marxism

Question 1

What are the 7 Marxist views of society?

Answer 1

• historical materialism
• class society and exploitation
• capitalism
• class consciousness
• ideology
• alienation
• the state, revolution and communism

Question 2

What is the Marxist view of historical materialism?

Answer 2

• humans have material needs and we work to meet them
• in doing so we use the means of production
• through industrialisation there is now a class who own the means of production
• this is the economic base that shaped the rest of society

Question 3

What is the Marxist view of class society and exploitation

Answer 3

• in early society there were no classes, no private ownership and no exploitation. Everyone works and everything is shared. Marx calls this ‘primitive communism’
• but as the forces of production grow, different types of class society come and go
• in modern society, the ruling class control society’s surplus product

Question 4

What is the Marxist view of capitalism?

Answer 4

• capitalism is based on a division between the bourgeoise and the proletariat.

Question 5

What is the Marxist view of class consciousness?

Answer 5

• the proletariat moves for being a class in itself to being a class for itself (aware of the need to overthrow capitalism)

Question 6

What is the Marxist view of ideology?

Answer 6

• ideology fosters a false consciousness and sustains class inequality

Question 7

What is the Marxist view of alienation?

Answer 7

• marx believed alienation is where people feel seperated from the results of their work

Question 8

What is the Marxist view of the state, revolution and communism?

Answer 8

• ruling class use the state as a weapon to maintain class inequality and prevent revolution
• the revolution will be the first by the majority against the minority
• it will: abolish the state, abolish exploitation, end alienation

Question 9

What is an evaluation of the Marxist view of society?

Answer 9

• marx has a simplistic, one-dimensional view of society. He sees class as the only important division
• class polarisation has not occured. The working class has shrunk whilst the middle class has expanded
• he is economically deterministic. other factors can be important
• a revolution has not occured in much of the world

Question 10

What is Gramsci’s view of Hegemony?

Answer 10

• dominance is maintained through:
• coercion – the army, police, prisons force the acceptance of their rule
• consent (hegemony) – ideas and values gain the consent of the working class to its rule

Question 11

What is Althusser’s ISA and RSA?

Answer 11

• RSA – repressive state apparatus
• ISA – ideological state apparatus