Marxism theory applied to social class

Question 1

what are the three classes?

Answer 1

upper class
middle class
working class

Question 2

what’s an objective measure of class?

Answer 2

definitions of class focus on things that can be measured about a person’s life, such as their occupation.

Question 3

what’s subjective measure of class?

Answer 3

definitions of class focus on things that cannot be measured, such as the social class that the person thinks they are in. EG a person with a lot of money may still consider themselves working class. They may live in a working class area and have working class friends, in other words the class that a person THINKS they belong to is likely to affect the way they act.

Question 4

What were Kark Marx’s most important ideas and what did he write about?

Answer 4

(1818-1883)  he wrote about many aspects in society, such as economics politics and philosophy. 
Important ideas= capitalism and the class system

Question 5

what are the four modes of production that marx identified?

Answer 5

primitive communism
antiquity
feudualism
capitalism

Question 6

describe primitive communism?

Answer 6

known in the time of the “cavemen” and later hunter gatherer societies and characterised by sharing.

Question 7

describe antiquity?

Answer 7

known in early civilised society and characterised by the master/slave relationship

Question 8

describe feudalism?

Answer 8

known in the Middle Ages based on lord/servant relationship

Question 9

describe capitalism?

Answer 9

known in modern times and and based on capitalist/ worker relationship.

Question 10

What is mode of production?

Answer 10

when societies organise their lives and economies in different ways. The mode of production in one era is transformed into another.

Question 11

What were the two major divisions in society that marx identified?

Answer 11

Bourgeoisie (ruling class)

proletariat (working class)

Question 12

Describe the bourgeoisie?

Answer 12

those who owned the means of production. people in this class had power in society because they could dictate how wok was carried out and how raw materials was used. They also had the ability to exploit and oppress others who were non owners.

Question 13

Describe the proletariat?

Answer 13

These were the non owners. People in this class owned nothing and the only way they could survive was to sell their labour. This meant they were at the mercy of those who employed them.``

Question 14

describe the relationship of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat

Answer 14

because B owns the means of production, they can therefore exploit and oppress the P who have no choice but to work under stipulated conditions set by the owners.

Question 15

how is production important in explaining class stratification?

Answer 15

In the production process profit can only be made if the worker is paid less than what they are worth. In other words, if the labour to make a chair is £20 the capitalist can only make/increase profit by paying the worker less than this sum.

Question 16

what are the costs of production?

Answer 16

exploitation occurs and intensifies because the capitalist system continually seeks to increase profit. This means B must find ways of increasing their production and lowering their costs. only achievable by making the worker produce more for less money.

Question 17

what are the strengths of marxism

Answer 17

draws attention to importance of conflict as the “motor history”
revolutionary change requires that the forces of production on which the new order will be based have developed in the old society eg transition from feudalism to capitalism.

Question 18

what are the weaknesses of marxism

Answer 18

marx saw the superstructure as determiend by the economic infratructure and human consequences shaped by economic forces independent of human will. Marxism often presented as a crude positivism
marx argued that human beings were the writers of their own “human destiny”

Question 19

what is the infrastructure of society?

Answer 19

the economic base is characterised by capitalist investment and the drive for profits.

Question 20

what is the superstructure of society?

Answer 20

its made up of social and cultural institutions such as thre system of laws, the education system, and the mass media, which are shaped by and support the requirements of the economic base.