A Survey of Critical Theories of "Western Marxism"

Abstract

"Western Marxism" first made its appearance in the early 1920s and rapidly developed and spread after the Second World War, especially since the mid-1950s. Currently, it is not only popular in the advanced capitalist countries of Europe and America, but also commands considerable influence in some socialist and Third World countries. One of the major reasons for its broad influence is that it has managed to grasp the modern-day characteristic of scientific technology increasingly becoming the primary force of production, and to use this to carry out multi-faceted observations and criticisms of contemporary capitalist society. In this way, it has expressed a positive and actively critical spirit. In this article, we shall provide a general survey of some critical theories of Western Marxism.