[artinfo] Marxist Humanism and Communication Theory (book)

[Christian Fuchs]

Christian Fuchs,
Marxist Humanism and Communication Theory.
Media, Communication and Society, Volume One
New York: Routledge. 2021
ISBN 9780367697129 (paperback).
ISBN 9780367697136 (hardback). ISBN 9781003142959 (ebook). 310 pages.

https://fuchsc.uti.at/books/marxist-humanism-and-communication-theory/

This book outlines and contributes to the 
foundations of Marxist-humanist communication 
theory. It analyses the role of communication in 
capitalist society.

Engaging with the works of critical thinkers such 
as Erich Fromm, E. P. Thompson, Raymond Williams, 
Henri Lefebvre, Georg Lukács, Lucien Goldmann, 
Günther Anders, Jean-Paul Sartre, M. N. Roy, 
Angela Davis, C. L. R. James, Rosa Luxemburg, Eve 
Mitchell, and Cedric J. Robinson, the book 
provides readings of works that inform our 
understanding of how to critically theorise 
communication in society. The topics covered 
include the relationship of capitalism, racism, 
and patriarchy; communication and alienation; the 
base/superstructure-problem; the question of how 
one should best define communication; the 
political economy of communication; ideology 
critique; the connection of communication and 
struggles for alternatives.

Written for a broad audience of students and 
scholars interested in contemporary critical 
theory, this book will be useful for courses in 
media and communication studies, cultural 
studies, Internet research, sociology, 
philosophy, political science, and economics.

This is the first of five Media, Communication 
and Society volumes, each one outlining a 
particular aspect of the foundations of a 
critical theory of communication in society.*

Table of Contents*

1. Introduction

2. Erich Fromm and the Critical Theory of Communication

3. Revisiting the Althusser/E. P. 
Thompson-Controversy: Towards a Marxist Theory of 
Communication

4. Raymond Williams's Communicative Materialism

5. Henri Lefebvre's Theory of the Production of 
Space and the Critical Theory of Communication

6. Towards A Critical Theory of Communication 
with Georg Lukács's and Lucien Goldmann

7. Günther Anders's Critical Theory of Technology

8. Jean-Paul Sartre as Social Theorist of 
Communication. An Engagement with "Critique of 
Dialectical Reason"

9. M. N. Roy, Socialist Humanism, and the Critical Analysis of Communication

10. Capitalism, Racism, Patriarchy

11. Conclusion