"It takes a step back, then two steps forward": Ellen Wood and the return to political theory against the trap of fragmentary analysis

Abstract

This paper analyzes Ellen Wood's work to understand how the "retreat" from the centrality of the class as a unifying category of human experience affects the possibility of facing the substantial emptying of democracy. The dynamic is to clarify the proposal of Substantive Democracy. After, to discuss the importance of redefining the concept of social class to think about the world today. Lastly, to assess practical obstacles that constitute theoretical obstacles to overcoming the "recession of Marxism". The argument is anchored in the defense of political theory as an "exercise of persuasion" based on real problems that the author seeks to answer and overcome. As a result, we highlight the search for a political theory of Wood's work and, for this, it is understood that: (1) Substantive Democracy is not possible in capitalism, marked by the separation of political and economic; (2) it is necessary to understand the class struggle, first, locally and nationally to confront dependency and enable autonomous national development strategies.