Marxism Flashcards
why dont proletariat rebel?
bourgeoisie innovations have helped indoctrinate the proletariat into state of false class consciousness
false class consciousness
disorted view of way things are
ruling class/dominant ideology
ideas and beliefs in society reinforce and justify ruling class power and blind subject class to exploitation
class consciousness
proletariat see through disorted ideology
humanist marxist
gramsci
ideas of humanist marxism
- marx gave too much importance to economy
- hegemony= acceptance of dominance of ruling class in society due to welfare payments/health and saftey rules
- focus on peoples ideas and meanings
- voluntarism= humans have free will, active agents making own history
structuralist marxist
althusser
ideas of structuralist marxist
- 3 levels of society:
1. economic level: economy and production of goods
2. political level: gov + repressive state apparatus
3. ideological ideology: ISA teaching and justify cap ideology - determinism= structural facts determine course of history, individuals are passive
ideas of frankhurst school (adorno, marcuse, horkheimer)
- society allows variety of sexualities to make money out of it (porn, sex shops)
- criticises althusser- too concentrated on social structure
marx failed explain how capitalism control personalities. in victorian times desires manipulated in own capitalist interests
what is the marxist analogy?
- superstructure: MRELF maintains the base
- Base: means and relations of production shaping super structure
helps explain how everything in society is influenced by economic factors
evaluation of marxist model
rather than describing society as building with economy as most impotant functionalists believe that all parts are equally important
what is historical marxism?
humans having material needs and how produce is needed to meet our needs has changed over time leading to different relations of production
what are means of production?
lands, factories, raw materials
what are relations of production?
relationships between those involved in production. means of production progress faster than relations of production due to new inventions
what did marx believe about means and relations of production?
the interplay between them led to several epochs
what are the 4 epochs?
- primitive communism
- antiquity
- feudalism
- capitalism
what is primitive communism?
where no means of production. theres equality. tribes become masters so lead to next epoch
what is antiquity?
where the means of production is lands and classes are masters and slave. when masters used slaves to work on land and gen wealth leads to next epoch
what is feudalism?
where means of production is power (steam) the classes are bourgeosie. when bourgosie become dominant over anstocracy it leads to next epoch
what is capitalism
where means of production is enterprise and classes are bourgeosie and proletariat
what happens after capitalism/ final epoch?
communism because proletariat become aware of their exploitation and create a revolution
evaluation of historical marxism
revolution hasnt happened- marx wrong?
what is alienation?
- where work in capitalist societies exploits the proletariat destroying their spirits and potential.
- worker is alienated from productive activity then product then other humans then from distictive potential
- leaves them diminished, physically weakened, mentally confused
- they wouldn’t lead/partake in revolution
how do major institutions in society justify the dominant ideology
- major institutions reflected ideas and interests of bourgosie
- law protect interests of owning class more than workers
what is pauperisation and immiseration?
capitalists drive down wages to increase their profits so wc poor
evaluation of marxism
- other divisions of society- gender
- sc system more complicated must take into account power and authority
- nature of capitalism change- work less alienating as no longer in factories
- communist societies not always successful
- capitalism still dominates0
