REVISITING THE THEORY OF DERIVATION AND ITS CRITICISM OF THE LIMITS OF THE SOCIAL STATE – A TIMELY REFLECTION FOR OUR DAYS

Abstract

This article intends to revisit the Theory of the Derivation of the State (TDE), a Marxist current that emerged in Germany in the seventies of the last century, and which brought a great contribution to the Marxist critique of the welfare state. The theoretical formulation of the theory of derivation begins with a critique of the concept of the State, as shaped by the liberal political-legal tradition, and which is based on its differentiation in relation to civil society. In this separation, the State presents itself as a public, impersonal instance, separated from the dynamics and clashes of social life, and focused on meeting the general interests of society. Thus, a conception of the State based on a dual structure (private and public) of modern society was formulated. As a result, an adequate resolution of the conflicts and contradictions of capitalist society can only happen, according to modern political-legal thinking, through a political instance separated from society, in which the mediation of conflicting interests will occur, with the formation of minimum consensus and the adoption of measures of public interest. Derivation theory reveals the problems and contradictions of this conception. For this theory, the State presents itself as a fundamental contradictory social relation, which can only be explained in light of the basic contradictions of capitalist sociability. It is therefore necessary to formulate a theory of the State closer to the concreteness of the totality of social reality.