Marxist Theory Of Social Inequality

Question 1

What are the 4 explanations of class inequality?

Answer 1

1. Society has historically faced divisions of power (Marx)
2. The ruling class uses ideological control to maintain their superior position (Marx)
3. Class inequality is justified through hegemony (Gramsci)
4. Power is becoming more concentrated in society (Westergaard)

Question 2

What is a macro-sociological (structural) theory?

Answer 2

Aims to explain society as a whole from perspective of social institutions to society as a whole

Question 3

What does Marx believe society is based on?

Answer 3

Class conflict

Question 4

1. Society has historically faced divisions of power

Answer 4

-Marx
-historical materialism = all human beings have material needs for food, shelter etc and need to work to meet these.
-material goods are gained through labour, what Marx called the forces of production
-as humans develop tools, we started to co-operate with each other and enter into social relations of productions.
-production is then directed by the class of owners to meet their needs

Question 5

What are the 4 modes of production humanity has already used according to Marx?

Answer 5

-primitive communism
-ancient mode of production
-feudalism
-capitalism

Question 6

Primitive communism

Answer 6

-ancient past small scale groups existed with no system of property ownership
-everything was communally owned
-over time they perfected their tools and produced a surplus and began some private ownership

Question 7

Ancient mode of production

Answer 7

Some private property owned - including slavery
Higher labourer productivity began to be demanded - conditions of slaves deteriorate, slaves not interested in production

Question 8

Feudalism

Answer 8

Class divisions between landowners vs landless peasants and tenant farmers forced to work for landowners to survive
Population increased, demand increased new discoveries

Question 9

Capitalism

Answer 9

-2 class system = bourgeoisie owns means of production, exploit proletariat for cheap labour to keep profits high

Question 10

Historical materialism

Answer 10

all human beings have material needs for food, shelter etc and need to work to meet these.

Question 11

2. The ruling class uses ideological control to maintain their superior position

Answer 11

-Marx
-all other institutions in society make up the superstructure - the role of which is to support and reinforce the base (economy)
-institutions (education, workplace, media and religion) have ideological roles which reflect the ruling class ideology and they use this ideology to control the masses
-capitalism will be seen as reasonable and just, rather than exploitative and oppressive (false class consciousness) beliefs and values will disguise and distort the true nature of society and class inequality will continue

Question 12

3. Class inequality is justified through hegemony

Answer 12

-Gramsci (neo-Marxist = new/modern marxism)
-to create change, individuals need more than just an economic reaction to impoverishment : the working class must generate ideas among themselves to counter ruling class rule
-Gramsci also argues that the ruling class rarely need to use force to exert power as they now rule through persuasion.
-uses ‘hegemony’ to describe the ruling class’ use of cultural and political means to encourage enough of the working class to side with the ruling class and the capitalist system to ensue the stability of an economic system = involves using institutions like the media and the education system to control people’s minds.
-Gramsci argues that hegemony was never complete as the working class have a dual consciousness = they work within capitalism and therefore contribute to it but they are also aware of the inequalities and injustices it creates.
-he believes that this would be that which leads the working class to a revolution

Question 13

4. Power is becoming more concentrated in society

Answer 13

-Westergaard
-there was little evidence of class divisions disappearing, he believes that they were widening and this was due to the way that the capitalist system operates.
-he also believed that the gradual process of production being expanded and technology rendering the workforce obsolete will creat a polarisation of classes (polar opposites so the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer)
-applied to society today: in 2020, the ONS calculated that the richest 10% of households hold 43% of all wealth. The poorest 50% by contrast own just 9%

Question 14

What are the 4 explanations of gender inequality?

