Marxism-key elements Flashcards
society as a series of
conflicts (have and have nots) btw means & relations of production, class (not a central harmony of interests as liberals say but conflict btw bourgeosie & proletariat)
- Historical Materialism
view of the world shaped by our material interactions with it, development of societies over time follows key tendencies
ie. Production is key human activity
what is historical materialism a theory of?
a theory of history according to which the material conditions of a society’s way of producing and reproducing the means of human existence.
- Idea of critique
• We need critique ideology to change the world
- $ determinism
theory that $ relationships (such as being an owner or capitalist, or being a worker or proletarian) are the foundation upon which all other social and political arrangements in society are based.
- Base & superstructure model describes
human society
in (4. Base & superstructure model) those who control means of
production (base) most important-deep structure/essence of society
in (4. Base & superstructure model) ordering of superstructure
depends on means of production (capitalism)- families seen as a way of control, need to work to support fam
What does base & superstrcutre model highlight?
how systems structured to maintain divisions of means of production & to maintain control
superstructure
appearance: everything not to do with production –> owners, church, fam, uni,school, workers,)
base
everything to do with means of production (ie actual tools, factories…)
- Dialectics & Contradiction
- Everything comes from material conditions in which we live (not natural)
- Everything has an opp which they create (dialectic) & something new emerges out of it as a result, (contradictions are motor of change)
according to key element of dialectics & contradiction, why does change occur?
Everything has an opp which they create (dialectic) & something new emerges out of it as a result, (contradictions are motor of change)
what’s wrong with capitalism?
alienation
Exploitation
alienation from
- our products (which confront us as something alien, controlling us).
- other people (they seem like competitors and adversaries).
- $ as a whole (which is a social product, but seems like an alien force that controls us).
exploitation
- Those who own the means of production possess the capacity to exploit those who sell their labor…
what is exploitation?
pay workers less than what it costs to produce a given product … , Owners extract the surplus value from the labor of the worker - this is capital
how does capitalism survive then?
• Nothing else to challenge it- there’s no awareness/class conscience of it
where did WST develop from & why?
Development of Lenin’s work on imperialism and the Latin American Dependency school.
–> Immanuel Wallerstein.
wanted to try & answer why LA hadn’t developed & caught up w. western world?
What did Immanuel Wallerstein introduce into WST?
semi-periphery of some power but not heaps of it, eg Thailand, South Korea,
Core
Democratic Governments
High Wages
Import Raw materials
Export: manufactured goods
Semi-Periphery:
Authoritarian Regimes
Low Wages
Import: Mixed
Export: Mixed
Periphery:
Non- democratic Governments
Poverty
Export: Raw materials
Import: manufactured goods
Why doesn’t periphery revolt?
believe they’ll be able to move up ladder one day, states at the bottom need help of stronger states & stronger states rely on poor for materials
What did Gramsci try to answer?
- why Communism/Marxism hadn’t spread across Europe
- flaw in marxist theory of why russia, a backward country had transitioned to socialism before capitalist countries had, like Marx had predicted
What does Gramscianism cause us to do?
• Hegemony means we now have accepted capitalism & deomocracy, Gramscianism wants us to challenge this acceptance.
Gramscianism- The social relations/interactions of superstructure determines
how susceptible society is to transformation
what does Gramsci argue?
hegemony (consent & coercion) controls society
o Consent for certain political ideas/parties produced & reproduced by hegemony as hegemony enables these ideas to spread through all civil systems in society.
what did Gramsci shift focus of Marxism to?
superstructural phenomena
what is the significance of Robert W Cox’s work?
brought Gramsci to modern world transposing his ideas
• All knowledge reflects certain time, context, place
what notion did Robert W Cox present?
- Knowledge isn’t objective & timeless
- Hegemonic idea of UK & US (as hegemons) free trade (a concept accepted, despite being bad for periphery)
- Counter hegemonic mvts will emerge from collapse of capitalism & $ crisis
criticism of WST
o Assumes core country is democratic & western (China???)
Traditionally a periphery nation (major site of production) but as the middle class develops its moved definitely into semi or even the core.
o Too simplistic? Assumes every nation is monolithic.
•
what does WST represent?
Reflects the clash of civilisation (Samuel Hungtington- world can be divided by civilisations ie west and east, Buddhist & animist influences theory based a lot on religious values, dividing up the world arbitrarily to an extent)
To wallerstein (who introduced semi-periphery into WST) what did end of CW symbolise?
indicated end phase of system to be replaced by another (not triumph of liberalism like fukuyama proposed)
critical theory developed out of
Frankfurt School (20s-30s) and Gramscian thought
How does critical theory differ to other types of Marxism?
focus mostly superstructural (not base) Concerned with emancipation & critique of social science & not $.
How does critical theory critique Marx’s view of revolution?
• Argue that proletariat has been absorbed into system & no longer threatens it.
o Question whether proletariat actually has potential to revolt/emancipatory transformation
traditional marxist meaning of emancipation
humanity having more mastery over nature through development of sophisticated technology to benefit all
Early critical theorists view of emancipation
opposed this, & believe that this domination of nature leads to domination of humans (ie sophisticated methods of killing others- WWII), need to reconcile with nature instead
Habermus- emancipation
about communication rather than reconciliation w nature, through radical democracy where widest amount of participation is achieved, not just confined to borders. (Rights & obligations extend beyond borders)
Why is Andrew Linklater’s work important?
took Habermasian perspective & applied it to World politics
how does Andrew Linklater view emancipation?
expansion of moral boundaries of a political community so citizens have same duties & obligations towards noncitizens (Where borders of sovereign states lose ethical & moral significance)
what does Linklater view the EU as?
tool towards emancipation- if true it could mean we’re entering era where sovereign state is no longer preeminent
what sort of system is the WST?
historically bounded- has beginning & end
What do the core, semi-periphery & periphery symbolise and how are they connected?
3 zones of world economy, linked together by exploitative relationship wealth drained from periphery to the core, explains why west is so developed
Why did WST develop?
trying to answer why LA hadn’t developed & caught up to west, highlights how manufactured goods gain greater value faster than raw materials (which LA produced).
how could you describe Marx’s view of the world?
as almost teleological, has an endpoint which is socialism
criticism of marxism
too focussed on the economy, however this in many aspects is seen as the essence of marxism
how does marxism contrast with other IR theories?
it’s normative/prescriptive!!
• Marxist school of thought has greater sense of social activism (why it’s often labelled as more radical)
Marxism vs Realism
Realism a static theory- biggest difference: situation can’t be changed it is inherently anarchic, unchangeable. ‘Marxism wants radical change, additionally liberalism wants change but not the same radical nature.’
Since marxism has greater sense of social activisim, what is it often labelled as?
a more radical theory
• Marx argued that nation had to be (feudal then) fully capitalist before getting to
socialism and then communism.
how did Gramsci refute Marx’s argument that nation had to be (feudal then) fully capitalist before getting to socialism and then communism.
he highlighted the hegemonic forces at play and how they led to the control of a society.
