Critiques: In Defence of Development

Critiques offers a compelling defence of development, showing that Marxist approaches to this contentious concept still have much to offer us today.

Tom Brass pushes back against claims that development is outdated, environmentally destructive and Eurocentric, arguing instead for the revival of a Marxist analysis focused on class struggle, economic production and redistribution. The book takes aim at two dominant interpretations of rural development: populism and postmodernism. Under the misleading guise of new paradigms, these approaches have sought to exorcise two ghosts: not just development itself, but also Marxist theory about development. The book includes a discussion of one aspect of the debate about racism – labour market competition – and asks why the reproduction of this ideology is more acute at some historical conjunctures but not others. This same question, Brass suggests, can also be asked about the “industrial reserve”.