M2: Marx Flashcards
What was Marx’s overall goal with his sociology of capitalism?
-to critique capitalism
What did Marx describe capitalism as?
-form of economic enterprise and a type of society
What were the two essential elements of economic enterprise?
- capital
- wage labor
What did Marx describe capital as?
-any asset that can be used to secure further assets
What did Marx mean by a ‘type of society’ in his definition of capitalism?
-capitalism is defined by a class society based on the relationship between capital and wage labor
What are class relations?
- relations of conflict or struggle
- they link economic relations to other institutions
What did Marx equate a sociology of capitalism to?
-analysis of class structure
What were the core ideas (6) of Marx’s analysis of class structure?
- relations of production
- concept of class
- polarization thesis
- social superstructure
- theory of surplus value
- pauperization thesis
What are the characteristics of Marx’s relations of production?
- people must produce in order to develop capabilities and power as well as survive
- people always produce as members of a specific type of society (not as individuals)
Under the relations of production definition what is every society founded on?
Definite set of relations of production;
- in order to produce people must enter into social relations
- these social relations are related to class
no
no
How does Marx define classes?
- defined by relationship to the means (forces) of production
- social classes are economic and founded on a material basis
- BUT classes are also defined by a social relationship
What are the means of production under Marx’s definition of classes?
-Things you use in order to produce, raw materials etc.
What is this ‘social relationship’ under Marx’s definition of classes?
-property (legal right over material object enforced by state)
What, under Marx’s concepts of classes, does every society have?
A distinct form/system of;
- economic production and property
- classes
What was the main form of property in capitalist societies?
-capital
How are capitalist classes defined?
- groups of individuals defined by their relationship to ownership of private property in the means of production
- dichotomous in principle
Why are classes dichotomous in principle?
-because 3 classes didn’t fit into either capitalist or workers, they were transitioning to them
What were the 3 exceptions to the dichotomous principle?
- groups who played a major role in political and economic institutions but are marginal (peasants that own their own land)
- groups who are dependent on and identify politically with one of the 2 classes (high managerial worker)
- lumpen proletariat who are not fully integrated into one class (thieves, homeless people)
How does Marx answer to the ‘in theory’ dichotomous class problem?
- with his notion of polarization
- as capitalism develops this will simplify
How does Marx characterize capitalist society?
- analyzing its class relations
- locating its institutions in either the base or superstructure and specifying the relationship between the two
What are the institutions in the base?
-economic institutions
What are institutions in the superstructure?
-political, legal, educational etc.
What does Marx define as the base?
-forces (means) of production and relations of production
What does Marx define as the superstructure?
-rest of social institutions in a society
What is the primary link between the base and the superstructure according to Marx?
-role of classes
What does Marx mean in his quote, “The ruling ideals are the ideals of the ruling class?”
- the base exists to legitimize interests of ruling class
- everyone in a capitalist society believes this is the way things should be
- capitalists don’t have to use force
What inspired Marx to come up with his Surplus value theory?
-to show how the exploitation of workers occurred
What question does Marx’s theory of Surplus value answer?
-where do profits come from?
Why does Marx focus on profits in his theory of Surplus value?
-the pursuit of profit is intrinsic to capitalism
What makes a commodity valuable?
Two analytical separable values:
- use value
- exchange value
What is use-value?
- the need the commodity was created to satisfy
- all products have use value
What is exchange value?
- unique to commodity production
- only find exchange values when you find capitalism
- value when offered for other products
What are commodities?
-products only made for exchange value on the market
Does the exchange of the commodities relate to their use-value?
-`no, it is independent of their use
Can you determine exchange value through use value?
No
What does determine exchange value?
-the labor time it takes to produce
Why is exchange value measured through labor?
- Marx believed labor to be an intrinsic part of human nature
- you give something to the product through your labor
Why isn’t the slowest worker the most valuable then?
-not focusing on individual workers but the total expenditure or socially necessary labor time
Define socially necessary labor time
- time required to produce a commodity under normal conditions
- an average degree of skill and intensity
Where does Marx argue profits come from?
- workers produce more in a day then is needed to satisfy their everyday expenses i.e. surplus value
- what is produced over and above what is required for workers daily profit
What is labor power?
-exchange value of a workers labor power
Who takes the surplus value?
-capitalists use this to make a profit
What struggle occurs over surplus value?
-struggle between capitalists and workers
What is Pauperization?
- group of chronically unemployed individuals
- necessary for capitalism
- called the industrial reserve army
What is the role of the industrial reserve army?
- keep wages low
- fill increased demands for labor during prosperity keeping wages down
- ensures workers are replaceable
How does Pauperization help capitalist development?
- increasing disparity between workers wage and capitalists profits
- growing reserve army living in extreme poverty
What is Marx’s theory of historical materialism about?
-reconstruction of the history of the human species
Why did Marx come up with his theory on historical materialism?
-wanted to make a scientific account of social change
What was Marx’s point of departure for his historical materialist theory?
-labor and mode of production
What two modes of production are there?
- forces (means) of production
- relations of production
What did Weber use to understand Marx’s social change theory?
-Weber’s critique on transition from feudalism to capitalism
What was Marx’s theory of historical materialism?
- history is a coherent process with an order to its development other then chronology
- social change is a deterministic causal sequence
- divides human history into modes of production
What modes of production did Marx outline in his theory of historical materialism?
-tribal to ancient to feudal to capitalist to socialist mode of production
How did Marx explain the movement between stages
-thesis to antithesis to synthesis
How did Marx define a society as one of the modes of production?
-was defined by the relationships between the people that worked
Did Marx believe these modes of production were for only one society?
-no he believed they were universal
What did the quote, “Each societal type contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction and the motive force for movement to a higher stage,” mean
-the dialect between the forces and relations of production would cause each society to change into the next type
What was thesis stage?
-the forces and relations of production are working together
What is the antithesis stage?
- change in forces of production so that they come into conflict with the relations of production
- conflict inhibits economic expansion causing a revolution
What is synthesis stage?
-relations and forces are working together but are new types of both
How does thesis, antithesis and synthesis relate to base and superstructure?
-we have a change in the base with a change in the superstructure following
What was the mode of production in a feudal society?
-agrarian societies of the European middle ages
What was the primary productive property in feudal societies?
-land with labourers legally bound to it
Why do there have to be at least 3 classes in all other types of societies beside capitalism?
-capitalism is classified by being a single class division thus every other society must have at least 3 classes
Who was the ruling class under feudalism?
-land owning aristocracy
What were Serf workers in feudalism?
- workers that generally have a lot of control of the products they produced
- worked on land and were legally bound to land owned by lord
What was a key factor in the transition from a feudal society to a capitalist society?
-Serf workers became wage labourers
What were the 3 main changes in the transition from Serf to wage labourer?
- separation from capital to landed property via growth of towns
- formation of special classes of merchants
- money reduces human qualities to exchange value
What were the special classes of merchants?
- mercantile capital (trade)
- usures capital (interest)
- money (store of wealth)
What does ‘free wage earners’ mean?
-free in sense of free from feudal ties and obligations
When did Marx think the transition from capitalism to socialism would occur?
- he thought he was living close to it
- he lived in England
Under Weber’s interpretation was is a historical necessity?
- revolution
- when antithesis occurs
How did Scholars argue that Marx was still right since capitalism to socialism hasn’t happened?
- working class does not see capitalism for what it is
- working class is a class ‘in itself’
- must become workers united, ‘a class for itself’
- false conscious
