Classical Marxism (conflict structuralism) Flashcards
Classical marxism - base and superstructure
Marx viewed the economy as the driving force of society which determined nature of social institutions
Structure of society divided into 2 parts
1. The economic base/ infrastructure, consisting of the means and relations of production
2. The superstructure, including social institutions eg media, religion, family etc, primarily determined by the economic base
Means of production definition
the key resources necessary for producing society’s goods, eg factories, land and machinery
Relations of production meaning
the forms of relationships between those whose involved in production, such as cooperation, private ownership (slavery) and control
Marx view of private ownership and social class
- labour is the whole source of wealth
- in simple societies everyone had to work to survive in sustenance farming so everyone was on the same economic level
- as soon as societies started producing more than they need, private ownership started to emerge, with some of society not needing to work anymore
- as means of production developed new relations of production emerged (from slavery to feudalism to capitalism and eventually, according to Marx, to communism)
Communism definition
an equal society without social classes or class conflict, in which the means of production are the common property of everyone
Marx - view on exploitation
- argues that workers produce more than what is needed for employers to pay them wages (called surplus value, creating profit)
- therefore workers do not receive the full value of their work and are exploited
Surplus value definition
the extra value added by workers to the products they produce, after allowing for production costs and their wages, which goes to the employer in the form of profit
for example, in a burger chain, only half the burgers sold are necessary to cover production costs and wages, and the rest of the sales go towards profit for the owners and the corporation, meaning workers don’t receive the full value of their work
Marx - capitalists and workers
2 basic social classes: the bourgeoisie who own the means of production and the proletariat workers, who have to make a living by selling their labour power
the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat by keeping wages as low as possible to maximise surplus value
Bourgeoisie (or capitalists)
is the class of owners of the means of production in industrial societies, whose primary goal is to make profit
Proletariat is
the social class of workers who have to work as they don’t own the means of production
Labour power definition
refers to people’s capacity to work
people sell their labour power to employers in return for a wage, and employers buy only their labour power, not the full worker as they did in slavery
Marx - class conflict
exploitation of proletariat creates major differences in interests of classes, which creates class conflict
eg proletariat want higher wages but bourgeoisie want more profit
Marx - the ruling class
argued that the bourgeoisie was the ruling class and had ultimate power, with the state primarily concerned with protecting them, as they determine the workforce and economy
Marx - dominant ideology
the ruling and dominant ideas are those of the ruling class and societal institutions like media reflect the dominant ideology
for example, religion acts as the “opium of the people”, persuading the proletariat to accept the dominant ideology by “drugging” them with promises of heaven for accepting their suffering
the proletariat fails to recognise their exploitation as they’re brainwashed into the dominant ideology through false class consciousness
False class consciousness definition
a lack of awareness among people about their real interests, and the false belief that everyone benefits from the present organisation of society which is presented as fair and just
Marx - revolution and communism
believed that eventually class consciousness would happen and the proletariat would become aware of their exploitation due to growing inequality, and then mass protest would lead to a revolution placing the means of production into the hands of state and being run by everyone, creating a communist society without exploitation, classes or class conflict
Strengths of classical marxism
- recognises importance of economy and how economic changes affect other institutions
- explains social inequalities in wealth and power
- recognises importance of social structure and ideas of groups
- remains highly influential and influences other perspectives
Weaknesses of classical marxism
- predictions of revolution have not come true and standards of living have improved under capitalism for many
- overemphasises extent of conflict
- does not account for the new, managerial middle class or new types of non-manual labour
- too deterministic, seeing individuals as simply passive and lacking choice
- metanarrative (criticised by postmodernists)
- postmodernists view media as having more influence than economy
Harvey (1990) - critique of classical marxism
with globalisation, national governments have less power and more power lies with transnational corporations who produce goods in countries with low labour costs and sell them in countries where prices are high
therefore capitalism has spread throughout the world, making it possibly stronger than ever
Current communist regimes
China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea all profess allegiance to marxist beliefs
How much of the world’s population live under communist regimes today?
Around 1/5