Answer 14

1. Women must be submissive wives to ensure a pure bloodline (Engels)
2. Men need to exercise their control in the home if they do not have control of other areas of life (Zaretsky)
3. Women do unpaid labour in the home and this is essential to the smooth running of capitalism (Benston)
4. Women act as a disposable and cheap part of the workforce which benefits a capitalist society (Bruegel)

Question 15

1. Women must be submissive wives to ensure a pure bloodline

Answer 15

-Engels
-nuclear family : stereotypical family = mum, dad + 2 children = benefits a capitalist society as man can go to work, woman can say at hoe and its easier to reproduce workers in a heterosexual relationship
-men required to gain control over women so they could eventually pass on any private property in the form of inheritance to their children = important for a man to have control to ensure they had fathered legitimate offspring and that their wealth could be passed on for generations.
-this restricts women’s sexuality and enforced monogamy to effectively protect male property rights

Question 16

2. Men need to exercise their control in the home if they do not have control f other areas of life

Answer 16

-Zaretsky
-argument 1 = family life gave proletarian men something they could control and a space where they could be the “boss”. = function for capitalism as workers would tolerate the powerlessness and frustration of being exploited at work because they had this private domain where they were “king of the castle” and could take out their stress and frustrations on their wives.
-argument 2 = families are a conservative institution that helps to preserve capitalism. They also weaken the position of individual workers in relation to the boss.
-having wives at home men can exercise their power and be “in control” which prevents them from walking away from their job + ensures the worker has dependents relying on them = makes it harder to resist oppression they face at work as they need their wages.

Question 17

3. Women do unpaid labour in the home and this is essential to the smooth running of capitalism

Answer 17

-Benston
-unpaid domestic labour of women helps support the capitalist system
-women renew men’s ability to go out to work and create profits for the ruling class, by doing unpaid labour in the home
-women socialise and care for children, reproducing the next generation of workers at no cost to capitalist employers.
-women doing unpaid work means that only one wage needs to be paid and a wife becomes dependent on her husband’s wage. : being part of the nuclear family weakens the position of individual workers in relation to their boss
-if a man has to provide for his wife and children, this means he is less likely to challenge capitalism

Question 18

4. Women act as a disposable and cheap part of the workforce which benefits a capitalist society

Answer 18

-Bruegel
-women’s unpaid domestic labour makes them readily available to work outside of the home when society requires them to do so.
-the ruling class use women to join the workforce when needed (in economic booms) and send them back to the role of full-time housewife when not required = family is central to women’s oppression
-this causes women to become a cheap ‘reserve army of labour’ that can be utilised by the ruling class when they see fit.
-this generates a group of unemployed people looking for work creating competition amongst individuals for work and an acceptance of exploitation
-women are often not members of trade unions and are prepared to work for less money as their wage could be a second income

Question 19

What are the 4 Marxist explanations of ethnic inequality?

Answer 19

1. There is a direct relationship between capitalism and racism (Cox)
2. Immigrants act as a reserve army of labour in a capitalist society (Castles and Kosack)
3. The ruling class divide the working class for ideological purposes (castles and Kosack)
4. The ruling class uses the media to detract attention away from capitalist failings (Hall)

Question 20

1. There is a direct relationship between capitalism and racism

Answer 20

-Cox
-racism was developed by exploiters against the exploited to justify exploitation
-racism has its origins in the development of capitalism, with its needs to systematically exploit labour power
-early capitalism went hand in hand with colonialism, as European nations conquered other areas of the world, they were able to exploit the workforce in those colonies and they justified their actions through racism, by claiming white Europeans were superior to other races

Question 21

Cox quote

Answer 21

‘If capitalism had not developed then the world may never have experienced racial prejudice.’

Question 22

2. Immigrants act as a reserve army of labour in a capitalist society

Answer 22

-Castles and Kosack
-immigrants concentrated in low-skilled and low-paid manual jobs that were mainly carried out in poor working conditions, many immigrants were also unemployed
-=treatment of immigrants in Britain makes them a reserve army of labour
-it was necessary to have a surplus of labour to keep wage costs down, since the greater the overall supply of labour, the weakening the bargaining position for existing workers became.
-capitalist economies were inherently unstable , need a reserve army of labour to be available to be hired and fired as the fluctuating fortunes of the economy dictated

Question 23

3. The ruling class divide the working class for ideological purposes

Answer 23

-castles and Kosack
-after ww2, capital societies exhausted their indigenous reserve of army of labour - women = countries in Europe turned to immigrant labour to provide a necessary heap pool of workers who could be profitably exploited
-arrival of immigrants = working class divided into two groups = indigenous white population becoming the top layer of the working class and the immigrant workers becoming the most disadvantaged
-this divide and rule tactic was beneficial to the ruling class as it suppressed the overall wage levels of the working class and immigrants could be scapegoated (blamed)
-this allows the capitalist classes to divert the white working class’ attention from the real cause of inequality - capitalism
-this situation became too divided to unite and overthrow the capitalist system

