Marxist Theory and Social History of the Global South

Analysing the trajectory of global capitalism as seen from working class and anti-colonial movements in the Global South, this book demonstrates how theoretical work in Marxist political economy and scholarship in social history can work in tandem to articulate the structures of world-historical capitalism.

Marxist Theory and Social History of the Global South presents a distinct approach to social history, exploring Marxist theory from an explicitly anti-imperialist perspective from the Global South to unfolding Marxist political economy, empirical work on anti-fascist movements in the 1970s Global South, engagement with experimental art as left politics in the Global South, historiographies of labor movements, and writings on historical method. Approaching the humanities and the social sciences through the lens of anti-authoritarian, anti-imperialist Marxist political economy, this book engages with Marxism articulated in a range of different forms to determine that one must break with nationalist historiography and must not view decolonization as a uniform struggle against colonialism for all people. Analysis must view decolonization as affecting categories of people unevenly and narrate decolonization through the overlooked question of class struggle to effectively dismantle power and hierarchy.

Providing an important theoretical framework for contemporary Marxist theory and social history, Plys has created a key resource for advanced students and researchers in sociology, social theory, political science, postcolonial studies, economics, and cultural studies, expanding coverage of a deeply overlooked area in political sociology.

Kristin Plys is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto and was J. Clawson Mills scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. She has published two award winning books, co-edited a special issue of Political Power and Social Theory, and published 20 articles in important peer-reviewed journals. Her books include Brewing Resistance (2020) and Capitalism and Its Uncertain Future (2022) with Charles Lemert, won honorable mention for the PEWS Immanuel Wallerstein Memorial Book Award from the American Sociological Association.