Social relations of production from an Open-Marxist point of view are understood as the exploitation of labour by capitalists, the bourgeoise vs. the proletariat. The idea that labour sell their power for a wage. A Neo-Gramscian analysis has a much wider view of production than Open-Marxism, “production . . . is to be understood in the broadest sense. It is not confined to the production of physical goods used or consumed. It covers the production and reproduction of knowledge and of the social relations, morals and institutions that are prerequisites to the production of physical goods” (Cox 1989: 39)

The class systems within Europe have changed dramatically in the last 50 years. The idea that there is a clearly defined bourgeoisie and proletariat now seems alien with the rise of the so called ‘middle classes’. Thus class struggle itself cannot be assessed from an inter-class perspective but rather an intra-class analysis is needed, analysing the relationships inside so called classes can lead to a more realistic explanation of social forces of production.

A neo-Gramscian approach accounts for the role that globalisation has played in the development of EU integration. Globalisation is key to explaining the neo-liberal development of EU economic policy. The idea that world order has effected the way in which the EU has developed is not accounted for by an Open-Marxist interpretation. Globalisation is arguably the next stage in the development of capitalism and has influenced heavily EU economic integration in order to compete with world markets and in particular American hegemony.