Marxism

Question 1

Capitalism;

Answer 1

An economic system in which people produce goods and services (including labour) for a profit

Question 2

Aristocracy;

Answer 2

A socially elite group whose power comes from inherited wealth and family origins

Question 3

Bourgeoisie;

Answer 3

The middle classes, whose status or power comes from employment, education and wealth. In British culture the Bourgeoisie are presently the ruling classes

Question 4

Proletariat;

Answer 4

A term Marx used to refer to the working class, the group whose labour supports the Aristocracy and Bourgeoisie

Question 5

Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA’s);

Answer 5

In Althusser’s view our values, desires and preferences are reinforced by an assortment of institutions called ISA’s, which include the family, the media, religious organisations and, most importantly, the education system, as well as the received ideas and ideologies they propagate

Question 6

False consciousness;

Answer 6

The version of ‘the way things are’ that the media and other ISA’s teach us is not the way things actually are. Marxists would say that the views they express are designed to lull us into accepting capitalist (bourgeoise) propaganda e.g the country’s overrun with illegal immigrants, that we can be happy if we buy just one more pair of shoes etc and thus we h wittingly serve the needs of the ruling classes rather than our own

Question 7

Economic determinism;

Answer 7

The theory that power in our culture has been built on the production, distribution, control and ownership of wealth, and thus everything is predicated on having to make money

Question 8

Culture industry;

Answer 8

Adorno says popular culture is akin to a factory producing standardised cultural goods to manipulate the masses into passivity; the easy pleasures available through consumption of popular culture make people docile and content

Question 9

Pseudo-individualisation;

Answer 9

Adorno’a term for the tendency of mass produced goods within popular culture to seem to be different, new and entropic when in reality they’re all very nearly the same (iPhones). These appear to provide us with ways of expressing our individuality but in reality are shared by the masses and make us the same as everyone else (e.g popular music, fashion)

Question 10

False needs;

Answer 10

According to Adorno, capitalist overproduction leads to the creation of false needs, often ‘wants’ disguised as ‘needs’. These can be both created and satisfied by the capitalist system and replace people’s ‘true’ needs - freedom, full expression of human potential and creativity, genuine creative happiness

Question 11

Commodity fetishism;

Answer 11

A fetish is something ancient cultures worshiped and ascribed magical or mystical power to. In consumer society, products can attain this kind of power and sell and image of the consumer to others, for instance the association of particular brands with wealth and social status (e.g MacBook, “the medium is the message” (Marshall McLuhan), status symbols

Question 12

Consumerism;

Answer 12

The equation of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions

Question 13

Ideology;

oppositional, emergent, dominant-hegemonic

Answer 13

• critics of the dominant ideology thesis acknowledge that we possess different beliefs and ways of seeing the world, and that ideology is impacted from someone’s experiences e.g proletariat may have communist ideology because they are concerned with their status/lack of power
• could it be that oppositional/emergent ideologies are eventually twists into mainstream to support capitalist ideologies e.g Hilary Clinton changing her stance on gay marriage