Chapter 7 - Marxism

Question 1

Marx’ essence of capitalism

Answer 1

mode of production in which one class of people - the bourgeoisie or capitalist class - exploited another class of people - the proletariat or working class

commodity production is generalised (production for competitive market, not for personal consumption)

competition is necessary to survive in the market place -> constant need for innovation + higher productivity
*this lays the basis for globalisation: the expansion of capitalist social relations beyond national borders

capitalism is progressive: develops the productive forces + creates the working class (gravediggers of class society)

Question 2

Marx opinion on social analysis

Answer 2

starting point = material social relations
- focus on the way in which production is organised (production necessary for existence of societies)

Question 3

superstructure vs mode of instruction

Answer 3

superstructure = culture, norms, ideas, institutions and the state

mode of production = technologies and instruments (forces of production) and the social relations that characterise the way in which goods are produced

in Marx idea: mode of production determines the superstructure

Question 4

idea of the state

Answer 4

structuralist analysis: state is part of the superstructure and thus epiphenomenon of the economic structure of capitalist society

state as an instrument of the powerful interests that dominate the economic base

Question 5

Gramsci’s understanding of hegemony

Answer 5

political outcomes aren’t simply driven by changing capitalist interests (structural logic of capital), but by more contingent outcomes of political mobilisation

Question 6

how did capitalism lay the foundations for socialism?

Answer 6

• based on exploitation of the working class, this class has unique capacity to overthrow a mode of production based on exploitation
• competition between capitalist companies led to the development of productive forces (combination of machinery, technology and labour) -> massive increase total wealth, but capitalist class owns means of production and thus gains the most

the proletariat is/was unique in history: came together in the production process far more than productive class in the past

the working class has a central role in bringing about socialism

Question 7

marxism, capitalism and nationalism

Answer 7

argument that capitalism progressively expands beyond nation states and creates a world market

Marx + Engels: nationalism will gradually diminish in the face of the unifying logic of a global capitalist political economy
- the working men have no country`

Question 8

marxist economism and capitalist diffusion

Question 9

globalisation

Answer 9

the spread of capitalist social relations beyond its core heartlands

economistic + structural approach: globalisation as progressive development in human history

can be seen as regrettable: it is exploitative, but also necessary because it overthrew pre-capitalist modes of production

Marx sometimes argued colonialism was progressive (+ the best thing to happen in Asia as it brought the only social revolution ever heard of)

Marx argued that the free trade system is progressive as it breaks up old nationalities and pushes the antagonism of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie to the extreme point. in a word the free trade system hastens the social revolution

Question 10

economistic approach

Question 11

structuralist approach

Question 12

aanvullen met onenote