Uneven and Combined Development - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#13423268
I have a question on Trotsky's theory of Uneven and Combined Development (UCD).

(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uneven_and ... evelopment and http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky ... r/ch01.htm).

While it has traditionally been used for analysis in the capitalist mode of production, there have been recent attempts to extend UCD as an explanation/theory/law of historical development as a whole (for example Justin Rosenberg). In other words, rather than specific to capitalism, it is transhistorical. Is this valid?

Now it seems to me the UCD is indeed a transhistorical phenomenon. Societies have never existed in the singluar, and therefore multiplicity has always played a determinant role in societal development. With this in mind, is it feasible to employ UCD heuristically as a 'general abstraction'?
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By Le Rouge
#13423472
I think uneven and combined development explains why societies haven't linearly marched from primitive communism to classical slavery to feudalism to capitalism. Moreover, many of these different modes of production have co-existed in the same society and some modes of production don't necessarily fit into the schema of European development.
By anticlimacus
#13452289
With this in mind, is it feasible to employ UCD heuristically as a 'general abstraction'?


This theory, like Althusser's "overdetermination" is good in order to understand historical development, period. It is something Marxism has given to understanding history. But it is wrong, in my opinion, to assume that communism is a foregon conclusion, or the natural place to which all societies must progress--that is if they are to "progress".

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