Capitalism and Problems of Law: A Marxist Critique of Social Rights

Munro, A ORCID: 0000-0002-3433-491X (2026) Capitalism and Problems of Law: A Marxist Critique of Social Rights. Doctoral thesis, Liverpool John Moores University.

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Abstract

The legal human rights project that began in the aftermath of World War II remains incomplete today, especially where economic/social rights (as opposed to civil/political rights) are concerned. Economic/social rights continue to generally be treated as lesser human rights. Cold War-era tensions between the US-led West and the Soviet Union are often blamed for this. This narrative would have it that this differentiation between categories of rights has been resolved by the conclusion of the Cold War, that human rights can now be enjoyed by all at the ‘End of History’ through liberal democracy and capitalism.

This thesis will completely reject this narrative, arguing that social rights are incompatible with capitalism, and that a meaningful conception of those rights cannot be advanced solely through law. For one, capitalist society is defined by delineation between the public sphere of the State and the private sphere of civil society, which tends to separate public political struggle from private economic affairs. The law is not well suited to crossing these illusory divides, confining legal struggles within acceptable limits. Capitalist society is also defined by these private economic affairs conducted between individual legal subjects, meaning that the law tends to take a narrow, individualised form that limits its radical potential.

International legal argument is also too structurally defined by imperial capitalism to accommodate anti-capitalist challenges. The containment of legal principles like sovereignty, rights, democracy, and self-determination has allowed them to be disconnected from each other and defined by those nation-states with the political/economic power to actualise their legal interpretations of those principles. Failing to understand this will undermine any attempt to challenge capitalism’s hegemony through law.

Finally, this thesis will attempt to reconceptualise social rights, arguing that mainstream social rights discourse has tended to take a social-democratic approach in the sense that it attempts to work within the confines of capitalism where it should be challenging them. It will be accepted that social rights are a lesser form of rights, although only in a capitalist society; they relate to processes and goods that are essential for any society. Overlooking the need to challenge capitalism’s confines will mean that these goods and processes remain subject to the power of capital.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Marxism; Social Rights; International Human Rights Law; Marxist legal theory; International law
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HX Socialism. Communism. Anarchism J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) J Political Science > JX International law
Divisions:	Law and Justice Studies
Date of acceptance:	24 April 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	23 September 2026
Date Deposited:	23 Sep 2026 09:11
Last Modified:	23 Sep 2026 09:12
DOI or ID number:	10.24377/LJMU.t.00029472
Supervisors:	Cavandoli, S and Wilson, G
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29472

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