2014/09/02 by Antón L. Allahar · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Critical Race Theory in Education #Race, History, and American Society #Social and Cultural Dynamics
paper · doi:10.1080/08263663.2014.1013289
openalex publication_date 2014/09/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In Marx’s overall theory of social change he reasoned that the social segment most negatively affected by capitalism was the working class. He felt that it was in the interest of the working class to abolish the system that alienated, exploited, and oppressed them; to overthrow the class that benefitted from their alienation, exploitation, and oppression. Marx’s was thus a class theory of change and this is clearly announced in the opening line of The Communist Manifesto, in which he and Engels affirmed that “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle”. More recently, scholars and analysts working in the critical tradition have challenged what they call the class reductionism of Marxism. Known generally as critical race theorists, these scholars criticize Marx and orthodox Marxists for neglecting the central issue of “race”, some even claiming that their theory is incapable of accommodating the question of “race” as a possible rallying cry in the struggle to overthrow capitalism. For these thinkers, “race” is not a mere epiphenomenon and race consciousness is not false consciousness. The two questions I will pursue in this essay are: Can one embrace the notion of race consciousness and still be a Marxist? And, where does Oliver Cromwell Cox stand?