Post-structuralism and Marxism: education as knowledge capitalism

This paper argues for 'post-structural Marxisms' as the pedagogical practice of reading and rereading Marx in a critical manner. It is less concerned to give an account of social class or of the changing historical relevance of this concept in relation to education than to argue for the continued relevance of Marx and Marxism, especially in relation to what shall be called 'knowledge capitalism'. First, the paper briefly discusses the concept of the social in the post-modern condition before reviewing the relations between post-structuralism and Marxism, and giving responses to the crisis of Marxism. Post-structuralism, it is argued, is neither anti-structuralist nor anti-Marxist. Secondly, the paper provides an account of Deleuze's Marxism (libidinal materialism), using it to analyse education as a form of 'knowledge capitalism'