marxism Flashcards
What type of theory is marxism?
(2 elements)
structural
conflict
What is another way of saying society has structures that dictate our behaviour?
top down deterministic
What approach does marxism take?
macro
Who is the main sociologist in marxism?
Karl Marx
What is conflict theory?
society is based on conflict between bourgeoisie (m/c) and proletariat (w/c)
What is the base/superstructure model?
society is built on a foundation (base) - this is capitalism
superstructure is to maintain capitalism in society as the base shapes the superstructure
What is capitalism?
a system which promotes profit over anything else
achieved by paying workers less than the value of what they produce
causes inequality in society
What is ideology?
a set of beliefs or ideas
people have been brainwashed by indoctrination via ideology that make us believe we can’t do anything to change things
How do marxists study society?
generally scientifically
How do marxists believe we can improve society?
only possible if we become classless
can only be done if capitalism is abandoned by communism
happens through a revolution
AO3 - feminists disagreement
agree there is conflict but think it is gender based, not class based
AO3 - functionalists disagreement
believe marxists only focus on the negative aspects of society
AO3 - social action theorists disagreement
we are not passive puppets dictated by class structure
AO3 - post modernists disagreement
we no longer live in a neat structured society but a chaotic fragmented one so marxism does not apply to society today
What does Althusser argue?
there are two apparatuses that keep bourgeoisie in power
What are the two apparatuses?
Repressive State Apparatuses (RSA)
Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA)
What is RSA?
maintain rule through force/threat e.g police
repress w/c
What is the ISA?
maintain rule by controlling people’s beliefs, values and ideas
includes religion, family, media and education
What are the two functions of education?
reproduce class inequality
legitimise class inequality
What do Bowles and Gintis say about capitalist workplace?
require obedient workforce that accept inequality is inevitable
What study did Bowles and Gintis do and what did they find?
237 New York high schools
schools reward submissive and compliant pupils but penalise creative and inderpendent
done through two processes - hidden curriculum and correspondence principle (hierarchy and bottom similar in school and work)
What did Cohen say about preparing w/c for work?
serve capitalism by not teaching young workers genuine skills but attitudes and values needed to be a subordinate worker
means they accept low pay and lowers aspirations
What did Bowles and Gintis say about myth of meritocracy?
don’t believe meritocracy exists
says people do well based on income, class background etc and not ability
means privileges of higher classes are justified and w/c accept inequality and don’t try to overthrow them
What system do Bowles and Gintis come up with that says system justifies poverty?
What is it?
‘poor and dumb’
poverty is not the fault of individual not being clever/working hard enough as opposed to the true cause, capitalism
Who disagrees with Bowles and Gintis?
Willis
What does Willis say?
people can resist being indoctrinated by myth of meritocracy
Willis’ study - lad’s counter culture
12 w/c boys
reject values of school and name call the ones that try
reject that w/c can achieve through effort
similar in factory where they see manual work as superior and fit into these jobs
AO3 - postmodernist disagreement on Bowles and Gintis
now in post fordist economy which requires schools to produce different labour forces
AO3 - marxist disagreement with eachother
e.g Bowles and Gintis take deterministic approach but Willis takes marxist and interactionist approach
AO3 - criticism of Willis
he ‘romanticises’ lads as w/c heroes when they are sexist and anti achool
not representative as he only studied 12 bots
AO3 - e.g feminist disagreement
marxists take class first approach instead of other factors e.g gender, ethnicity, sexuality
also ignore how factors interlink
