Marx Flashcards
What is Marx’ early life?
Born in Prussia
Exposed to Equalitariam views
Concerned to drive a free and equal society
What was Marx’ education background?
Studied law of the University of Bonn
Transferred to the University of Berlin - took philosophy courses
PhD in philosophy
Why was Marx blacklisted by the Ministry of Education?
His thesis supervisor was fired for making controversial comments which weren’t with the conservative Prussian government.
Deemed guilty by association
What was his profession? What did he do in it?
Was a journalist
His writing reflected his own radical left wing political views
Critical of the conservative Prussian government over its treatment of the working class
What were his major works? What were they about?
The Manifesto of the Communist Party - encouraged the working class to lead a revolution to overthrow the capitalist class
Capital: a Critique of Political Economy - Extensive analysis of capitalism, spent 18 years working
How did Marx die? What was significant about where he died?
Died on his desk due to health problems. On the verge of setting out a detailed analysis of the class structure in capitalism
Define the Mode of Production - Marx
The overall system of economic activity in a society
Suggested there has been historical progrennsion in the mode of production
What are the 3 historical modes of production?
Slavery - an economic system in which people are legally owned by others and engage in forced servitude
Feudalism - An economic system in which people work the land for others for exchange for a share of the food production
Capitalism - An economic system in which people who own private property utilize the labour of others in the pursuit of profit
What are the forces of production? What are the 2 things its made up of?
All those things that are needed for production to occur
The means of production - the property utilized in production
The productive labour - people who utilize strength, skills, knowledge, experience, etc. in the process of producton
What are the social relations of production? What are the 2 marked basic distinctions?
The relationships between the main classes involved in production
1. Owning; propertied class
2. Non-owning; propertyless class
What does class position depend on?
One’s connection to their position in the means of production
What is the relationship between the 2 classes?
Exchange relationship
Non-owners provide their labour for income or other means to survive
Who are the bourgeoisie?
The “capitalist class” or “capitalists”
Owned the means of production
Who are the proletariat?
“Working class” or “workers”
Do not own the means of production
Work in or with the means of production
Who are the Petty Bourgeoisie?
Made up of independent producers or owners
Own the means of production but hire fewer workers, if any
What are the other “middle classes” that Marx mentioned?
Middle estates or strate
Middle stages or ranks
Middle classes
Unclear of what he meant; some infer that he used these as other ways to describe petty bourgeoisie
What did Marx predict about middle classes?
Marx expected the class would disappear form the capitalist mode of production
What did Marx examine in the relation of the nature of productive work under the modes of production?
Productive work is good because the human ability to create things is satisfying and rewarding but it’s turned into something bas under the modes of production because of exploitation and alienation
Define exploitation
A process through which the properties class appropriates the labour effort of the propertyless class for its own material advantage
What is commodity and its properties?
The basic unit under capitalist production
Use value and exchange value
What is a commodities’ use value?
The value of a commodity to satisfy a human want
E.g. an automobile
What is a commodities’ exchange value?
The value of a commodity in the marketplace.
E.g. if an item has a use value, it will have an exchange value which takes form in a price
Depends on supply and demand
What was the exploitation within slavery and feudalism?
Exploitation existed due to the creation of surplus
Surplus, in this sense, is how the slaves and serfs would provide their labour only to get a small amount and/or what they need to survive, the rest of what is produced is
Why does exploitation exist within capitalism?
Due to the creation of surplus value
- The difference between costs and the exchange value
Capitalists aim to decrease production costs by using cheaper materials and labour while speeding up production (new technology)
Define alienation
The separation of workers from other things
What are the 4 types of alienation within capitalism?
Workers from the products they produce, workers from the labour process, workers from their species being, and workers from each other
Describe what Marx meant by “the germ of its own destruction”
Within a present society there is a force or group which rises up against the ruling regime and a fundamental change in society emerges, working class is the “germ” that will destroy capitalism
What are the factors that contribute to the end of capitalism?
Urbanization, large-scale production, economic crises, class polarization, class homogenization, and deepening immiseration
Describe how urbanization will contribute to the end of capitalism
The shared experience of workers within concentrated and poor living conditions will help in the creation of a working-class consciousness.
Describe how large-scale production will contribute to the end of capitalism
The concentration of people within factories provided a further basis for working class consciousness
Describe how economic crises will contribute to the end of capitalism
Capitalists lay off workers due to crises, aim to reduce cost and preserve profits. Fuel working-class consciousness.
Describe how class polarization will contribute to the end of capitalism
Due to the predicted disappearance of the petty bourgeoisie, there will be deepening of class polarization. Clear to the working class of who they’re standing in opposition to.
Describe how class homogenization will contribute to the end of capitalism
Technological advances and mechanizations of productions within emerging factories result in the homogenization off skill among the workers which strengthens class consciousness
Describe how immiseration will contribute to the end of capitalism
Deepening of economic impoverishment experienced by the working class.
Growing gap between the material well-being and living standards of capitalists and workers.
This is due to the increasing exploitation within capitalism.
Marx theorized that the proletariat would shift from being _ _____ __ ______ to being _ _____ ___ ______
A class in itself - a class for itself
What is a class in itself?
An “objective” condition
Share a common class position durine to their exclusion from ownership of the means of production
What is a class for itself?
A “subjective” condition
Emergence of working-class consciousness
Having awareness of their common class position and a belief in the possibility of change
Lead them to organize and transform society through a revolution
How did Marx feel about the future of society?
Generally optimistic as he thought a revolution would take place and move toward a more equitable society.
What are the 2 stages Marx said to be the development of society after the revolution?
- Socialism
- Communism
Define socialism
A social formation in which the means of production are owned and regulated by the state
Serves in the interests of all the people
What is the redistribution of wealth in socialism?
Wealth generated in production by the state will be distributed to all workers, except what is needed for government operations
What is the centralized state’s value within socialism?
A centralized state remains but only before the implementation of policies that will make the existence unnecessary.
Define communism
Social formation in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to ability and needs.
Moneyless, classless, and stateless society
Marx thought that communism would be as close as we can get to what type of society?
Utopian society - basically saying that communism is the most ideal society that we can create
What happens to the centralized state under communism?
“Withers away”
Replaced by a decentralized, non-authoritarian system of administration
China, Russia, Cuba, and North Korea, are seen as what type of society?
Totalitarian socialist societies
What does labour mean to us in terms of human potential?
Labour is the objectification of our purpose, and the transformation of our human nature. We see ourselves in the products.
What are the side effects of specialization in labour?
Results in the alienation from our human purpose. We cannot transform things into something meaningful anymore, it is just a step within the long process.
What is the fetishism of commodities? Give an example
When the commodity takes on an independent, almost mystical external reality. E.g. buying a coffee and ignoring the whole process that it takes to get it.
What is historical materialism?
The way in which people provide for their material needs determines or, in general, conditions relations that people have with each other, their social institutions, and even their prevalent ideas.
