Gouldner's Struggle with the Ghost of Marx

A review essay on Alvin W. Gouldner's Against Fragmentation: The Origins of Marxism and the Sociology of Intellectuals (New York: Oxford U Press, 1985 [see listing in IRPS No. 31]). This volume contains some of Gouldner's best insights on Marxist theory, eg, his fairly convincing arguments that Karl Marx's ideology was developed to serve alienated intellectuals as well as the interests of the Wc. Using a SofK approach, he argues that the Marxist critique of alienation, for example, corresponds more to the existential conditions of "New Class" intellectuals such as Marx & Friedrich Engels than to the plight of the underprivileged industrial Wc. Gouldner makes original contributions to the analysis of the effects on Marxism of conflicts between revolutionaries of the artisan & intellectual classes, & his critique of the appeals & internal weaknesses of Marxism presents a wide variety of seminal ideas. Gouldner's views on the source of Marx's amazing creativity has interesting implications for the understanding of other creative theorists. 3 References. R. Wright