Marxist Theory Flashcards
Historical materialism
humans have material needs
humans create social relations of production
a division of labour develops
this leads to a rise in a division between two classes
* a class that owns the means of production
* a class of labourers
we live in a society with a capitlist mode of production, this forms the economic base of society , which determines all other features of our society.
Class society and exploitiation
earliest society - primitive communism
in class societies one class owns the means of production, this enables them to exploit the labour of others for thier own benefit. they control societies surplus product.
marx identifies 3 sucseesive class societies each with its own form of exploitation:
* anciet society - based on the exploition of slaves legally tied to thier owners
* feudal society - based on the exploition of serfs legals tied to the land
* capitalist society - based on the exploition of free wage labourers
capitalism
division between class of owners and labourers.
Proletariat do not recive the value of the goods that thier labour produces but only the cost of subsistence (keeping them alive)
through competition between ownership of the means of production becomes concenrtated in fewer and fewer hands.
competition also forces capitalisits to pay the lowest wages possible causing the immiseration (impoverishment) of the prodetariet.
capitalism expands the forces of production in its persuit of profit. production becomes concentrated in ever larger units. menwhile technological advances de skill the workforce
concentration of ownership and the deskilling of the proletariat together produce class polariastion. ‘ facing eachother as two warring camps’
Class consciosness
by polarising the classes bringing the proletariat together in ever large numbers and driving down thier wages capitalism creates the conditions underwhich the working class can develop a consciosness of its own econmic and political intrestest in opposition to thoes of its exploiters.
as a result the prodetarit moves from being merely a class of in itself to a class for itself, whoes members are class consious, aware of the need to overthrow capitalism.
ideology
the class that owns the means of production also owns the and controls the means of mental production.
the dominat ideas in society are therefore the ideas of the economically dominat class. the insitutions that produce and spread ideas such as religion eduction and the media all serve the dominat class by producing ideologies - sets of ideas and belifs that legitamise the exiting social order as desirable or inevitable.
alienation
alientaion is the result of our loss of control over our loabour and its products and therefore our separation from our true nature. marx belives our true nature is based on our capacity to create things to meet our needs.
workers are completely separated from and have no control over the forces of production
the divsion of labour is at its most intense and detailed the worker is reduced to an unskilled labourer mindlessley repeating a meaningless task
the state revoloution and law making
the state - ‘armed body of men’
it exists to protect the intrests of the ruling class
the prodeitat revloution agsinst the bougiouse will be the first revloution where the majority overthroughs the minority
the revoloution:
* abolish the state and create a classless communist society
* abolish exploition, replace private ownwership with social ownership, and replace production for profit with production to satisfy human needs
* end alenation as humans re gain control of their labour and products
marx idenitied the victory of the revoloution through the establishment of communist society on a world scale
critiscms of marx view of class
weber: status and power differerneces can also be imporant sources of inequality, interdependently of class
for exmaple, a power elite can rule without actually owning the means of production, as it did the former solviet union
femenists argue that gender is a more fundamental source of inequality than class.
marxs two class model is too simplistic, weber sub devides the prodetariat into skilled and unskilled classes and includes a white collar middle class of office workers and a petty bougisie
class polariaistion has not occoured, instead of the middle class being swallowed up by an expaning prodetait it has grown. while industrial wc has shrunk in western societies .
on the other hand the proletarit in countries such as china and india is growing as a result of globaliston
marxs economic determinsm
marxs base superstructure model is cristicsed for the view that economic factors are the sole cause of everything in society including social chnage. this fails tp recognise that humans have free will and can bring about chnage through thier consious actions.
the base superstructure neglects the role of ideas. for exmaple, weber argues that it was emergence of a new set of ideas, thoes of calvinistic protestantism, which helped to bring modern capitalism into being.
marxs prediction of a revoloution never happened. it is only econmonicalluy backward countires such as russia in 1917 that have seen marxist revolutions.
the two marxisms
why capitilism has persisted and how it might be overthrown.
Alvin Gouldner (1973) describes these two marxisms as:
* humanistsic or critical marxism (similarities to action theories and interpretive sociology)
* scientific or stuctralist marxism (a structral approach has similairities to positivst sociology
gramsci
humanistic marxism
hegemony
ideolgical and moral leadership
first leader of the italian cominust party during the 1920s
rejects economic determinsim as an explanation of chnage
gramsci’s hegemony
the ruling class maintain its dominace over society in two ways:
* corecion (army, police, prisons and courts of the capitalist state to force other classes to acceptits rule)
* censent (ideas and values to persuade the subordeinate classes that its rule is legitimate
Hegemony and revoloution ( gramsci)
he agrees with marx that the ruling class rely heavily on consent to maintain thier rule
as long as the rest of society accepts ruling class hegemnoy there will not be a revoloution, even when economic conditions might seem favourable
the hegemony of the rc is never complete for two reasons:
* the ruling class are a minority, to rule they need to create a power bloc by making alliances with other groups such as the middle classes.they must therefore make ideological comprismises to take account of the intrests of thier allies
* the prodetarit have a dual conscouness, thier ideas are influneced by not only bousie ideology but also thier material conditions of life - the poverty and exploutaion they experince. this means they can see through the dominat ideology to some degree.
counter hegemonic bloc
there is always a possiblity of ruling class hegemony being undermined , especailly at times of economic crisis, where the the worsening material conditions and increased poverty of the proletariat cause them to question the staus quo
this will only lead to a revoloution if the prodetait are able to construct a counter hegemonic bloc (offering moral and ideolgical leadership to society)
the wc need to produce organic interlectualls a body of class conscoius workers organised into a revoloutioary political party, who are able to formaulte an alternative vision of to society should be run in the future with socalist values
evalution of gramsci
over emphses the role of ideas and under emphasising the role of both state coersion and econmoc fctors. eg workers may see through rc ideology and want to overthrough capitalism but reluctant due to state repression or unemplyment. they rollerate capitalism becuse they have no choice not becuase they accepy the the moral leadership of teh ruling class
