Marxism: Marx's ideas Flashcards
Like Durkheim, what did Marx see around him?
- the harm caused by the modern industrial society and the promise of progress to a better world it held
What did Marx call his theory that it was possible to understand society scientifically and knowledge would point the way to a better society?
- scientific socialism
Unlike the view of functionalists, how did Marx see historical change?
- he saw it as a contradictory process in which capitalism w`ould in crease human misery before giving way to a classless communist society
What are the 7 key ideas about human history, capitalism, and its replacement by a future communist society did Marx have?
- historical materialism
- class society and exploitation
- capitalism
- class consciousness
- ideology
- alienation
- the state, revolution and communism
What is materialism?
- the view that humans are beings with material needs such as food, clothing etc and must therefore work to meet them
Due to humans having material needs and needing to meet them through work, what do they have to use?
- the forces/ means of production
Over history, tools, machines etc have been developed to assist production. In working to meet their needs, what also do humans do?
- cooperate with one another
What is the formal phrase that describes how humans have cooperated with each other to meet their material needs?
- enter into social relations of production
As the forces of production and the social relations of production also develop, what happens?
- a division of labour develops and the eventually gives rise to a division between two classes
What are the two classes that Marx believes develop with the division of labour?
- the class that owns the means of production
- the class of labourers
What does Marx refer to the forces and relations of production together as?
- the mode of production
What does the mode of production form?
- the economic base of society
What influence does the economic base have over society?
- the economic base shapes/ determines all other features of society - the superstructure of institutions, ideas, beliefs and behaviour that arise from this base
`Marx describes early society as ‘primitive communism’ - what does this include?
- no classes
- no private ownership
- no exploitations
- everyone works
- everything is shared
In class societies, one class owns the means of production, what owes this enable them to do?
- exploit the labour of others for their own benefit
- in particular, they can control society’s surplus product
What are the three successive class societies that Marx identifies (each with its own form of exploitation)?Give some details
- ancient society - based on the exploitation of slaves legally tied to their owners
- feudal society - based on the exploitation of serfs legally tied to the land
- capitalist society - based on the exploitation of free wage labourers
What are the three distinctive features of capitalism beyond the division of bourgeoisie and proletariat?
- proletariat are legally free and separate from the means of production - they have to sell their labour power in return for wages
- due to competition between capitalists, ownership of the means of production becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer hands
- capitalism continually expands the forces of production in its pursuit of profit - production becomes concentrated in ever-larger units and technological advances de-skill the workforce
How is the selling of labour power in return for wages not an equal exchange?
- the P don’t receive the value of the goods that their labour produces but only the cost of subsistence
- the difference between the two is the surplus value
What are the results of competition be5tween capitalists meaning the ownership of production becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer hands?
- it drives small independent producers into the ranks of the proletariat
- it also forces capitalists to pay the lowest wages possible, causing the impoverishment of the proletariat
What causes class polarisation?
- the concentration of ownership and deskilling of the proletariat
Due to the polarising of the classes, bringing the P together in larger numbers, and driving down wages - what happens?
- the working class can develop a consciousness of its own economic and political interests in opposition to those of its exploiters
As a result of class consciousness, what happens?
- the P moves from being a class in itself to becoming a class for itself
For Marx, what does the class that owns the means of production also control?
- the means of mental production - the production of ideas
What are the dominant ideas in society?
-the ideas of the economically dominant class
What does ideology foster in the P?
- a false consciousness
What is alienation the result of?
- our loss of control over our labour and its products and therefore our separation from our true nature
What does alienation exist in all class societies?
- because the owners control the production process for their own needs
Under capitalism, Marx believes alienation reaches its peak - why?
- workers are com0ploetely separated from and have no control over the forces of production
- the division of labour is at its most intense and detailed - the worker is reduced to an unskilled labourer mindlessly repeating a meaningless task
How does Marx define the state?
- as ‘armed bodies of me’ ie,. the army, police, prison, courts etc
What do the state exist for in Marx’s view?
- to protect the interests of the class of owners who control it
How do the ruling class use the state?
- they use it as a weapon in the class struggle, to protect their property, suppress opposition and prevent revolution
What does Marx believe the P revolution overthrowing capitalism will do?
- abolish the state and create a classless communist society
- abolish exploitation
- replace private ownership with social ownership
- replace production for profit with production to satisfy human needs
- end alienation
Also like Durkheim, how did Marx believe it was possible to understand society and what would this do? What did he call this?
- it was possible to understand society scientifically and that this knowledge would point the way to a better society
- scientific socialism
How can Marx’s view of class be criticised?
- simplistic, one-dimensional view of inequality, sees class as only important division eg. ignores gender
- two class model is simple - eg. can be subdivided into wc skilled and unskilled
- class polarisation has not occurred, middle class has grown while wc has shrunk
How can Marx’s ideas be considered too economically deterministic?
- view that economic factors are the sole cause of everything - fails to recognise free will
- Marx’s predictions have not come true
