EXIT! (or alternatively: ''Exit!'') is a German journal of social criticism, and discussion group formed in 2004. The journal is published by the publishing house ''Zu Klampen Verlag''. The journal has a value-critical (German: ''Wertkritik'') approach, both to the contemporary

mode of production In the Marxist theory of historical materialism, a mode of production (German: ''Produktionsweise'', "the way of producing") is a specific combination of the: * Productive forces: these include human labour power and means of production (tools, ...

, and its critique of traditional marxism, as well as their

critique of political economy Critique of political economy or simply the first critique of economy is a form of social critique that rejects the conventional ways of distributing resources. The critique also rejects what its advocates believe are unrealistic axioms, flawe ...

.Marxism and the Critique of Value, Neil Larsen, Mathias Nilges, Josh Robinson, and Nicholas Brown, MCM' Publishing, 2014, p.xi,xii,xiv,xxv,xvl,xlvii, EXIT! thereby subjects "abstract labour" and its expressions of value, commodity, money and market to a categorical critique. The value dissociation criticism (German: ''Wertabspaltungskritik'') of the philosopher Roswitha Scholz occupies a large space in the journal.

Content and influence

A few of the subjects that the journal addresses are critiques of economics, anti-politics, critique of traditional Marxism (''Weltanschauungsmarxismus; English: Worldview Marxism)'', crisis ideologies and critique of

ideologies An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...

, the end of

modernization Modernization theory or modernisation theory holds that as societies become more economically modernized, wealthier and more educated, their political institutions become increasingly liberal democratic and rationalist. The "classical" theories ...

, critique of anti-German ideology,

critique of work Critique of work or critique of labour is the critique of, or wish to abolish, work ''as such'', and to critique what the critics of works deem wage slavery. Critique of work can be existential, and focus on how labour can be and/or feel meani ...

and abstract time, critique of the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

& Human Rights Ideology, critique of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

as the

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular Society, socio-Culture, cultural Norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the ...

postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...

subjectivity, democracy and

anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

populism Populism is a essentially contested concept, contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the "common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently a ...

and "the false immediacy of the left". But big data, and criticism of monetary value theory, and a range of other topics has also been covered. RobertKurz

Some of the authors featured in the journal include Robert Kurz, Roswitha Scholz, Claus Peter Ortlieb, Tomasz Konicz, Anselm Jappe etc. The journal originated in the German speaking world, but have had all the more influence internationally due to translations to Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, French, Spanish, and others. There has also been a rather rich translation of the works of the EXIT! group, with 15 languages being covered only on their own site. There has been a especially high amount of translation specifically to Portuguese and Spanish with several scholars and institutions adopting the theories of EXIT! in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

History

The group Exit! emerged from a split in the Krisis group. Krisis was founded by the philosopher Robert Kurz and others in 1986. Kurz was to become its most active and prominent author, and the group were to become instrumental in the development of value dissociation criticism. Before the split of the group occurred in 2004, Kurz had already managed to publish his seminal work '' Schwarzbuch Kapitalismus'', which

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

had proclaimed one of the most important publications of the decade. However, when the group split, Robert Kurz ended up co-founding the new group with the name of ''Exit!. According to those who would become involved in Exit!, the split was the result of a putsch by a minority of the editorial staff of Krisis. But those who remained with Krisis claimed that it had to do with personal reasons between the members.{{Cite web , date=2004-12-31 , title=Krisis 28 – Editorial , url=https://www.krisis.org/2004/krisis-28-editorial/ , access-date=2023-08-15 , website=Krisis , language=de-DE A few members of EXIT! published a communiqué stating among other facts, that a theoretical conflict had developed due to

Kurz Kurz is a German-language surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Heinz D. Kurz (born 1946), Austrian economics professor * Hermann Kurz (1813–1873), German poet and novelist * Isolde Kurz (1853–1944), German poet and short story ...

critical engagements with anti-Germans. They noted that the majority of the old editorial board from Krisis would start a new project, that was to become EXIT! They also stated that they wanted to keep developing theory that was free of "an ideology of the pro-western ¡hurrah!", as well as expressed an aim to "''we want to offer to the rising social movements a useful critical-solidary reference, instead of the pattern of "left populist" and anti-Semitic thought''".

Sources

External links

EXIT! - Official website(Articles in english)(More articles in english)
* Audio recording of an EXIT! seminar (Gesellschaftliche Naturverhältnisse) from 2013 (in german) * Audio recording of an EXIT! seminar (Krise und Transformation) from 2014 (in german) Magazines established in 2004 German philosophy German-language magazines

Content and influence

History

See also

Sources

External links