Focusing on Marx's theory of crisis, Grossman aims to show that radical assessments of Marx's theory suffer from a failure to appreciate the scientific nature of his method. He especially refutes those Marxists who cling to the results of the theory, thus isolating particular themes from the body of Marx's "Capital" and expanding these into comprehensive explanations of the development of capitalism. Grossman suggests that Marx's method is the key to understanding capitalist production as a contradictory social movement - on the one hand a system for producing the general material needs of society and, on the other, a system motivated by the restricted aim of private accumulation.