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— CH. 1 · FLEEING THE STORM —

Richard D. Wolff

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  • Richard David Wolff was born on the 1st of April 1942 in New Rochelle, New York. His parents had fled Nazism to escape Germany during World War II. They settled in a quiet town where his father traded his law career for work as a steelworker in Youngstown, Ohio. This sudden shift from lawyer to laborer shaped the young boy's worldview. He grew up convinced that understanding the political and economic environment he lived in was an urgent matter. That sense of urgency made him different from many fellow kids who did not feel the need to navigate an unstable world. He learned early that unexpected things happen often tragically. Being flexible became crucial to survival.

  • Wolff began teaching at City College of New York in 1969. He soon collaborated with economist Stephen Resnick who joined the faculty in 1971. Resnick had been denied tenure at Yale University after signing an anti-war petition. Together they formed a powerful academic alliance. Their early co-authored publication appeared in the Review of Radical Political Economics in 1979. The article explored the transition from feudalism to capitalism focusing on class dynamics. They analyzed Marxian class theory as the study of surplus labor performance. Their collaboration extended to works like Knowledge and Class which drew on Louis Althusser and Étienne Balibar. They identified class processes such as ancient slave feudal capitalist and communist.

  • Unlike most modern economists Wolff is skeptical of mathematical methodology in economics. He wrote with Stephen Resnick in Contending Economic Theories that there is no necessity to use mathematics. Everything in economics can be explained just as clearly and logically without it. They further speculate that usage of mathematical methodologies is motivated by the desire of neoclassical economists to bestow on their work the aura of science. Its purpose often suggests that economic theories have the force of mathematical necessity. This absolute truth is often associated with hard natural sciences rather than social ones. Wolff argues against the claim that 2 plus 2 equals 4 being the only standard for truth.

  • Wolff was a founding member of the Green Party branch in New Haven Connecticut. He ran as its mayoral candidate in 1985. In 2011 he called for a new left-wing political party in the United States. He remains a regular lecturer at the Brecht Forum in New York City. One of his students George Papandreou served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2009 to 2011. Papandreou campaigned against austerity but implemented a criticized program after Greece's debt crisis. CUNY professor Costas Panayotakis noted this contradiction. Wolff continues to teach graduate seminars and undergraduate courses at The New School.

  • Wolff hosts the weekly thirty-minute-long program Economic Update produced by Democracy at Work. The non-profit organization produces media and live events advocating workplace democracy. It is based on his 2012 book titled Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism. The show appears on YouTube Free Speech TV WBAI-FM in New York City. It also airs on CUNY TV and is available as a podcast. Hans G. Despain wrote a review arguing that ideas presented deserve wide support. He believed they could repoliticize the American population and rejuvenate citizens.

  • The New York Times Magazine named him America's most prominent Marxist economist. Wolff has taught economics at Yale University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University and other institutions. He retired from UMass Amherst in 2008 becoming professor emeritus. He now serves as a visiting professor in international affairs at The New School. His dissertation published as a book in 1974 covered British Colonialism in Kenya between 1895 and 1930. He co-founded Rethinking Marxism in 1988 serving on its editorial board for over two decades. He remains on the advisory board as of 2025.

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Common questions

When and where was Richard D. Wolff born?

Richard David Wolff was born on the 1st of April 1942 in New Rochelle, New York.

What is Richard D. Wolff known for regarding economic methodology?

Richard D. Wolff is skeptical of mathematical methodology in economics and argues that everything can be explained clearly without it.

Who did Richard D. Wolff collaborate with to form an academic alliance?

Richard D. Wolff collaborated with economist Stephen Resnick who joined the faculty at City College of New York in 1971.

Did Richard D. Wolff run for political office and when?

Richard D. Wolff ran as a mayoral candidate for the Green Party branch in New Haven Connecticut in 1985.

What program does Richard D. Wolff host and what organization produces it?

Richard D. Wolff hosts the weekly thirty-minute-long program Economic Update produced by Democracy at Work.

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