I am writing essay on Marxism and Development Studies: new issues and new direction. For that reason I need some help regarding the issues using Marxism as tool for analysis in development studies research i.e. understanding modes of production and agricultural social relations or perhaps transformations in shape of urban development.
Secondly, I need to know if there is literature, that you know can help me to understand the Marxism and Development Studies as multidisciplinary approach/framework of studying society.
Dear Kashif,
This is certainly an interesting question.
Marxism can provide a solid theoretical critique of today's 'development studies'. At its core, 'development studies' was created as a post-colonial interdisciplinary field of studies--one which aimed aimed to examine and address the developmental gap between Global North and Global South.
For the most part, development studies is bifurcated. On the one hand, there are those who advocate for state-led development. On the other, we have the stern believers in market-led development. The Marxian contribution here is that it brings to the fore the fact that, despite their core ideological discrepancies, both economic models are grounded on surplus value as a means for capital accumulation. That is, despite their methodological and theoretical differences, state-led and market-led development is exploitative at its core. Workers under both economic models are subordinated to the needs and desires of the capitalist/bourgeois class.
In this sense, I think Marxism is particularly useful not only in helping us understand the ways in which global capitalism perpetuates uneven development in the Global North and South but, most importantly, in drawing attention to the inherent flaws of capitalism, helping us, as scholars, to move forward in re-thinking new global political and economic scenarios.
In terms of literature, I would recommend the following:
1. Murat Arsel & Anirban Dasgupta, "Critique, Rediscovery and Revival in Development Studies" Development and Change. 2015. Vol 46(4).
2. Benjamin Selwyn, "Karl Marx, Class Struggle and the Labour-Centred Development" Global Labour Journal. 2014. Vol 4(1)
I hope you find these sources useful.
Regards,
Alejandra makes some good points here
There is also an older debate on precisely this question going back to the 1970's
See Article Critical Development Theory: results and prospects
Back in the late 80s studying at the Institute of Development Studies, we used to read on this topic A. Emmanuel and Samir Amin on Inequal Exchange. And don't forget the Dependency theory by A. G. Frank. But this is a rather outdated approach...
IDS was then top school
Emmanuel on unequal exchange is still a very live issue with financialization
Frank was always too simplistic and mainly popularised in English much more nuanced Latin American authors like Cardoso and Faletto
I would start with dependencia which had much of Marxist backgrounds. Important is to take criticism on board, which was mainly articulated in the 1980s discourses on the end of the Third World and the end of grand development theories. Here a critical reflection needs to be done, which ideas from dependencia can be still considered as valid contribution to development theory / development thinking. I am confident that there is also much that relate to Marxist analysis of society / economy although it is no more so straight forward to argue that once a colony always under-developed; aspects of Marxist thoughts I think are still valid are those around exploitation, unequal trade ......
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