice" Marxism as a fix to its supposed inability to consider the role of the individual, because if the rational choice Marxists bothered to read Marx, they'd find that he'd already said far more, and far better, than they could.

My one gripe is that in making his point, Forbes does tend to underplay the role of the class, even at times arguing that Marx lays too much emphasis on class conflict as the force that changes history and will lead to socialism, if it ever comes about. I would warn the reader that even given Forbes's clear presentation of Marx and his very useful analysis, one must not take his views on Marx without a pinch of salt.

But he is nonetheless successful in defeating the project of Marx's "individualist" critics and in thoroughly explicating a terribly underdeveloped area of Marx interpretation.

This is, all in all, an excellent book, and the only one I've come across of its kind.