Marxist thought emerged in the context of rapidly industrializing capitalist societies and sought to explain the conditions and trajectories of those societies through analysis of their material contradictions. There’s a quite obvious reason for that, which is that postmodernism and Marxism, as intellectual traditions, are in many respects quite antithetical. Michel Foucault (who amusingly appears twice) was a historian and philosopher broadly associated with poststructuralism.Īs some have been quick to point out, a few of the figures mentioned are observably not postmodernists (Catherine McKinnon, who Peterson includes, once authored an essay quite literally titled “Points Against Postmodernism”), and it’s debatable how many are even remotely associated with anything resembling “Marxism.” By way of justification, the author offered the following, as if revealing some buried truth to readers: “I made this list public because I’m frequently criticized for being unable to name a single thinker whose thought exists at the nexus of postmodernism and Marxism.” Adding further to the impression of someone engaged in deep thought, Peterson also tweeted out excerpts from the Wikipedia pages on postmodernism and Marxism - excerpts that read just as disparately as his initial list of names.
Ta-Nehisi Coates rose to prominence writing about racism in America and making the case for reparations. Robin DiAngelo, meanwhile, has worked as a consultant for some of corporate capitalism’s biggest firms. This list is not complete.”Īnyone possessed of even a passing familiarity with a few of these names is liable to find Peterson’s list quite disparate: Naomi Klein, for example, is probably best known for her work on disaster capitalism.
NEO MARXISM SERIES
Earlier this week, in a characteristically bizarre series of tweets, Jordan Peterson published a list of writers he considers “PostmodernNeoMarxists,” which ran as follows: “Ibram X Kendi, Ta-Nahesi-Coates, Robin DiAngelo, Kimberle Crenshaw, bell hooks, Andrea Dworkin, Michel Foucault, Naomi Klein, Catherine McKinnon, Judith Butler, Jacques Derrida and, perhaps above all, Michel Foucault.
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