Marx - sociological theory

Question 1

What are the three contradictions of capitalism that Marx pointed out?

Answer 1

• production and consumption
• boom and bust
• wealth and impoverishment

Question 2

What did Marx foresee?

Answer 2

• rise of monopolies and corporations

- rise of global resource army of unemployed

Question 3

What are the four forces of production?

Answer 3

1. raw materials
2. mechanisms
3. structures
4. labour itself

Question 4

What is historical materialism?

Answer 4

looks at how humans have provided for material needs throughout history

Question 5

What are the key features of the tribal/primitive mode of production?

Answer 5

• hunter gatherer
• simple divisions of labour
• no private property
• some gender divisions (hunter and child rearer)

Question 6

What are the key features of ancient/classical mode of production?

Answer 6

• slave labour
• emergence of private property and state property
• ownership issues give way to class divisions
• rise of trade

Question 7

What are the key features of the feudal mode of production?

Answer 7

• serfdom
• unequal ownership
• acute contradiction between land and city
• towns/cities exerting autonomy and trade

Question 8

What are the key features of the capitalist mode of production?

Answer 8

• advances in technology
• large factories
• wage labour (hourly rate)
• advanced division os labour

Question 9

Criticisms of historical materialism (4)

Answer 9

• technological determinism: is society really determined by technology?
• base/superstructure confusion
• Marx claims that capitalism is needed in order for socialism to arise, yet he also claims that some societies can skip the capitalist mode of production
• the proletariat created by capitalism would be responsible for its destruction

Question 10

Outline Marx’s views on God and alienation

Answer 10

• as humans become alienated, they project their power, agency and consciousness onto God
• religion legitimises inequality
• religion distracts people from the inequalities they face (opiate)
• people accept their subordination because they believe justice will come when they die (due to their belied in God)

Question 11

Outline the four types of alienation under capitalism

Answer 11

1. alienation from the product
2. alienation from productive and creative fulfilment
3. alienation through social divisions
4. alienation from the essence of humanity

Question 12

What is the function of a false ideology?

Answer 12

to conceal the class conflict and to make inequalities appear natural, legitimate and a far exchange

Question 13

Criticisms of ideology (false ideology)

Answer 13

• base/superstructure confusion
• the proletariat don’t suffer from a false consciousness, they know their poverty isn’t fiction
• is the ideology lived by the proletariat or the bourgeoisie?

Question 14

What is use value?

Answer 14

The use something has in satisfying life sustaining needs (e.g food, shelter, clothing)

Question 15

What is exchange value?

Answer 15

A form of value that dominates capitalism. It refers to expressing the value of one commodity in terms of another (e.g exchanging one thing for another thing of equal value). Value reflects the labour costs that went into its production

Question 16

What makes up the duel character of labour?

Answer 16

1. socially necessary labour time (useful labour)

2. surplus labour time (extra time worked, often the worker is producing more than they are getting paid for)

Question 17

What is commodity fetishism?

Answer 17

When the real value of a commodity is hidden from the labourer

Question 18

What is the law of over production?

Answer 18

Capitalism is always trying to overproduce things - production must extract more labour than it rewards