Contradiction, antagonism and agency: Concerns about Postone

Abstract

This article discusses two of Postone’s proposals in his analysis of modern capitalism. The first focuses on the critique of the transhistorical character of labour, which gave rise to social mediations in the form of the State through the notion of redistribution. The second covers his structural interpretation of capitalism, in which he sidesteps the notion of class struggle by separating contradiction from antagonism. The article argues that this separation originates in the author’s understanding of dialectics, which has implications for how contemporary social mobilizations against dispossession are understood.