Theories - Marxism Flashcards
Marxism overview
Ruling class exploits labor of the subject class to gain profit - done through low wages, long hours or stopping the challenging of authority by threatning unemployment. R/c own the forces of production, factories etc, but subject class only have their labor.
Classical Marxism
Methodology used to identify societies and developments through history. Marx & Engels - communism and socialism are scientific necessities not ideas.
The base and superstructure
The base (means of production) determines the superstructure (everything not directly to do with production) & the ruling class have ideological control through the superstructure.
Historical materialism
Provides individuals with food shelter & clothing.
used to show how change is driven by material objects & each period of history has its own unique set of characteristics. Industrialisation has introduced tools and machines to help expand production - emerging the owners of means of production and wage labourers.
Societies through time
Ancient society - exploitation of slaves legally tied to their owners
Feudal society - based on the exploitation of serfs legally tied to land
Capitalist society - based on exploitation of free-wage labourers
classical marxism evaluations - criticisms
- Less of a clear divide between the Bourgeois-Proletariat. in many developing nations there’s many middle class & many other classes now, only 6% of the population are wealthy elite individuals.
- Revolution hasn’t happened and probably won’t as people need to work to support their families/themselves etc.
Neo-marxism
Adapt traditional marxism to make it apply to more modern perspectives and overcome criticisms.
Humanistic Marxism - Gramsci
Socialism will occur when people become conscious of needing to overthrow capitalism - politcal action is encouraged and time is perfect for revolution.
Hegemony
Process by which dominant culture maintains its dominant position. Do it through: coercion - army, police, prison
consent (hegemony) - ideas and values to persuade subordinate class that its rule is legitimate
Hegemony achieved
Gramsci agrees with Marx that r/c maintain consent because they control institutions such as the media and the education system but will never truly be achieved because ruling class are a minority and proletariat have dual consciousness. Because it’s never truly achieved, chance for it to be undermined but dual consciousness stops this.
dual consciousness
people receive a set of beliefs through general socialisation into a dominant culture but have another set of beliefs based on their own practical experiences of life.
How can capitalism be overthrown
the working class have dual consciousness and can see through the ideology of the ruling class - aware of poverty & exploitations
revolution - proletariats need to form a group of organic intellectuals - people from same social class who are class conscious and are able to project an alternative vision of what society would look like under communism to form counter hegemony.
Althusser criticism of humanistic marxism
Organic intellectuals forming ideas of overthrowing capitalism wont happen because all ideas are determined by capitalist structures and wont allow any ideas that threaten its existence to form.
Socialism will form with a capitalist collapse of the entire system
Structural marxism
Structural approach - Althusser rejects Marx’s base & superstructure theory making up a capitalist society, instead exisitng on 3 different levels.
Althusser’s 3 levels
Political level - through government & organisations
Economic level - the production of goods that satisfy needs
Ideological level - people’s view on themselves and the world (ideological state apparatus through media, education, religion)
