Elements for an Emancipatory Sociology: An Appraisal of the Work of István Mészáros

This panel, co-sponsored by the journal Critical Sociology, seeks a fresh exploration of the voluminous work of István Mészáros (1930-2017). It specifically proposes to consider the immediate relevance of his dialectical approach to the current global crisis and the political economy of transition away from capitalism. We aim to assess the extent to which his work offers strategic elements for building an emanicipatory and praxis-oriented critical sociology. Mészáros put forth numerous assertions of key importance for the understanding of economy and society. But is it true that current economic downturns reflect a continuation of an accumulation crisis already developed in the 1970s, the very same crisis which forced the global systemic turn towards neoliberalism? Has the structural crisis of capital now come up against its absolute limits as Mészáros suggests? Are new limits on capital reproduction now being expressed in an ecological and epidemiological form? Or are we on the edge of a “restructuring crisis” that will yield modest structural reconfigurations which can once again permit a restoration of the rate of profit achieved in earlier historical periods? By exploring these and related questions, this panel sets out to critically evaluate the emanicipatory insights of Mészáros and concretely assess their implications for the global struggle against capital.