Marxism

Question 1

marxism

Answer 1

conflict theory between social classes
bougeoisie (capitalist/ ruling class) - own MOP for the means of making a profit
proletariat (working class) - dependent on owners of MOP and exploited for their work

Question 2

Marx

Answer 2

through industrialisation, now class who own the MOP and those who use it
refers to this as ‘economic base’ that shapes rest of society
superstruture arises from this - includes ideas, beliefs and behaviours in capitalist society
modern society, ruling class control society’s ‘surplus product’ (profit) - difference between what labourers produce and what is needed to simply keep them alive

Question 3

key features of marxism

Answer 3

workers sell their labour power in return for wages to survive
MOP concentrated in fewer hands, competition causes low wages, and misery of proletariat
capitalism continually expands forces of production in pursuit of profit
concentration of power causes class polarisation

Question 4

class consciousness

Answer 4

currently WC suffer from false class consciousness
marx predicted that the working class would develop consciousness of their own interests and overthrow RC (revolution)

Question 5

ideology

Answer 5

class who own MOP also control production of idea
dominant ideas of society are ideas of RC
institutions that produce and spread ideas all serve dominant class by producing ideology
topic link - education, family, media
ideologies set of ideas, beliefs that legitimise existing social order as desirable/ inevitable
fosters FCC and sustains class inequality

Question 6

alienation

Answer 6

individuals/ group feels isolated because of their lack of power to control their lives

Question 7

revolution and communism

Answer 7

believes state exists to protect the interests of the class of owners who control it
use state as weapon against class struggle, to protect property, suppress opposiiton and prevent revolution (crime and deviance)
proletariat revolution would see the majoirty go against the minority (proletariat against bougeoisie
abolish state, exploitation, and alienation

Question 8

evaluation

Answer 8

Marx has simplistic, one-dimensional view of inequality (feminism)
economically deterministic - factors other than economics important
revolution not occurred in most of the world

Question 9

Gramsci and hegemony

Answer 9

dominance maintained through hegemony
coercion - state force acceptance of their rule
consent (hegemony) - ideas and values that gain consent of WC to its rule and prevent revolution
criticised for putting too much emphasis on hegemony

Question 10

Althusser - ISA and RSA

Answer 10

rejects Marx’s base base superstructure model of society
Althusser’s model - state performs political and ideological functions that ensure reproduciton of capitalism
divides state into two apparatuses
repressive state apparatus - coerce into compliance (police)
ideology state apparatus - institutions that ideologically manipulate (education)
evaluation - rejects economic determinism but replaces it with a more complex structural determinism in which everything is determined by structures and their interrelationships