Bad Marxism Capitalism and Cultural Studies

Cultural Studies commonly claims to be a radical discipline. This book thinks that's a bad assessment. Cultural theorists love to toy with Marx, but critical thinking seems to fall into obvious traps. After an introduction which explains why the 'Marxism' of the academy is unrecognisable and largely unrecognised in anti-capitalist struggles, Bad Marxism provides detailed analyses of Cultural Studies' cherished moves by holding fieldwork, archives, empires, hybrids and exchange up against the practical criticism of anti-capitalism. Engaging with the work of key thinkers: Jacques Derrida, James Clifford, Gayatri Spivak, Georges Bataille, Homi Bhabha, Michael Hardt and Toni Negri, Hutnyk concludes by advocating an open Marxism that is both pro-party and pro-critique, while being neither dogmatic, nor dull.

John Hutnyk is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and the Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, London, and the author of Critique of Exotica: Music, Politics and the Culture Industry (Pluto Press, 2000). He also wrote The Rumour of Calcutta: Tourism, Charity and the Poverty of Representation (Zed, 1996) and was co-editor of Dis-Orienting Rhythms: The Politics of the New Asian Dance Music, (with Sanjay and Ash Sharma, Zed, 1996) and Travel Worlds: Journeys in Contemporary Cultural Politics (with Raminder Kaur, Zed, 1999).