Marxism Flashcards
What type of theory is Marxism?
Conflict theory- Conflict between the ruling class (bourgeoisie) and the working class (proletariat)
What type of sociologist is Marx?
Positivst
What are forces of production?
Tools, machinery etc. used to assist production
Who owns the mode of production?
Ruling class= capitalist mode of production
What is the base-superstructure model?
- Economic base= forces of production
-shapes and maintains the superstructure - Superstructure= institutions that legitimise the base e.g. education, the family, politics
What is false-class consciousness?
The proletariat do not recognise that they are being exploited
How is it maintained?
Institutions in society spread the ruling classes dominant ideologies, which legitimise the existing social order as desirable
What is alienation?
The loss of control over our labour and its products, resulting in separation from our true nature
What are workers separated from?
The forces of production
What does Marx believe will eventually happen?
- By polarising the classes, the working-class will be brought together in large numbers
- The working-class will develop a consciousness of its own economic and political interests
- The Proletariat will overthrow the Bourgeois class
What will the revolution create?
A classless, communist society
What is Marx’s base-superstructure model criticised for?
Economic determinism- the view that economic factors are the sole cause of change
-Humans have free will to bring about change and make conscious actions
What are other criticisms of Marx?
- Feminists: Argue that gender is a more important inequality than class
- Marx’s predictions of revolution have not come true
What type of Marxist is Gramsci?
Humanistic Marxist
What do Humanistic Marxists believe in?
Voluntarism- humans have free will
What does Gramsci reject?
The base-superstructure model- argues that idea’s play a central role in determining whether change will occur
According to Gramsci, how does the ruling class control the working-class?
- Coercion e.g. the use of the police, army and prisons
- Hegemony= using ideas and values to transmit the ideology of the ruling class
Why is the hegemony of the ruling-class never complete?
The proletariat have a dual-consciousness- they ‘see through’ the dominant ideology
What do the proletariat need to construct in order to have a revolution?
Counter-hegemonic bloc, led by ‘organic intellectuals’ i.e. class-conscious workers
Why is Gramsci criticised?
Over emphasises the role of free-will and choice
-Workers may see through the ruling-class ideology but fail to challenge it due to the fear created by state repression
What type of Marxist is Althusser?
Structural Marxist
What do structural Marxists believe in?
Determinism- individuals are passive puppets shaped by structural factors
What does Althusser reject?
The idea of free-will= illusion
What does he replace the base-super-structure model with?
Craib: Structural determinism
What are the three structures?
- Economic level- ability to produce something
- Political level- forms of organisation
- Ideological level- way people see themselves
What does Althusser’s model have?
Relative autonomy- the political and ideological level have independence from the economic level
What does Althusser divide the state into?
- Repressive State apparatus- ‘armed bodies of men’ e.g. police, army
- Ideological State apparatus- institutions like the family, education that manipulate the working-class into a false-class consciousnesses
According to Althusser, how will socialism come about?
Because of a crisis of capitalism as a result of over-determination i.e. contradictions in the 3 levels of structural determinism= collapse of the system
What does Craib argue?
Althusser offers the ‘most sophisticated conception of social structure in the social sciences’
Why is Althusser criticised?
Scientific approach discourages political activism because the stress of the structural factors suggests that individuals can do little to create change
