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In a past life I went to film school at a very very left-leaning university and distinctly remember learning about Lukács, Gramsci and Althusser as a "Cultural
by thanatropism 8y ago
In a past life I went to film school at a very very left-leaning university and distinctly remember learning about Lukács, Gramsci and Althusser as a "Cultural Marxist" wave that was all about correcting the excessive emphasis on economics of previous orthodox marxism.
So there -- not only the phrase makes perfect sense if you do read Gramsci like I have, it's been uttered by Marxist professors somewhere in the world sometime this century.
- beat 8y agoThe Frankfurt School, which coined the term "cultural Marxism", were German Marxists who survived WWI, saw the revolution fail in Germany and turn to Leninist/Stalinist horror in Russia, and tried to understand what went wrong. They were seeking a route to revolution that was not wracked with violence and dictatorship. Fascinating stuff, actually.
- jahaja 8y agoIt doesn't seem helpful to say that the Frankfurt school coined the term when their academic use is so vastly different from the bullshit we see today.
- thanatropism 8y agoYou should read up on Gramsci. It's not that far removed from the alt-right's straw man -- indeed they seem to be learning tactics from him.
- jahaja 8y agoThanks, his works are on my reading list. Curiously enough, I reckon that the sole reason I've pushed his works down the list is because he's so talked about by the sort of people that like to obfuscate everything in an esoteric language - which I despise.
- thanatropism 8y agoBut neither Lukács (Hungarian iirc), nor Gramsci (Italian, wrote in prison) nor Althusser (at one point the "French Freud" before Lacan rose to prominence) were from the Frankfurt school.