Rough Theory

Welcome to rough theory

The original concept for this site was to provide a location where I could do “theory in the rough” – experimenting with draft concepts and posting work-in-progress as I worked on my doctoral thesis. Initially, I assumed, I would be posting mainly for myself and the small number of other people involved in a research project with which I was associated at the time. Before too long, however, conversations broke out, here and at other blogs, and these interactions with a supportive and thoughtful community have made the site far more valuable and productive than I could originally have imagined.

I began the site early in my doctoral studies, and in the beginning the entries skittered across various situational topics. As the focus of my doctoral thesis came more clearly into view, the posts here also became more consistently focused on the problem of how to interpret the opening volume of Marx’s Capital – a theme that has now dominated the blog for the past couple of years.

A couple of different drafts of the thesis, including the final submitted version, can be found under the Thesis tab; even earlier draftwork and conceptual sketches can be found under the Marx tab. The dissertation was submitted in 2010.

As of July 12, 2011, I have moved new blogging over to a new blog, Uncomfortable Science. I’ll keep this site online as an archive of my postgraduate work.