4- Marx (Collective Action) Flashcards
True or False: Marx believes the political order and economy can be separated
False
What does Marx believe created the modern state?
Private property
What does Marx believe the state is?
An instrument of the ruling class (bourgeoisie)
What is class?
the category that divides or splits society into two
True or False: Marx states that the bourgeoisie used to be revolutionary
True, when they revolutionized to capitalism
What is class consciousness?
Workers becoming aware of oppression
How we get to Marx’s idea of communism?
1) violent struggle –> revolution
2) abolition of private property and planned economy
3) dictatorship of proletariat
4) communist system
What guides commodity capitalist production?
profit and commodity
How can we understand history, according to Marx?
understanding material conditions (how materiality has driven societal change)
How are social relations transformed?
through changes in material conditions
True or False: Marx believes that the proletariat revolution is inevitable
True
Why does Marx critique utopianism?
It is undemocratic, unrealistic, and unncessary
Who is Vaclav Havel?
Political theorist, focused on Marx / how to resist a totalitarian system and post-totalitarian societies
How does Havel critique Marx’s idea of dictatorship
it obscures the real nature of power in the system
everyone is trapped within the state’s ideological system (green grocer)
There’s no symbol of support, but rather fear and obedience
Why Havel no like Marx’s idea of the system?
It suppresses human identity in favor of identity of the system
“Ideology appropriates power from power, has become dictator itself”
True or False: Havel supports violent revolution
False, he supports dissent (consistently and repeatedly breaking rules of the game)
True or False: Systemic changes occurs alongside dissent
False, it is secondary
Who is Aimé Césaire?
Communist poet, focused on colonialism and how European humanism has given rise to Barbarism
What does Césaire believe goes hand in hand with capitalism?
Colonialism
How does Césaire’s alternative look similar to Marx’s revolution?
the colonized take colonist’s place, results in national consciousness
The urban population is priviledged, leaving rural population out & co-opting intellectuals
How does Bennett critique Marx’s idea of materiality?
It separates the world into dull matter (it, things) and vibrant life (us, beings)
How does Bennett want to change Marx’s idea of materiality?
We should attribute agency to nonhuman things (vital materiality)
What does Bennett consider “collective agency”
When humans & nonhumans come together and create action (something bigger than sum of their parts)
Consider nonhuman materialities as participants in political ecology
Why does Bennett want us to accept vital materiality over environment?
We can understand different types of things and their power to understand the effects on the environment (more sustainable)
- Humans and nonhumans are effected, there’s a causality, and a kinship
