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We live in a world of technical systems, designed in accordance with technical disciplines and operated by a personnel trained in those disciplines. This is a unique form of social organization without historical precedent. It overshadows traditional democratic institutions and largely determines our way of life. Technosystem: The Social Life of Reason reconstructs the idea of democracy for this brave new world. The author draws on the tradition of radical social criticism represented by Herbert Marcuse and the Frankfurt School as well as contemporary Science and Technology Studies (STS). The social critics recognized the role of instrumental rationality in modern societies, but they did not analyze any actual technologies in detail, nor did they develop a convincing theory of democratic resistance to the new forms of domination by rational systems. STS has developed methods of analysis for a fine-grained study of technology. Technosystem brings these methods to bear on the resistances emerging in the world described by the radical social critics of the Frankfurt School.--

Technocracy. --- Technology --- Reason --- Constructivism (Philosophy) --- Frankfurt school of sociology --- Social aspects. --- Influence.

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We live in a world of technical systems, designed in accordance with technical disciplines and operated by a personnel trained in those disciplines. This is a unique form of social organization without historical precedent. It overshadows traditional democratic institutions and largely determines our way of life. Technosystem: The Social Life of Reason reconstructs the idea of democracy for this brave new world. The author draws on the tradition of radical social criticism represented by Herbert Marcuse and the Frankfurt School as well as contemporary Science and Technology Studies (STS). The social critics recognized the role of instrumental rationality in modern societies, but they did not analyze any actual technologies in detail, nor did they develop a convincing theory of democratic resistance to the new forms of domination by rational systems. STS has developed methods of analysis for a fine-grained study of technology. Technosystem brings these methods to bear on the resistances emerging in the world described by the radical social critics of the Frankfurt School.--

Technocracy --- Technology --- Reason --- Constructivism (Philosophy) --- Frankfurt school of sociology --- Philosophy --- Schools of sociology --- Critical theory --- Marxian school of sociology --- Mind --- Intellect --- Rationalism --- Capitalism --- Overproduction --- Socialism --- Social aspects --- Influence --- Technocracy. --- Social aspects. --- Influence.

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This path-breaking book unveils the true colour of China’s dominant socio-economic structure today. The author’s unique case study convincingly demonstrates the propeller behind China’s recent ‘miracle growth’. With this book, a new line of investigation can be expected to better understand post-Mao China. - Professor Kent Deng, London School of Economics, UK Shan Huang's study uses unique, in depth field research of the lives of workers in a state enterprise and their perception of their changed economic and political status over the era of the economic reforms since the 1980s. This work is based on intimate engagement with a specific case study, offering new insights into the development of modern China. - Professor Kerry Brown, King’s College London, UK This book comprehensively investigates the position of China’s working class between the 1980s and 2010s. It argues the case that, far from the illusion during the Maoist period that a new society had been established where the working classes held greater political and economic autonomy, economic reforms in the post-Mao era have led to the return of traditional Marxist proletariats in China. The book demonstrates how the reforms of Deng Xiaoping have led to increased economic efficiency at the expense of economic equality through an extensive case study of an SOE (state-owned enterprise) in Sichuan Province as well as wider discussions of the emergence of state capitalism on both a micro and macroeconomic level. The book also discusses workers’ protests during these periods of economic reform to reflect the reformation of class consciousness in post-Mao China, drawing on Marx’s concept of a transition from a ‘class-in-itself' to a ‘class-for-itself’. Shan Huang is a Fellow at the United Nations Development Programme in New York and a PhD candidate at King's College London, focusing on the political economy of China and Chinese economic and social history. .

Economic history. --- China—History. --- Economics. --- Marxian school of sociology. --- Economic History. --- History of China. --- Political Economy and Economic Systems. --- Marxist Sociology. --- Marxian sociology --- Marxist sociology --- Sociology, Marxian --- Sociology, Marxist --- Communism and society --- Schools of sociology --- Frankfurt school of sociology --- Economic theory --- Political economy --- Social sciences --- Economic man --- Economic conditions --- History, Economic --- Economics --- China --- History.

