Marx an analytical sociologist?

In UnderstandingSociety: Marx an analytical sociologist?, it is argued that Karl Marx built his understanding of society on microfoundations rather than the large scale structures of society.

Marx is often thought to be a "structuralist" thinker, highlighting large social processes and entities such as the mode of production, the economic structure, and social class (for example, by Althusser and Balibar in Reading Capital). However, I argued in The Scientific Marx (1986) that a careful examination of Marx's economic writings reveals something quite different. I argued, first, that Marx embraced the idea that social explanations require microfoundations.

As I read the article, these microfoundations are based in individuals. It is the aggregation of the desires, expectations, and actions that give rise to class interest.

The article also places Marx's theory into rational actions within historically constituted choices, and causal mechanisms within the existing institutions of society.

The subjective view of the world determines what choices are seen to be available, while the restriction on choices determines the objective reality.

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