both Hegel and Marx, as dialectical theorists, found their account of the inadequacy of economic thought on the concept of contradiction. the need for a critical approach is justified by the contradictions which are manifest within economic thought and practice. in his analysis of civil society, which he sees as the location of the economic within modernity, Hegel identifies a conceptual contradiction arising from the one-sided nature of this sphere, insofar as it is founded purely on individuality and particularity.