On 09/08/2005, at 4:11 PM, Richard Bailey wrote:
<cut>I wonder what others here think of the work of Hardt and Negri and Paolo
Virno? They argue that Foucault did not sufficiently comprehend the link
between biopolitics and the development of labour as commodity. Their
work is derived from Italian operaismo that began with Tronti and
others. Deleuze makes reference to Tronti in his book on Foucault and
speculates that Tronti may have developed similar insights to Foucault
in the 60s. I see their work as an essential addition to Foucault (or
perhaps as a Foucauldianised Marxism) which returns retains the
materiality of power.
Richard
Hi Richard,
Virno's work on the multitude - from what I know of it - reminds me somewhat of that of Balibar (this is a positive in my view).
If you are interested in such theories I'd suggest checking out the Aut-Op-Sy list at http://users.resist.ca/%7Ejon.beasley-murray/index.html
You might be interested in the work of Jason Read, if you do not know it already. Jason combines the approaches of Foucault, Althusser, Negri, Virno, Tronti, Deleuze & Guattari and others in his writings. He has published a book on Marx, three papers in Rethinking Marxism (on Hardt & Negri, Spinoza, and Marx), a paper (on Deleuze & Guattari's reading of Marx) and a review (of Balibar's most recent book) in borderlands e-journal, an essay on subjectivity in the special issue of Pli on Foucault, and a number of other papers are either in print or forthcoming. The existing papers in borderlands can be accessed via the following links:
http://www.borderlandsejournal.adelaide.edu.au/vol2no3_2003/ read_contingency.htm
http://www.borderlandsejournal.adelaide.edu.au/vol3no1_2004/ read_balibar.htm
There is also an interesting review of Read's book by x-border activist Angela Mitropoulos:
http://www.borderlandsejournal.adelaide.edu.au/vol3no2_2004/ mitropoulos_microphysics.htm
I hope these are of some help.
best wishes
David
P.S. If you are interested in works combining Marxism and Foucault I would also suggest the works of Thomas Lemke: http://www.thomaslemkeweb.de/