Value Dimension of Development Perspective (Critique and Transcendence of "Productivism")

Author: He Huaiyuan
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-12-01
Features: This book, through the study of the theories of "Productivism" and "Critique of Productivism," aims to transcend both "Productivism" and the "Critique of Productivism" theories, clarify misunderstandings about Marx's material production concept, scientifically locate the social and historical role of material production, establish a scientific standard for evaluating the humanistic, economic, and social values of material production, summarize the experiences and lessons of China's economic development since the reform and opening-up, and discuss from a theoretical depth the logical basis and practical logic of adhering to the Scientific Outlook on Development. The introduction traces and organizes the different contexts and meanings of the concept of "Productivism," studies the history and current state of the "Critique of Productivism," and distinguishes the "Critique of Productivism" into three levels: narrow productivism critique, broad productivism critique, and productivism ideological critique. On this basis, it proposes the theoretical significance and practical value of studying, critiquing, and transcending productivism and the critique of productivism. A narrow productivism society is a "production-consumption society," while a broad productivism society is a "consumption-production society." The former is a production-led society, where the logic of production dominates the operation and development of society; the latter is a consumption-led society, where the logic of consumption dominates the operation and development of society. Correspondingly, narrow productivism critique critiques the "production-consumption society," while broad productivism critique critiques the "consumption-production society." The critique of productivism also delves into the ideological level of the productivism system, critiquing the productivism concept as a historical materialist worldview, as well as the fundamental concepts that make producers into productivists, thereby supporting the unlimited expansion of material production.
Chapter 1 begins by analyzing the disagreements among scholars in China and abroad in understanding Marx's concept of material production and proposes three methods for correctly understanding Marx's material production concept. Method I involves focusing on and transcending "strong texts" and "strong textual expressions." A "strong text" refers to works that have played or are playing a dominant role in confirming and spreading Marxism. A "strong textual expression" refers to theoretical viewpoints and passages that the author gives prominent expression, summary, and emphasis throughout the text. The purpose of distinguishing between Marx's "strong texts" and "strong textual expressions" is to remind people to pay attention to them, understand and grasp the important ideas, theories, and viewpoints that Marx sought to express based on them; at the same time, it reminds people to transcend them, not to linger solely on these expressions, especially not to take them out of context or misinterpret Marxism. Method II categorizes Marx's texts into four types: "public texts" (autonomous public texts), "class public texts," "sub-public texts," and "non-public texts," and proposes the ordering of Marx's texts based on the sequence of intention and responsibility and the sequence of writing time. Method III is the fundamental purpose of theoretical research and the systematic interpretation of the textual system, requiring readers to always locate each text in the position and significance it holds in Marx's theoretical system under the overarching purpose of Marx's writing.
Chapter 2 lays the Marxist theoretical foundation for transcending the theories of "Productivism" and the "Critique of Productivism" through the study of Marx's concept of material production. This book argues that Marx transcends productivism based on his analysis of production from the perspectives of its ideal, actual, and combined aspects. This book emphasizes that young Marx distinguished "labor" from "alienated labor" at the philosophical level, exposing the nature of "alienated labor" in the production activities of workers in capitalist society, which became his lifelong "ideal paradigm" for critiquing the productivism economic system. When he examined material production itself at the economic level, he saw the inevitability of capitalist production and the social problems brought about by the dominance of material production over the entire society. Marx sought to find theoretical ideas and practical paths to transcend productivism in the tension between the ideal nature of "labor" and the real necessity of capitalist "production" and the "alienated labor" of humans. This chapter systematically answers an important question raised in the introduction, with the conclusion that Marx is a profound and systematic theorist who critiques productivism society.
Chapter 3 reviews the revelations and critiques of productivism's self-reflexivity by Western scholars, particularly Western Marxists, post-Marxists, as well as some economists, sociologists, and cultural theorists. The unlimited expansion of productivism, driven by the material interests of producers, inevitably leads to crises in the production process and an imbalance in the relationship between humans and nature, trapping material production in increasingly deep dilemmas. The way out of the operational crisis of the productivism system is world trade. Scholars have used paradigms such as imperialism, dependency theory, and the world-systems paradigm to analyze and critique capitalism, which, led by world trade, brings economic colonization along with political and cultural colonization, leading to the social self-reflexivity of productivism on an international scale. After the "production society" enters the "consumption society," to continue production and reproduction, productivism manipulates the cultural meaning of commodities through cultural symbols, regulating the material value of commodities with the meaning it assigns, subverting and repeatedly defining the use value of things, and turning production into a "creative destruction" process of use value and wealth. The world becomes a "world of things that are born and die by day." Human production activities become Sisyphean labor. Productivism exhibits extreme value self-reflexivity. Self-reflexivity fully exposes the limitations, irrationality, and absurdity of productivism.
Chapter 4 selects the three major ideological concepts supporting the productivism system—nature, human nature, and development—and summarizes the critiques by scholars of these three concepts in the West, which have been polluted and distorted by productivism. The concept of "nature" has become a "productive view of nature" after the scientific "disenchantment" stage alongside the Industrial Revolution, with the real natural world colonized by commodities. The concept of "human nature" has formed an anthropological tradition of "I consume, therefore I am" from Plato to Freud, evolving through the extreme tension between desire and reason in the Middle Ages to the "" of the Renaissance, shaping the commercial cultural temperament of contemporary Western society. When humans are completely naturalized and instinctualized, the humanities and social sciences once again loudly proclaim "human-centeredness," thus realizing the collusion between the concept of "human nature" and the productivism system. The concept of "development" praises "achievement," encourages "competition," equates development with "economic growth," and, through development, creates "civilization" and "savagery," "modernity" and "tradition," distinguishing civilization and society as "advanced" and "backward," supporting the hegemony of Western culture and social systems. It can be said that the operational mechanism of the productivism system is emotional regulation, and in this system, people receive "self-tormenting pleasure" and "satisfying dissatisfaction."
Chapter 5 proposes a new value evaluation approach for comprehensively transcending "Productivism" and the "Critique of Productivism" based on the Marxist concept of material production, absorbing and learning from the theoretical achievements of productivism critique while overcoming its shortcomings. It proposes a tripartite value theory of material production, achieving the high unity of the humanistic, economic, and social values of material production. The internal relationship within this tripartite value system is one of mutual support, mutual restraint, and equivalence. The Scientific Outlook on Development proposed by China is a specific embodiment of its practical model. The development concept based on this value evaluation system has two key points: "people-centeredness" and comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable development. In handling relations between countries, it reflects a humanistic sentiment of "bonds of friendship across vast distances," "friendly neighbors," "prosperous neighbors," and "peaceful neighbors." The ultimate goal is to build a harmonious socialist society.