The Dialectical Self: Kierkegaard, Marx, and the Making of the Modern SubjectAlthough Karl Marx and S ren Kierkegaard are both major figures in nineteenth century Western thought, they are rarely considered in the same conversation. Marx is the great radical economic theorist, the prophet of communist revolution who famously claimed religion was the opiate of the masses. Kierkegaard is the renowned defender of Christian piety, a forerunner of existentialism, and a critic of mass politics who challenged us to become the single