ABSTRACT
This chapter explains that the causal mechanisms central to societies that are organized around a capitalist mode of production are class struggle and inter-capitalist competition. It tries to state and to illustrate the way in which Marxist theory is evaluated by reference to experience, that is, actual historical events. It describes the development of a crisis in the United States steel industry. The chapter is concerned with a very small part of this debate, namely to show how abstract laws and concrete events may be linked to provide an evaluation of theory. It aims to show that it is possible in some circumstances to measure the contribution of different mechanisms to an outcome and to show how our knowledge of these mechanisms can be tested by evaluating their use in explaining actual historical circumstances. The chapter is contributes to the academic discourse about the scientific nature of Marxist geography.
