Remarks on Alvin Gouldner'sthe two marxisms

Abstract

In my reading, Gouldner's The Two Marxisms provides a brilliant series of metatheoretical reflections on marxian theory, illuminating discussions and criticisms of marxism through a close examination of its paradigmatic texts, and a useful analytical model which describes the basic features of the two conflicting and competing contemporary versions of marxism ("scientific" versus "critical") while reminding us that the "two marxisms" are really both part of the marxian project. Although his sociological critique emphasizes how and why marxism's contradictions and anomalies are suppressed and rationalized, his discussion indicates that marxism, far from being a closed system of finished and unshakeable orthodoxy, is open and demands further development to resolve the problems its own internal contradictions and history have bequeathed. That Gouldner's works offer innumerable contributions to the renewal and reconstruction of contemporary marxism is part of his indispensable value for contemporary social theory.