ABSTRACT
Very few Marxist works on the state can be considered pure examples of an instrumentalist, structuralist, or Hegelian-Marxist perspective. The instrumentalist perspective has made a number of important contributions to a Marxist theory of the state. It has generated much research that has helped to build a sociology of the capitalist class. The structuralist analysis of the state categorically rejects the notion that the state can be understood as a simple “instrument” in the hands of a ruling class. As in much of Marxist theory, explanations based on “history” or “class consciousness” or “class struggle” often have a residual quality to them. The capitalist state must be conceived both as a structure constrained by the logic of the society within which it functions and as an organization manipulated behind the scenes by the ruling class and its representatives.