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This book deals with a central aspect of Marx’s critique of society that is usually not examined further since it is taken as a matter of course: its scientific claim of being true. But what concept of truth underlies his way of reasoning which attempts to comprehend the social and political circumstances in terms of the possibility of their practical upheaval? In three studies focusing specifically on the development of Marx’s scientific critique of capitalist society, his journalistic commentaries on European politics, and his reflections on the organisation of revolutionary subjectivity, the authors carve out the immanent relation between the scientifically substantiated claim to truth and the revolutionary perspective in Marxʼs writings. They argue that Marx does not grasp the world ‘as it is’ but conceives it as an inverted state which cannot remain what it is but generates the means by which it can eventually be overcome. This is not something to be taken lightly: Such a concept has theoretical, political and even violent consequences – consequences that nevertheless derive neither from a subjective error nor a contamination of an otherwise ‘pure’ science. By analyzing Marx’s concept of truth the authors also attempt to shed light on a pivotal problematique of any modern critique of society that raises a reasoned claim of being true. Matthias Bohlender is Professor of Political Theory at the School of Cultural Studies and Social Sciences, Universität Osnabrück, Germany. Anna-Sophie Schönfelder is Research Associate at the DFG Collaborative Research Centre “Dynamics of Security”, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Germany. Matthias Spekker is Associate Lecturer in Political Theory and the History of Ideas and currently teaching at the Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Germany. The authors worked together in the DFG funded research project. “Marx and the ‘criticism in a hand-to-hand fight' – On a genealogy of modern critique of society”, Universität Osnabrück, Germany.

Political science. --- Marxian school of sociology. --- World politics. --- Colonialism --- Global politics --- International politics --- Political history --- Political science --- World history --- Eastern question --- Geopolitics --- International organization --- International relations --- Marxian sociology --- Marxist sociology --- Sociology, Marxian --- Sociology, Marxist --- Communism and society --- Schools of sociology --- Frankfurt school of sociology --- Administration --- Civil government --- Commonwealth, The --- Government --- Political theory --- Political thought --- Politics --- Science, Political --- Social sciences --- State, The --- Political Theory. --- Marxist Sociology. --- Political History. --- Political Science.

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This book aims to further an understanding of present day America by exploring counter-hegemony to the rule of capital and offering guidelines for strategizing change proceeding from the dialectic of What Is and What Ought to Be. The author analyzes neoliberal global order and its political expressions through discussions of the dominance of finance capital in the late twentieth century, the triumph of ideology, the closing of avenues to reform, the problem of the captive state, and a sociological analysis of rule by “divide and conquer.” The book concludes with a look at the history of movement politics in culture, arts, economics, and politics. It resounds with a hope that challenges to hegemony can use many paths to change, of which the electoral path is but one of many fronts, in the long-term struggle for radical reform.

Political science. --- Political theory. --- United States --- Critical theory. --- Social structure. --- Social inequality. --- Political Science and International Relations. --- Political Theory. --- US Politics. --- Social Structure, Social Inequality. --- Critical Theory. --- Politics and government. --- Egalitarianism --- Inequality --- Social equality --- Social inequality --- Organization, Social --- Social organization --- Critical social theory --- Critical theory (Philosophy) --- Critical theory (Sociology) --- Negative philosophy --- Administration --- Civil government --- Commonwealth, The --- Government --- Political theory --- Political thought --- Politics --- Science, Political --- United States-Politics and gover. --- Criticism (Philosophy) --- Philosophy, Modern --- Rationalism --- Sociology --- Frankfurt school of sociology --- Socialism --- Social sciences --- State, The --- United States—Politics and government. --- Political science --- Democracy --- Liberty --- Anthropology --- Social institutions --- America --- Equality. --- American Politics. --- Social Structure.