A Study On The Class Theory Of Neo-Marxism Urban School

Class is a major issue in the Marxist theoretical system.Neo-Marxism urban school,represented by Henri Lefebvre,David Harvey,Manuel Castells,and Edward W.Soja,adheres to the Marxist viewpoint on class and class struggle,and in their theoretical works,they make an overall analysis of the class situation in contemporary capitalist society in relation to the root causes behind the urban crisis in Western countries in the 1960 s,which provides directions and ideas for us to recognize and understand the class problem under new historical conditions.Based on the classical texts of neo-Marxism urban scholars,this thesis provided a systematic and comprehensive study of the class theory of neo-Marxism urban school on the basis of sorting out and drawing lessons from the existing research results.The transformation of capitalist mode of production and the emergence of urban crisis have brought ‘space’ into the research field of neo-Marxism urban school.Under the influence of Humanist and Scientific Marxism of the same period,they continued Marx’s critical theory of capital,inherited the analytical framework of Marx and Engels’ class theory,creatively proposed a class theory in the field of urban studies.This thesis took the analysis of urban space capitalization by neo-Marxism urban school as a starting point to explain the dynamic mechanisms of capital accumulation and spatial generation,and then led to the new changes of class status revealed by neo-Marxism urban school in the context of urban capitalization.In the view of neo-Marxism urban scholars,the spatial turn of capital exploitation mechanism has profoundly affected the economic,political and cultural spheres of society,and the class situation has undergone some changes in the new historical conditions.The tendency of class differentiation was intensified by the artificially created spatial divisions,while the bourgeoisie also weakened the revolutionary consciousness of the working class through the strategy of spatial dispersion,making it difficult to advance the anti-capitalist struggle.According to the current development situation,neo-Marxism urban school advocated a timely adjustment of the class struggle strategy.Since it is the capitalist spatial production that has created the evil of injustice,the solution to the problem must start from the root,which is to target the old unequal spatial order,unite all oppressed forces to launch the urban revolution and urban social movement with the goal of fighting for urban rights.Reinventing the face of urban space through urban spatial struggle is the final point of the theoretical construction of neo-Marxism urban school.Whether it is the socialist differential space,or the dialectical utopian ideal,or the open third space,all embody neo-Marxism urban scholars’ aspirations for spatial justice.Taking spatial justice as a clue,neo-Marxism urban school drew a characteristic picture of the integration of urban space and class.They explored new theoretical growth points under the framework of Marxism,opened up a new perspective of class analysis and a new form of class struggle,which is a powerful defense and innovative development of Marx and Engels’ class theory.However,while affirming its theoretical contribution,we should also see that the class theory of neo-Marxism urban school has the problem of restricted urban space perspective,with strong utopian color,and there are differences within the school,facing both theoretical and practical dilemmas.We should draw on the reasonable elements,and combine them with the specific reality of China’s urbanization construction to build a people-oriented,pluralistic and distinctive harmonious socialist society.