Cornel West and the Politics of Prophetic Pragmatism

In this lucid and impassioned critique of the work of Harvard University professor Cornel West, Mark David Wood examines West's philosophy of prophetic pragmatism. Creatively combining elements of Christianity, pragmatism, and Marxism, West has articulated a liberationist 'theology of the streets' that seeks to expand freedom and democracy throughout society. Indeed, West has become one of the most publicly influential black intellectuals in the United States and contributed significantly to the development of the progressive pragmatist political tradition. Wood evaluates the political consequences of a shift in West's position from an earlier, revolutionary socialist stance to a later, progressive reformist one. In his early writings, West condemned capitalism as antidemocratic and contended that struggles against racism must be advanced as part of an international working-class movement against capitalism.Wood shows how West's subsequent reworking of Marxism supports his transition from a socialist to a progressivist politics. No longer arguing for public control of social production, West now identifies the major enemy of black survival as nihilism and seeks to expand democracy within the boundaries of capitalist property relations in the United States. In criticizing West's post-Marxist tendencies to downplay deep structural antagonisms, avoid class-struggle, and abandon internationalism, Wood counters that struggles for ecological integrity, human rights, and social justice should be explicitly linked to the goal of socializing production to satisfy human needs and support universal individuation. His critique constitutes an important contribution to the development of a perspective that aims to enable U.S. workers and their allies to build a global society that is genuinely democratic.