doiSerbia

Should Marx's theory of social development be forgotten?

Bolčić Silvano (Filozofski fakultet, Beograd)

The first decade of the 21st century is marked by serious drawbacks in economic and overall social development even in the most advanced countries. New knowledge is being searched for, and at the same time interest is revived in classical and new theories of development. Without attempting to present a return to the 'big', classical theories of development, including Marx's theory of social development, as the sufficient starting ground for finding solutions to contemporary problems, this paper offers a relatively comprehensive 'rereading' of some of Marx's writings. The intention is to overcome certain misinterpretations of Marx's understanding of the 'logic' of the transformation of modern (pre-capitalist, capitalist and 'future') societies and to place again on the 'working table' of sociologists and other social scientists some of the key questions that Marx confronted while studying transformations of 19th century capitalist societies. Marx's theory of social development, it is argued, cannot be reduced to 'economism', 'technological determinism', or any other form of mono-causal explanation of key factors of social development. Of crucial importance is his complex investigation of historical 'formation of societies', differences in 'logics' of 'building', functioning and 'deconstruction' of specific 'historical societies', with a particular emphasis on the role of various 'social actors' in those transformations. If this 'rereading' is accepted, it becomes evident that is impossible and unadvisable to forget Marx' theory of social development.

Keywords: contemporary social problems, classical and contemporary theories of development, Marx' theory of social development, actors of social change