Erik Olin Wright

How to Be an Anticapitalist in the Twenty-First Century by Erik Olin Wright offers a compelling and insightful exploration into the criticisms of capitalism and the possibilities for developing a more equitable society. Wright skilfully dissects the core tenets of capitalism, highlighting both its contributions to global productivity and the significant human suffering it has caused. Through a nuanced analysis,...

Class, Crisis and the State is a foundational work of 20th century socialist thinking. Wright redraws our conception of the core problems of Marxism. This book intervenes in four theoretical areas of deep importance to contemporary Marxism. Class is reconceptualised to reflect the realities of developed, service-oriented economies. Wright then takes aim at classical theories of crisis, using modern recessions...

Erik Olin Wright taught the course Sociological Marxism for nearly three decades. Generations of influential thinkers passed through the course, and it took on an almost mythic stature on the left and throughout the discipline of sociology. Though it evolved over time, the guiding principles remained the same: claims about how the world works ought to be testable. Values can...

Questions of class, power and distribution have reemerged as central concerns in the public discourse. When we talk about class, we don't always know what is meant. Is class about income or affect or the ownership of the means of production? Perhaps it is about authority or autonomy? But what happens when, as is often the case in complex advanced...