New Trends in Foreign Marxist Critiques of Capitalist Modernization

Modernization in the 21st century exhibits stage-specific characteristics of rapid transformation, accelerated development, profound change, and deep adjustment. Under the impetus of the new technological revolution represented by computers, big data, and artificial intelligence, capitalist modernization has undergone new changes, and its productive forces have achieved unprecedented expansion. However, due to the inherent contradictions of capitalism itself and the problems exposed in the process of capital accumulation on a global scale, capitalist modernization, even in the digital age, remains a troublemaker in the world modernization process. Foreign Marxism, grounded in the characteristics of the New Era, combines the critical stance of Marxism with new theoretical resources, launching new critiques of capitalist modernization, and exhibiting trends in three aspects.

21世纪的现代化呈现出快速转型、加速发展、深刻变革、深入调整的阶段性特征。在以计算机、大数据、人工智能为代表的新科技革命加持下，资本主义现代化出现了新的变化，其生产力得到了前所未有的拓展。但由于资本主义自身的固有矛盾以及资本在全球积累过程中暴露出的问题，使得资本主义现代化即使在数字化时代，仍然是世界现代化进程中的麻烦制造者。国外马克思主义立足于新的时代特征，把马克思主义的批判立场与新的理论资源相结合，对资本主义现代化展开了新批判，并呈现出三个方面的趋势。

First, a shift from diachronic critique to synchronic critique. The critique of capitalist modernization in the 20th century displayed a relatively pronounced "diachronic" character. This manifested as foreign Marxists, basing themselves on the Marxist world-historical perspective, situating modernization within the historical process of development. It was akin to making a vertical connection of modernization, starting from feudalism and pre-modernity, to explore the formation and development of capitalist modernization, to reflect on its characteristics and manifestations, and to criticize its negatives and drawbacks. In contrast, the critique of capitalist modernization in the 21st century exhibits a "synchronic" character. After modernization entered the 21st century, it has become a broad "context," with various critical themes, perspectives, discourses, and concepts all reflecting new features of modernization. The critique of capitalist modernization in this period is like making a horizontal cut of modernization. Critics are no longer entangled in the ins and outs of modernization, nor are they limited to historical retrospection. What they seek is the concentrated embodiment of modernization and its internal connections. Against this backdrop, for the critique of capitalist modernization, what matters is its existence, manifestations, and characteristics in the present, with emphasis on the impact of this modernization on the living conditions of contemporary people.

一是从历时性批判转向共时性批判。20世纪的资本主义现代化批判呈现出比较明显的“历时性”特征，这表现为，国外马克思主义者立足马克思主义的世界历史观，将现代化置于历史发展过程，就如同对现代化进行纵向联结，从封建的、前现代化开始，去探究资本主义现代化的形成与发展，去反思资本主义现代化的特征与表现，去批判资本主义现代化的消极与弊端。相比之下，21世纪的资本主义现代化批判显现出“共时性”的特征。现代化进入21世纪后，已经成为一个大的“情景”，各种批判主题、角度、话语、概念都反映出现代化的新特征。这一时期的资本主义现代化批判，就如同对现代化进行横切，批判家们已经不再纠结于现代化的来龙去脉，不再局限于历史的追溯，他们要的是现代化的集中体现，求的是现代化的内在联系。在此背景下，对资本主义现代化批判而言，重要的是其在当下的存在、表现和特征，重视的是这种现代化对当代人生存状态的影响。

Second, a shift from the critique of modernity to the critique of modernization itself. Foreign Marxists in the 20th century paid more attention to the core concept of modernization—modernity. The critique and reflection on modernity became an effective tool for analyzing the rational essence of capitalist society and also became the theme running through the entire 20th-century critique of capitalist modernization. However, the critique of capitalist modernization in the 21st century no longer focuses on discussing the issue of the rationality of modernity. This is because, in the view of foreign Marxists, most countries and regions in the current era have already been integrated into the process of modernization, gradually moving toward a more mature modern society. Whether it is the crisis of industrial civilization or alienation, both have become established facts of modern society. The critique of capitalist modernization in this period no longer judges the suffering or alienation people experience based on external criteria, but instead emphasizes starting from the social subject's own feelings, beliefs, and actions to judge the negative degree of capitalist modernization. Therefore, focusing on the "present" of capitalist modernization, on its own structure, development path, power control, new contradictions that emerge, and the consequences of its expansion to the world, has become the main content of the current foreign Marxist critique of capitalist modernization.

二是从对现代性的批判转向对现代化本身的批判。20世纪的国外马克思主义者更关注现代化的核心概念——现代性。对现代性的批判和反思成为分析资本主义社会合理本质的有效工具，也成为贯穿整个20世纪资本主义现代化批判的主题。但21世纪的资本主义现代化批判不再把重点放在讨论现代性的合理性问题上。这是因为，在国外马克思主义者看来，当今时代大多数国家和地区都已经被整合进现代化进程中，逐渐走向更为成熟的现代社会。工业文明的危机也好、异化也罢，都成为现代社会既定的事实。这一时期的资本主义现代化批判，不再是从外在的根据来判断人们所遭受的痛苦或异化，而是强调要从社会主体自己的感觉、信念、行动出发来判断资本主义现代化的消极程度。因此，关注资本主义现代化的“当下”，关注资本主义现代化自身的结构、发展道路、权力控制、新的矛盾呈现以及向世界扩展的后果，就成为目前国外马克思主义资本主义现代化批判的主要内容。

Third, a shift from socio-cultural critique to political critique. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, a group of foreign Marxists took it as their mission to reveal the oppression of human nature and society by capitalist modernization, putting forward critical theories with far-reaching influence. Critical theory recognized that it is the capitalist system that leads to social irrationality, thereby giving rise to many concepts such as the critique of instrumental reason, the critique of the culture industry, the critique of capitalist ideology, and the critique of one-dimensional society. However, critical theory was mainly developed within the domains of sociology, psychology, and epistemology, and was more often presented in the guise of a socio-cultural or ideological critique. Entering the 21st century, political critique has gradually become the core of the critique of capitalist modernization. From the critique of new imperialism and the critique of neoliberalism to the critique of spatial politics, the critique of biopolitics, the critique of state governance, and even including the critique of digital capitalism and the critique of ecological justice, all exhibit distinct characteristics of political critique. Core terms such as hegemony, power control, equality, justice, and biopower have become conceptual sources capable of inspiring a more radical critique of capitalist modernization.

三是从社会文化批判转向政治批判。早在20世纪初，一批国外马克思主义者就以揭示资本主义现代化对人性和社会的压迫为使命，提出了具有深远影响的批判理论。批判理论认识到是资本主义制度导致了社会的不合理，由此也衍生出诸如工具理性批判、文化工业批判、资本主义意识形态批判以及单向度的社会批判等诸多概念。但批判理论主要在社会学、心理学和认识论的论域下展开，更多的是以一种社会文化或意识形态批判面目示人。进入21世纪后，政治批判逐渐成为资本主义现代化批判的核心。从新帝国主义批判、新自由主义批判到空间政治批判、生命政治批判、国家治理批判，甚至包括数字资本主义批判、生态正义批判，都具有鲜明的政治批判的特色。霸权、权力控制、平等、正义、生命权力等核心词成为能够激发出更为激进的资本主义现代化批判的概念源泉。

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心