Karl Marx is one of the most influential writers in history. Despite repeated obituaries proclaiming the death of Marxism, in the 21st century Marx's ideas and theories continue to guide vibrant research traditions in sociology, economics, political science, philosophy, history, anthropology, management, economic geography, ecology, literary criticism, and media studies.

Due to the exceptionally wide influence and reach of Marxist theory, including over 150 years of historical debates and traditions within Marxism, finding a point of entry can be daunting. The Oxford Handbook of Karl Marx provides an entry point for those new to Marxism. At the same time, its chapters, written by leading Marxist scholars, advance Marxist theory and research. Its coverage is more comprehensive than previous volumes on Marx in terms of both foundational concepts and state-of-the-art empirical research on contemporary social problems. It is also provides equal space to sociologists, economists, and political scientists, with substantial contributions from philosophers, historians, and geographers.

The Oxford Handbook of Karl Marx consists of six sections. The first section, Foundations, includes chapters that cover the foundational concepts and theories that constitute the core of Marx's theories of history, society, and political economy. This section demonstrates that the core elements of Marx's political economy of capitalism continue to be defended, elaborated, and applied to empirical social science and covers historical materialism, class, capital, labor, value, crisis, ideology, and alienation. Additional sections include Labor, Class, and Social Divisions; Capitalist States and Spaces; Accumulation, Crisis, and Class Struggle in the Core Countries; Accumulation, Crisis, and Class Struggle in the Peripheral and Semi-Peripheral Countries; and Alternatives to Capitalism.

Matt Vidal is Reader in Sociology and Political Economy, Loughborough University London, Institute of International Management. His work has been published in Contexts, Critical Sociology, Organization Studies, Socio-Economic Review, Work, Employment & Society, and others. He is author (with David Kusnet) of Organizing Prosperity (EPI) and editor (with Marco Hauptmeier) of Comparative Political Economy of Work (Palgrave). Matt is working on a book, under contract with Oxford University Press: Management Divided: Contradictions of labor management in American capitalism. He is editor-in-chief of "Work in Progress," a public sociology blog of the American Sociological Association on the economy, work and inequality.

Tony Smith is the author of 6 books and over eighty articles on Marx, the critical theory of technology, and issues in normative social theory. His works include The Logic of Marx's Capital: Replies to Hegelian Criticisms; Globalisation: A Systematic Marxian Account; and Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism: Marxism and Normative Social Theory in the Twenty-First Century.

Tomás Rotta is Senior Lecturer in Economics in the International Business & Economics department at the University of Greenwich in London, UK, and member of the Greenwich Political Economy Research Center (GPERC). He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA, an MS in Economic Development and a BA in Business Management from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He specializes in Political Economy.

Paul Prew specializes in Marxist theory and environmental sociology. He has forthcoming chapters summarizing the work of Karl Marx in Reaktion and Routledge Presses and prior publications include the topics of critical pedagogy, perceptions of police misconduct, and the effect of the world-economy on carbon-dioxide emissions. At Minnesota State University, Mankato, he teaches courses in graduate and undergraduate theory, indigeneity and environment, globalization, and introduction to sociology. Dr. Prew is also the treasurer for the Marxist section of the American Sociological Association as well as the local non-profit, Mankato Area Fair Trade Town Association. At his university, he has received the Global Citizen, Diversity Champion, and the Kessel Peacemaker Awards.