Robert G. Urquhart
Associate Professor
What I do
My work is grounded in the economic theory of Karl Marx, and later figures in the Marxist tradition, especially members of the Frankfurt School of Critical Social Theory. It is inter-disciplinary, combining economics, philosophy, and psychology. My recent focus has been on the concept of the individual.Specialization(s)
History of Economic Thought, Economic History, Critical Social Theory
Professional Biography
Dr. Urquhart has been teaching at the University of Denver since 1989. He teaches courses on the History of Economic Thought and Economic History, as well as an advanced seminar on Marx’s Capital. In research he has written extensively on 18th-century political economy, especially the work of James Steuart and Adam Smith. His current work focusses on the concept of the individual. It adopts the inter-disciplinary approach of Critical Social Theory, which sees society as a totality that must be understood through critique of the structures of domination that sustain it. In this view – as opposed to the isolated individual of mainstream, neoclassical economic theory – the individual is seen as constituted through autonomy in relation: that is, to be an autonomous individual is to stand in relation to other individuals.
Areas of Research
18th-century Political Economy
Marxian Economic Theory
Critical Social Theory
Feminist Theory
Presentations
. (2018). Metabolism, Process, Product: a note on Marx's concept of labour. History of Economics Society. Loyola University, Chicago: History of Economics Society.