Question 24

4. The ruling class uses the media to detract attention away from the capitalist failings

Answer 24

-Hall
-moral panic over black criminality at the time created a diversion away from the wider economic crisis ‘black youths being out of control’ was the headline rather than ‘Capitalism in crisis’

Question 25

Stage 1 of Hall’s analysis

Answer 25

Capitalism in crisis after recession in the 70s which caused unemployment and strikes which meant the government needed a scapegoat to divert attention away

Question 26

Stage 2 of Hall’s analysis

Answer 26

Recession also led to further social and economic marginalisation of black youths = street robbery

Question 27

Stage 3 of Hall’s analysis

Answer 27

Media picked up on this = moral panic by amplifying deviance

Question 28

Stage 4 of Hall’s analysis

Answer 28

Government responded by putting more police in areas with increasing crime rates

Question 29

Stage 5 of Hall’s analysis

Answer 29

Higher arrest rates which the media reported

Question 30

Stage 6 of Hall’s analysis

Answer 30

Public’s attention is firmly focused on the problem of black criminality rather than deeper problems of capitalist system

Question 31

What are the 4 explanations of age inequalities?

Answer 31

1. The elderly act as a reserve army of labour in a capitalist society - Phillipson
2. Individuals are kept in a false consciousness about their exploited position - Gramsci
3. The elderly are forced to become dependent to create space in the labour market for young, productive workers - Phillipson and Townsend
4. The capitalist class manipulates the elderly into retiring and uses them as a scapegoat for societal issues - Vincent

Question 32

1. The young and the elderly act as a reserve army of labour in a capitalist society

Answer 32

-Phillipson
-elderly have historically been used as a reserve army of labour, but this role has grown in recent years so age inequality can be seen as something constructed by the bourgeoisie
-growing market of zero hour contracts where employees are only given work when available, but have to work regardless and benefits such as pensions or sick pay are not provided

Question 33

2. Individuals are kept in a false consciousness about their exploited position

Answer 33

-Gramsci
-rule through force: uses the army, police, prison and courts to force other classes to accept its rule
Or
-rule through consent: uses ideas and values to persuade the subordinate classes that its rule is legitimate
-false consciousness explains that people do not realise their exploitation often through concessions that they receive
-form of dependency created by small measures such as child benefit and pensions
-this means that the elderly and youth do not question their exploitation through the labour market, accepting things such as zero hour contracts as they feel they get a small benefit in return

Question 34

3. The elderly are forced to become dependent to create space in the labour market for young, productive workers

Answer 34

-Phillipson and Townsend
-discuss how inequality must be had to meet the needs of the economy
-this places the elderly in a negative position as a burden on the economy
-capitalism needs to continually renew its workforce to ensure greater profit by using young workers who are more productive
-elderly are institutionally marginalised which happens through a process of institutionalised dependency = elderly are forced to retire, the needs of the economy are met through making space for young workers (elderly are forced to become dependents as they are denied access to work to support themselves)
-as a result of institutionalised dependency, the status of the elderly is lowered in society as they are not seen as valuable to the economy as they were before as workers, although this causes inequality, Marxists would argue the ruling class see this as for the good of a capitalist society

Question 35

4. The capitalist class manipulates the elderly into retiring and uses them as a scapegoat for societal issues

Answer 35

-Vincent
-state pensions re creation a disadvantage because they are too low. This creates issues particularly for women who are more likely to be dependent on state pensions as they are less likely to have worked full time and saved for a private pension
-the issue of state pensions is made worse by setting a retirement age.
-Vincent sees this not as a necessity because people can’t work but as something that has been constructed by capitalism because of the need to control a surplus of labour and it allows companies to sell private pensions
-moral panic over ageing population, this is a social construct, main problem is a failure to redistribute wealth
-Vincent argues that presenting ageing as a problem presents an ideological distraction, the elderly act as a scapegoat for economic issues