On The Theory of Transitional Conjunctures

Among the most important advances in Marxian theory in recent years have been the methodological and philosphical contributions of Louis Althusser and his colleagues. Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff's "The Theory of Transitional Conjunctures and the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism in Western Europe," as one of the first serious contributions of this school to emanate from the United States, deserves serious consideration. In this paper I point out some of the more vulnerable points in their methodological framework, which can be identified as a form of the traditional "coherence theory of truth," shorn of the latter's commitment to the unity of knowledge. The shortcomings of this approach are seen as resulting from an insufficiently developed conception of the Marxian dialectic, especially in the area of subject-subject relations. I suggest that further development of this school will depend on a strict attention to the separation of the theoretical concepts of sites and practices, which have hereto fore been theoretically fused. I then draw the implications for the analysis of feudalism which the authors have offered.