List of Figures and Tables Preface to the Second Edition Introduction Chapter 1: Base and Superstructure: Marx's Theory of History Introduction: Sociology confronts History-Class as the Basis of Social Structure and the Backbone of History Section 1.1: Is There a Logic to History? If So, What Is It? Section 1.2: What Is the Basis of Social Structure? Section 1.3: Have States Always Existed? Section 1.4: Have Classes Always Existed? Section 1.5: What Is Feudalism? What Is Liberalism? Section 1.6: What Causes Social Movements and Social Change? Section 1.7: Are Events Inevitable? Was the French Revolution Inevitable? Section 1.8: What Are the Dynamics of the Modern World? Section 1.9: What Are the Fundamental Problems of the Modern World? Section 1.10: Are Classes in the United States Based on Exploitation? Summary and Conclusion: History, Historical Sociology, and Comparative History Chapter 2: Surplus Value: Marx's Economics Introduction: Marxist Economics and the Science of Social Change Section 2. 1: What Is a Commodity? What Is the Labor Theory of Value? Section 2.2: What Is Surplus Value? Section 2.3: What Is Overproduction? How Can There Be Too Much Food, Housing, or Health Care? Section 2.4: What Are the Dynamics of Production for Profit? Section 2.5: Why Is There Unemployment? Section 2.6: Who Benefits from Racism and Sexism? Section 2.7: How Much Misery Is There in the United States? Section 2.8: Is the United States a Land of Exceptional Mobility? Does It Matter? Section 2.9: Why Are There Economic Depressions? Section 2. 10: Why Has the U.S. Been "Number 1?" Summary and Conclusions: Economics and Political Economy Chapter 3: Class Struggle: Class, Party, and Political Theory Introduction: Economic Determinism Versus Political Processes and Ideas-A False Debate Section 3.1: What Is the Basis of a Truly Free Society? Section 3.2: What Are Capitalists' Political Resources Under Capitalism? Section 3.3: What Are the Crucial Political Changes in the World Today? Section 3.4: How Does Capitalist Politics Change? Section 3.5 What Is Fascism? Section. 3.6: What Determines Different Degrees of Destructiveness of Fascism? Section 3.7: What Is a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat"? Section 3.8: What Are the Main Varieties of Marxism? Section 3.9: Why Did Socialism Collapse in the USSR and China? Section 3. 10: What Does the Collapse of Socialist World Powers Mean for Change? Summary and Conclusion: Marxist Political Theory Chapter 4: Applying Dialectics: Some Issues in the Philosophy of Science Introduction: Dialectics-A Way of Looking at the World, or the Way the World Works? Section 4.1: Is a Science of Society Possible? Section 4.2: What Are the Main Sources of Error in Social Theory? Section 4.3: Are Attempts at Neutrality a Guarantee of Objectivity? Section 4.4: Crisis and Change Section 4.5: Can Social Science Be Value-Neutral? Should It Be? Section 4.6: Is Society Based on the Thoughts of Its Members? Section 4.7: What Are Ideologies? Section 4.8: What Contradictions Exist in Society? Section 4.9: Can One Find Laws of Change in History? Section 4.10: What Possibilities Are Open to Human Society? Summary and Conclusions: Contradictions, Dialects, and Science Index About the Authors