marxism

Question 1

what do marxism believe

Answer 1

• there are 2 separates economic organisation of the capitalist society; infrastructure and superstructure
• capitalism contains class conflict and inequality

Question 2

infrastructure (economic system)

Answer 2

• important part of capitalist society which is split into 2 social classes, bourgeoisie and proletariat

Question 3

infrastructure: bourgeoisie and proletariat

Answer 3

• bourgeoisie; own and control the means of production (land, capital, factories etc)
• proletariat; workers provide labour power needed by bourgeoisie to manufacture goods in return for wage

Question 4

social relations between bourgeoisie and proletariat

Answer 4

• these relations are unequal and exploitative because workers’ wages are worth less than the value of the product they’re producing

Question 5

supersrtucture

Answer 5

• it’s made up of social institutions like family, education, religion etc
• its role is to transmit ruling class ideology to hide and justify class inequality or distract WC by persuading them capitalism is meritocratic

Question 6

criticism of marxism

Answer 6

• over- emphasises class inequalities at the expense of gender and ethnic inequalities
• Functionalists say that marxism sees conflict at the expense of consensus
• marxism ignores WC’s ability to see through ideology