Marxism Flashcards
1
Q
Outline
A
- Theory and Critique of Capitalism
- Capitalism as a destructive system forcing some to exploit others
- Drew on, elaborated and critiqued Classical Political Economy
- Purpose of Capitalism: enhance wealth and power of ruling class, at expense of working class
2
Q
Classical Tradition + Marxism ideas
A
- Only physical objects have value - no services
- Accumulation key element
- Machinery expands the class gap (between those owning means of production and workers)
- Tensions between property and social relations
3
Q
Marx’s Vision
A
- Socialist arrangement with conflict replaced by harmony
- No distinct classes, collective ownership of means of production
- All relations social - no tensions
- History as successive stages governed by immutable laws
4
Q
Creation of Wealth
A
- Value comes from unpaid labour (exploit working class)
- Markets are political creations to consolidate bourgeoise power
- 2 Classes - proletariat and bourgeoise
- Necessary time - Labour subsistence needs
- Surplus time = surplus value - property of capitalists
- Generation of surplus value = defining structural characteristic of capitalist system
5
Q
Primitive Accumulation
A
- Market not natural - history produced capitalists and labourers
- Capitalism began after Serfdom UK (14thC-16thC)
- Free/unattached proletarians into labour market
- No power to claim land during expropriation
- Private property enables private ownership of production
- Landless proletariat sell own bodies as labour
- Accumulation from income shares received by property owners
- Capitalism bound to produce ever-widening cleavage within social structure (Marx)
6
Q
Surplus Value and Accumulation
A
- Surplus value enables accumulation
- Marx: accumulation as command over unpaid labour
- Surplus value claimed by capitalists used for extending capital and acquisition of machinery
- Machinery means cost of commodities decreased
- Race for cheapening commodities (competition)
- Fight or be killed off in competitive struggle to accumulate (Barber)
- Weaker capitalists destroyed
- Accumulation under capitalism = creation of surplus value = pressure to reinvest
7
Q
Machines
A
- More people part of labour force (women/children) - cheap
- Increase productivity
- New agricultural techniques also increase productivity
- Increased food requirements for industrial expansion
- Value of commodities reduced
- Expand surplus to acquisition of machinery - demand for labour diminish
- No bargaining power
8
Q
Labour Theory of Value
A
- Exploitation theory
- Labour time determines value
- Machines can only replicate, not create, value
- Wages don’t respond to value produced (subsistence needs only) - surplus = capitalist property
- No harmony of interest
- Machinery = paid less, less skilled job
- Increasing misery of proletariat - no. of successful capitalists shrink
- Labour ‘only productive agent and the source of all value’ (Barber)
9
Q
Distribution money
A
- Reserve army of employees - could replace if demand higher wages
- Fluctuation of wages depend on how many workers available in reserve army
- Productive agriculture = rising rents = increase price
- Subsistence goods = higher money payments needed
10
Q
Role of the State in Capitalism
A
- State = committee for managing affairs of bourgeoise
- Guarantee and regulate market in interests
- State legal framework for ensuring property rights
- Mechanisms for Proletariat to vent anger but stop from revolting e.g. trade unions
- State naturalises something inherently unequal
- Policy measure designed to alter course of history inevitably fruitless and vain
11
Q
Crisis in Capitalism
A
- Recurrent crisis - inherent in structure
- Crisis means of re-asserting class relation
- Profit thirsty people in race - exploiting workers to maximise profits
12
Q
The Revolution
A
- Laws of economic dynamics propelling to pre-destined end
- Marx: telos of capitalism = inevitable and violent collapse
- No intervention can stop this
13
Q
Why Revolution
A
- Capitalism tendencies toward instability inherent in industrial capitalism
- Capitalism accumulations grow - size of reserve army swell
- working class misery intensified
- Proletariat enlarged by Capitalist failures
- Process expected to lay foundations new economic order
14
Q
Violent Revolution
A
- Social tensions bred by capitalism too intense for peaceful transition
- Revolution essential to Marxian theory of crisis
- Violent overthrow of capitalist order not explained on technical economic grounds
- Marx’s view of dynamics of history essential prop
15
Q
Contemporary relevance for Marx
A
- Labour Theory of Value not plausible
- Revolution hasn’t happened
- View of class overly simplistic - social divisions beyond
- Didn’t envisage social class changes in modern society - outdated
- State involvement
16
Q
Problems with Theory of Value
A
-Only to further arguments about working class exploitation and supposedly inevitable revolution
(Reduces argument credibility)
-Barber describes as essential ‘prop’ to conclusion (1991)
-Neoclassical economists gave capitalists wages as well - not exploited through wages, risking
-Determination of value by labour time is a failed theory = based on supply and demand
17
Q
Exploitation
A
- Workers forced to sell labour to Capitalist for less than worth
- Workers paid disproportionately low wage
- Entire proletariat can only maintain survival by allowing itself to be exploited on class scale
- Exploitation fundamentally alienating
18
Q
Alienation in the Division of Labour
A
- Division of Labour forces worker into increasingly simple, mechanised roles
- Previously needed craftsman initiative, now mindless motor actions
- Alienates worker from products of Labour
- No longer creates product, only facilitates industrial process
- No desire to produce product for sake of itself - object is only made for physical subsistence
- Concepts of craft and spirit done away with in age of mass industry
