Preface to the 1999 Edition

When I began the thinking that led to this book, Marxism was a lively topic within social and cultural anthropology.In the preface to the first edition that follows, I noted the connection between my work and the academic and political ferment that began in North America in the late 1960s.Thirty years later, the spirit of our times is decidedly different.After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many have consigned the writings of Marx to the dustbin of history, and to many, capitalism now appears as the only possible way to organize modern life.So why return to Marx?My answer is that Marx's analysis of capitalism -as opposed to his more weakly developed notions about socialismcontinues to furnish an indispensable beginning point for understanding our times.All about us, we see an extension of the dynamics that Marx identified and explained: continuing commodification, technological innovation, ensuing competition among capitalists, the increasingly rapid movement of capital across the globe, with continuing crises, booms and busts.Perhaps the most macabre illustration of these processes is the recently uncovered black-market transfer of human body parts from executed prisoners in the People's Republic of China to high-tech medical laboratories of the United States.Decentralizing and fragmenting the production process, blurring old boundaries between nature and culture, these developments have been identified by some as "postmodern." 1 Whether or not capitalism has recently undergone a significant transition, the strength of the boom during the 1990s has begun to outpace that of the 1950s and 60s.And the "good times" generated are apparently not conducive to critical social analysis.But if Marx is any guide, expansion will not continue indefinitely, nor will it spread uniformly across social space.Recently, as I was commenting on the lack of any significant engagement with Marx in recent anthropological discussions, an elder in the field quietly asserted, "Wait until the next stock market crash."Recent successes of world capitalism (ironically) constitute one reason, then, that Marx seems irrelevant to many today.But the collapse and all-1

Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · Globalization and Cultural Identity · Philosophy