This book approaches migration from Marxist feminist, anti-imperialist, and anti-colonial perspectives. The present conditions of transnational migration, best described as a kind of social expulsion, include migrant caravans and detained unaccompanied children in the United States, thousands of migrant deaths at sea, the razing of self-organized refugee camps in Greece, and the massive dispersal of populations within and between countries. Placing patriarchal capitalism, imperialism, racialization, and fundamentalisms at the center of the analysis, Marxism and Migration helps build a more coherent and historically-informed discussion of the conditions of migration, resettlement, and resistance. Drawing upon a range of academic disciplines and diverse geopolitical regions, the book rethinks migrations from the vantage point of class struggle and seeks to ignite a more robust discussion of critical consciousness, racialization, militarization, and solidarity.

Harshly exploited migrant labour plays a fundamental role in the political economy of contemporary capitalism. The abstract and utopian theorising of many liberals and leftists on the migration question often ignores or downplays patterns of displacement and brutal class dynamics, which divide and weaken working people while empowering the ruling class. In this important new book, Hannah Cross provides a sober analysis of the class antagonisms of migration in the context of the nation, social democracy, and the racialized ordering of the world. Bringing Marxist methodology and strategy to a careful analysis of existing emancipatory movements, she sets out the programmes and approaches that are needed to promote global worker solidarity and create a future in which cheap labour is no longer a mainstay of wealthy economies. This focus on the labouring classes allows her to identify some important new directions for migration in a world beyond capitalism, exploitation and injustice. This book will be essential reading for students, scholars and general readers interested in the politics and political economy of migration in a world unhelpfully caught between racist authoritarian capitalism and the wishful-thinking of contemporary left-liberalism.

This book presents a Marx that is in many ways different from the one popularized by the dominant currents of twentieth-century Marxism. The dual aim of this edited volume is to contribute to a new critical discussion of some of the classical themes of Marx’s thought and to develop a deeper analysis of certain questions to which relatively little attention has been paid until recently. Contributions of globally renowned scholars, from nine countries and multiple academic disciplines, offer diverse and innovative perspectives on Marx’s points of view about ecology, migration, gender, the capitalist mode of production, the labour movement, globalization, social relations, and the contours of a possible socialist alternative. The result is a collection that will prove indispensable for all specialists in the field and which suggests that Marx’s analyses are arguably resonating even more strongly today than they did in his own time.

An international set of eminent scholars examine the contemporary relevance and continuing contribution of Marx's work. This indispensable volume presents Marx's theories in a new light, both for specialists who might think they already know everything about Marx and for a new generation of readers who are approaching his work for the first time.

A beautifully written exploration of religion’s role in a secular, modern politics, by an accomplished scholar of critical theory Migrants in the Profane takes its title from an intriguing remark by Theodor W. Adorno, in which he summarized the meaning of Walter Benjamin’s image of a celebrated mechanical chess-playing Turk and its hidden religious animus: “Nothing of theological content will persist without being transformed; every content will have to put itself to the test of migrating in the realm of the secular, the profane.” In this masterful book, Peter Gordon reflects on Adorno’s statement and asks an urgent question: Can religion offer any normative resources for modern political life, or does the appeal to religious concepts stand in conflict with the idea of modern politics as a domain free from religion’s influence? In answering this question, he explores the work of three of the Frankfurt School’s most esteemed thinkers: Walter Benjamin, Max Horkheimer, and Theodor W. Adorno. His illuminating analysis offers a highly original account of the intertwined histories of religion and secular modernity.

Edited collection on migration and civil society

This book reveals how migrants shape the politics of their countries of origin, drawing on research from Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador and their diasporas, the three largest in Latin America. Luis Jiménez discusses the political changes that result when migrants return to their native countries in person and also when they send back new ideas and funds—social and economic “remittances”—through transnational networks. Using a combination of rich quantitative analysis and eye-opening interviews, Jiménez finds that migrants have influenced areas such as political participation, number of parties, electoral competitiveness, and presidential election results. Interviews with authorities in Mexico reveal that migrants have inspired a demand for increased government accountability. Surveys from Colombia show that neighborhoods that have seen high degrees of migration are more likely to participate in local politics and also vote for a wider range of parties at the national level. In Ecuador, he observes that migration is linked to more competitive local elections as well as less support for representatives whose policies censor the media. Jiménez also draws attention to government services that would not exist without the influence of migrants. Looking at the demographics of these migrating populations along with the size and density of their social networks, Jiménez identifies the circumstances in which other diasporas—such as those of south Asian and African countries—have the most potential to impact the politics of their homelands.