ABSTRACT
When compassionate theorists think that their society is dominated by a rich elite whose interests conflict with the interests of the poor, they ask how the vast majority of the nonrich could acquire the motivations needed to change society. I will be investigating two answers to this question, one over a century old, the other in the process of creation. The old answer is Marx’s account of how workers under capitalism acquire the motivation to carry out a socialist revolution. The new inquiry is an effort by those who have abandoned Marx’s socialist hopes to see what role their residual Marxist beliefs could play in projects of reform.
