Book Reviews : Regional Problems and Policies in Italy and France. By KEVIN ALLEN and M. C. MACLENNAN. (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1970. Pp. 352. $13.50.)
| Author | Robert D. Putnam |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591297202500423 |
| Date | 01 December 1972 |
| Published date | 01 December 1972 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
800
istic
culture
rather
than
the
rational
awareness
of
a
class-conscious
international
proletariat.
Thus,
alienation
today
bears
very
little
resemblance
to
Marxist
theory.
In
the
advanced
capitalist
countries
the
factors
and
variables
responsible
for
aliena-
tion
are
different
from
those
identified
by
Marx
over
a
hundred
years
ago;
therefore
also
the
perceptions
and
actions
of
the
workers
have
changed.
Had
Ollman
taken
into
consideration
the
writings
of
such
contemporary
critics
of
Marxism
as
Dahren-
dorf,
Feuer,
Mandel,
Bendix,
and
Tucker,
it
is
doubtful
that
he
would
have
viewed
present-day
capitalism
with
the
same
Marxist
puberty
as
he
did
in
the
last
part
of
his
book.
A
somewhat
different
approach
to
Marx’s
theory
of
alienation
is
presented
by
Paul
Craig
Roberts.
In
his
Alienation
and
the
Soviet
Economy,
Roberts’
approach
is
to
look
for
the
cause
of
alienation
not
in
the
division
of
labor
(or
private
property)
as
Ollman
did,
but
in
the
commodity
mode
of
production,
i.e.
the
method
of
eco-
nomic
organization
in
a
market
system.
According
to
Roberts’
interpretation
of
the
source
of
Marxian
alienation,
in
communism
division
of
labor
remains
-
though
its
deleterious
effects
would
be
mitigated
by
social
regulation
of
production
-
and
commodity
production
ceases.
The
important
difference
is
that
labor
and
the
products
of
labor
no
longer
are
commodities.
For
the
very
same
reason,
Roberts
ignores
Marx’s
relational
view
of
reality
as
well
as
his
conceptual
framework
for
dealing
with
human
nature;
both
are
overemphasized
by
Ollman.
Since
Roberts’
aim
is
to
explain
the
operation
of
the
Soviet
economy
in
terms
of
its
organizational
principles,
he
uses
Marx’s
theory
of
alienation
to
demonstrate
that
the
Soviet
economy
is
a
polycentric
organizational
system
that
produces
&dquo;commodities&dquo;
and
in
which
managers
organize
production
by
interpreting
signals
other
than
price
and
profit
movements.
The
institution
of
material
supply,
the
absence
of
a
legal
market
for
industrial
materials,
and
the
substitution
of
other
signals
for
price
and
profit
signals
are
seen
as
the
result
of
unsuccessful
efforts
to
establish
a
non-commodity
mode
of
production.
Roberts
goes
as
far
as
stating
that
&dquo;if
we
define
capitalism
organizationally
as
did
Marx,
Bukharin,
and
Lenin,
then
the
Soviet
economy
is
capitalist.&dquo;
Roberts,
of
course,
takes
a
much
more
favorable
position
toward
capitalism
than
Ollman.
As
a
non-Marxist,
he
argues
that
just
as
the
division
of
labor
and
private
property
are
not
unique
to
capitalism,
neither
are
exploitation
and
greed.
Because
of
human
nature,
they
are
found
also
in
non-capitalist
systems,
including
those
of
socialism.
More
importantly,
however,
these
phenomena
do
not
necessarily
generate
class
consciousness
and
class
conflict
as
Marx
prophesied;
they
can
be
mediated
and
channeled
in
more
peaceful
directions
than
world
revolution.
In
this
both
writers
are
in
agreement.
PETER
A.
TOMA
University
of
Arizona
Regional
Problems
and
Policies in
Italy
and
France.
By
KEVIN
ALLEN
and
M.
C.
MACLENNAN.
(Beverly
Hills:
Sage
Publications,
1970.
Pp. 352.
$13.50.)
With
the
comparative
analysis
of
public
policies
rapidly
becoming
one
of the
&dquo;growth
centers&dquo;
of
our
discipline,
we
should
welcome
the
appearance
of
this
study
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