Marx Flashcards
What approach is Sociology dominated by?
Post-Positivism/Structural Functionalism
What is Marx main sociological approach?
Critical Conflict Theory
What is Critical Conflict Theory?
- Society evolves through conflict
- We need to take a critical approach to ^ this fact
- Critique of Capitalism: we might not be living in just social structures, how do social relations form under this economic system, etc.
What are the two main historiographies in sociology?
- Capitalism is good, our economic system is good for us, our society is doing well, DOL will produce good things, etc. (Smith, Durkheim)
- Capitalism is bad, power is the driving force and it produces injustice, oppression, exploitation and ruthlessness, etc. (Marx, Weber)
What is Nomothetic Knowledge
A rule about something that is always true
Marx is a ______ but not a ______
Empiricist, Positivist
He believes in Nomothetic Knowledge and in an Empirical approach, but he is not a Positivist.
What did Marx believe is always impacting what we study and how we study it?
Our subjective reality
What did Marx believe were fundamental to society? What did he believe this seeked to uncover?
Conflict and power.
The underlying process of how oppression works.
Critical Conflict Theory is fundamentally a critique of what?
Illegitimate authority and domination
What is Marx considered the founder of?
Classical Political Economy/Classical Economics
Species Being
Human beings are a species with a distinct social nature that thrives through creative production
Historical Materialism
Who were Marx’ 3 key influences
- Kant
- Hegel
- Feuerbach
German Enlightenment is rooted in _____
Philosophy
Subject dichotomy, Kant
- what is real to us (subjective) based on the environment we grew up in, and what other intersections we lie in (white, female, etc)
- Our socialization gets superimposed upon us
- Led to Empiricism theory
- Kant Apriory Categories: response to empiricism and subject dichotomy.
Kant’s response to subject dichotomy/empiricism
Kant says physical world is real and we can interact with it, so in that way, Empiricism is key. However, the way we subjectively interact with physical objects is different based on subject dichotomy
Apriory Categories, Kant
Kant: categories that we are born with, which we rely upon when we interact with people or things. For example, when we see someone walking towards us, we categorize that person based on what they look like/act like and how our social dichotomy has structured us to act towards people in those categories,
Metaphysics, Kant
The issue of what’s real and how we interact with our reality has a metaphysical manifestation/essence/issue
Dialectic, Hegel
- A discourse with opposing sides
- The beginning state contains the contradictions
- Cyclical in nature
- The antagonism between the two sides brings about change
Alienation, Hegel
- Apriory Categories - because we interact with people through categories, we are alienated
- Categories create contradictions and alienation from our real consciousness
- Hegel is an Idealist
Consciousness, Hegel
- The mind is always evolving towards consciousness
- Contradiction between consciousness and the material world (what we think is real and what is really real) leads to a change in ideas and then a change in social structure
- Turns from sense-certainty to consciousness to self-consciousness (empiricism to enlightenment)
Consciousness, Feuerbach
- Materialist; does not think consciousness brings you closer to God or that God is the one operating behind the scenes
- An evolution in religion doesn’t mean an evolution in self-consciousness
- Religion and God are projections of human nature
Alienation, Feuerbach
- Once we start believing in God and religion, we are alienating ourselves further. Maintains our own self-alienation
Idealism
Social change is produced through changing ideas, ideological currents
Materialsm
Social change is produced through changes in economic forces
- Marx is considered a materialist
Praxis
The creative and self-creative activity through which man creates and changes his historical world and himself
Creative Production
creates a mode of life
Idealistic Dialect
changes in ideas, ideological currents, drive social change
Materialistic Dialect
changes in economic arrangements drive social change
Marx’s conception of the human being
species being - human beings are a species with a distinct social nature that thrives through creative production
- human beings are social, embedded in social relationships
- relationships are intimately tied to the process of labor (painters, creativity…)
- human beings act on the material world through social relations and transform that world
“im in a relationship with the people who made the clothes that i’m wearing because I need to be in order to get these clothes”
Mode of life vs mode of production
Mode of life includes all aspect of life that organize around the mode of production (how we meet our material needs)
- Human beings act on the material world through social and material relations
- this action causes both social structure and social change
- human consciousness changes through practical engagement with the each other and the material world
“turning Hegel on it’s head”, Marx
Term used to describe Marx’s belief in materialistic dialect vs the idealistic dialect, which Hegel believes in
Key/heart to Marx’s theory of social change, also called Historical Materialism
contradictions/conflict emerges out of the mode of production which then creates conflict between people and their social structure, which then can impede human potential
