Neo-Marxism Flashcards

Question

Application of the War of Position to Contemp. society

Answer 1

- Points to various ways in which a counter-hegemony (alt ideology and culture) is created and circulated in society - Contemporary neo-Marxists say various left-wing social movements have tried to get their messages out through alternative media

Answer 2

- Contemporary neo-Marxist have broadened concept - War of Manoeuvre involves rapid assaults on various aspects of capitalist society, not necessarily capitalist state - Used to desc protests by various left-wing social movements at meetings of the World Trade Organization and the G20

Answer 3

- Return to economic analysis - changes in capitalism - Monopoly capitalism and changes in work

Answer 4

- Neo-Marxism started to become more popular among sociologists/ other scholars in 1960s - An economic strain in neo-Marxian analysis emerged: instead of engaging in cultural analysis and analysis of ideology, other neo-Marxian scholars began to return to economic analysis (but WITHOUT economic determinism)

Answer 5

1966: Paul Baron & Paul Sweezy Monopoly Capital: An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order

Answer 6

- Argued Marx’s ideas needed to be updated to account for the historical shift from competitive capitalism to monopoly capitalism - Competitive capitalism (CC) - Monopoly capitalism (MC

Answer 7

a variety of small companies exist in a given sector of the economy and none of them have control over that sector

Answer 8

one/ a few large compan(y)(ies) control a given sector of the economy

Answer 9

Organization CC: small companies MC: giant corporations Competition CC: based on prices, trying to offer the lowest $$$ to attract more customers MC: based on sales, trying to get a bigger share of a particular market through more appealing ads or packaging Ownership CC: Held by entrepreneurs MC: stockholders

Answer 10

- Interested in trying to update Marx’s work in another way in terms of his analysis of factory workers - The different kinds of workers in 20th C. capitalist factory - While looking at factory workers, wanted to extend his analysis to office and service workers as well

Answer 11

Noted that under MC, capitalists (through their managers) exert control over factory workers Argues there are 3 types of control at play: - Specialization - Scientific Management/Taylorism - Mechanization

Answer 12

breaking down tasks into minute activities, each is assigned to diff worker - Result: worker needs few skills (if any) to perform such a specific task - Enhances control of managers because it is much easier to control a worker doing a specific task than someone using a wide range of skills to perform multiple tasks

Answer 13

(Frederick W. Taylor): involves minimizing the time spent on a specific task - T: developed sci techniques to determine how quickly and efficiently a specific task could be performed - Time and motion studies: time motions when performing a task, and would apply minimum amount to everyone

Answer 14

the skills are built into the machine so workers require less - Worker simply has to tend to the machine - Easier to control a machine than a person - The more you constrict the worker of skills and use the machine, the more ctrl you have over the workers

Answer 15

Offered a useful analysis of how these 3 types of control have been used to control other workers too Argued that office workers and service workers are being subjected to the same forms of control that have been used on factory workers

Answer 16

- Faced specialization in the activities of clerical workers, which have been divided up so that they are responsible for specific tasks that do not require extensive skills - Face scientific management and mechanization, through the use of computers to measure and monitor the productivity of office workers

Answer 17

Includes people who work in fast food, retail - Specialization in fast food workers: one person for frying patty, one for dressing burger, etc. - Scientific management because all of these broken up tasks are precisely timed - Mechanization through: 1. Assembly line production: pass product down a line of workers 2. Cash registers that have deskilled workers - All a way for managers to control workers

Answer 18

Marx’s work was always historically grounded: analysis of capitalism, dialectical/ historical materialism deeply rooted in history --> Ignored analysis of shifts from one mode of production to another --> Looked at conflicts and contradictions in material production over time - 1970s-2010s analyzed modern world system with 4 publications - 2013: planned for 5th volume but died in 2019

Answer 19

- unit of analysis - the world system - the capitalist world-system

Answer 20

Refers to what is being studied - For most Neo-Marxists, the unit of analysis is either classes or the state: but for Wallerstein, those were too narrow/ specific for his purpose, instead used ‘The World System’

Answer 21

a social system that has a single division of labour, that encompasses multiple dominated cultures Could take 1 of 2 forms - world empire: a world-system that has a common political system (roman empire) - world economy: a world-system that does NOT have a common political system

Answer 22

A specific world system marked by the historical emergence of the capitalist world economy 3 historical stages in emergence of capitalist world-system: - Formation - Consolidation - Expansion

Answer 23

(1450-1640) - There was a crisis of feudalism in the Euro economy, paved way for beginnings of capitalism - During capitalist development, certain countries were dominant: Britain and the Netherlands

Answer 24

(1640-1815) - There was a serious recession in the Euro capitalist economy, led to entrenchment, then only 1 dominant country remained (Britain)

Answer 25

(1815-1917) 3 key developments: (i) beginnings of industrial capitalism (growth of factories and assembly lines) (ii) geographic extension of the Euro economy to encompass the globe: raw materials and cheap labour needed for industrial production (iii) appearance of other dominant countries: USA

Answer 26

divided into different and unequal strata - Upper stratum (Core states) - Lower stratum (Peripheral areas) - Middle stratum (Semi-peripheral areas)

Answer 27

Core states = countries that are at the centre of world econ production - The exploiting countries - Specific countries can differ over time, but currently: USA and Britain

Answer 28

Peripheral areas = countries that are marginal but necessary to world econ production due to being source of raw materials and cheap labour - The exploited countries - Specific countries can differ over time, but currently: most African countries and many south American countries

Answer 29

Semi-peripheral areas = countries that are structurally necessary to world econ production but outside its core poli and econ conditions - Simultaneous exploiting and exploited - Specific countries can differ over time, but currently: Mexico, India, China

Answer 30

- Escalation production costs, environmental pollution, etc. - Expanding gap between core states and peripheral areas due to inequality that exists between them: Gap is deepening instability within the system - Parallels Marx’s dialectical analysis: can only have social change due to contradictions/ conflicts in society - After destruction of capitalist world-system, sees emergence of a new and different world-system: a socialist world government

Answer 31

- The conceptual scheme: difficult to neatly categorize countries in relation to his conceptual scheme of core states and peripheral areas - Analysis of classes: with his focus on the relationships between core states and peripheral areas, argue that Wallerstein has lost sight of what is really important (relationship between classes in different societies)