pure theory marxism Flashcards
Marx believed
Marx believed, like Durkheim that the modern world could be improved scientifically.
conflict of interests
Marxists reject the functionalist view that the social structure is a harmonious one based on value consensus. Instead they see it as based on a conflict of economic interests between social classes of unequal power and wealth.
instability and change
Marxists also reject functionalisms’ view of society as stable, and stress the possibility of sudden, profound and revolutionary change. Stability is merely the result of the dominant class being able to impose their will on society
historical materialism
-Materialism is the view that humans are beings with material needs, such as food, clothing and shelter, and must therefore work to meet them.
-Over time, as the forces of production grow and develop, a division of labour also develops, and this eventually gives rise to a division between two classes: - A class that owns the means of productions and a class of labourers.
-Marx refers to the forces and relation of production together as the mode of production. For example, currently we live in a society with a capitalist mode of production.
CLASS SOCIETY & EXPLOITATION: primitive communism
A form of classless society with no private ownership or exploitation. This was what Marx called the earliest stage of human history.
CLASS SOCIETY & EXPLOITATION: capitalism
As the forces of production grow, different types of class society come and go. In class societies, one class owns the means of production. This enables them to exploit the labour of others for their own benefit. In particular, they can control society’s surplus product. This is the difference between what the labourers actually produce and what is needed simply to keep them alive and working.
capitalism
-The proletariat do not own the means of production.
-They have to sell their labour power in order to receive wages to survive.
-Because capitalists are competitive, ownership of the means of production becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer hands (culminating in today’s giant transnational corporations). This competition drives small independent producers into the ranks of proletariat
-The high sale price of commodities and low wages creates a ‘surplus’ for the bourgeoise, which they keep whilst the proletariat become impoverished!
-Meanwhile technological advances deskill the workforce. Concentration of ownership and the deskilling of the proletariat together produces class polarisation. (The two become polar opposites of each other!)
class consciousness
According to Marx, workers (the proletariat) would eventually come together, and realise their oppression. He called this class consciousness. He claimed that they would instigate a class revolution.
The proletariat would move from being a ‘class in itself’ to a ‘class for itself’!
ideology
The institutions that produce and spread ideas, such as religion, education and the media, all serve the dominant class by producing ideologies – sets of ideas and beliefs that legitimatise (justify) the existing social order as desirable or inevitable.
Ideology fosters a false consciousness in the subordinate classes and helps to sustain class inequality
alienation
Alienation is the result of our loss of control over our labour and its products and therefore our separation from our true nature.
Under capitalism alienation reaches its peak, for two reasons: -
1) Workers are completely separated from and have no control over the forces of production.
2) the worker is reduced to an unskilled labourer, mindlessly repeating a meaningless task.
THE STATE, REVOLUTION & COMMUNISM:
Marx defines the state as ‘armed bodies of men’ – the army, police, prisons, courts and so on. The bourgeoisie use the state as a weapon in the class struggle, to protect their property, suppress opposition and prevent revolution.
A proletarian revolution will: Abolish the state, abolish exploitation and end alienation.
Marx expected the revolution to occur first of all in the most advanced capitalist societies. However, he wrote relatively little about exactly how revolution would come about. This has led to debate among Marxists ever since.
critisims of Marx: his view of class
The one dimensional view of inequality is too simplistic (class being the only important division). Weber argues that status and power differences can also be important sources of inequality, independently of class.
E.G: a ‘power elite’ can rule without owning the means of production, such as in the former Soviet Union. Similarly feminists argue that gender is more fundamental source of inequality than class.
Marx’s two-class is also simplistic. Weber further divides the proletariat into skilled and unskilled workers, white-collar M/C (office workers) and petty bourgeoisie (small capitalists).
Class polarisation has not occurred. In Western society the M/C has not been swallowed by an expanding proletariat but has grown and the W/C has shrunk. However, as a result of globalisation the proletariat in countries such as China and India is growing.
criticisms of Marx: economic determinism
This is the view that all changes in society, including social change are caused by economic factors. This ignores the free will of individuals to orchestrate change through their conscious actions!
Weber criticises the infrastructure-superstructure model for neglecting the roles of ideas. For him the emergence of a new set of ideas, Calvinistic Protestanism, helped to bring modern capitalism into being.
Marx’s predictions of revolution have not come true. It has only been economically backward countries such as Russia in 1917 which have seen Marxist-led revolutions.
internal criticisms of Marx: Gramsci & Hegemony
The transition from capitalism to communism will never come about simply as a result of economic forces.
The R/C use ‘hegemony’- an ideological or moral leadership to coerce and control the W/C.
However, in Gramsci’s view, hegemony is never complete for two reasons:
1) The ruling class are a minority. They need to sometimes make compromises with the middle classes to form allies!
2) The proletariat have a ‘dual consciousness’- Their ideas are influenced by both R/C ideology and everyday experiences so that can ‘see through’ the dominant ideology to some extent. They would eventually become ‘organic intellectuals’!
