week 3 - Marxism Flashcards
what did Marx and Engels emphasise?
certain features in society as being crucial, process of change and development.
there was a focus on capitalism as being exploitative, so society is seen to be characterised by power and one group dominating over others
Marx and Engels emphasise conflict an what drives society to change by breaking apart old parts of society.
what were Marx’s key ideas?
ownership, means of production, property, bourgeoisie, feudal structure, proletariat, exploitation, class consciouness, revolution
how did Marx and Engels understand the structure of society?
infrastructure is the economic base
superstructure is the social organisations, ideas, ideology, state organised
norms of how society works, distracting the lower class of what they are missing out and exploited
economic basis shapes the superstructure
how did Marx and Engels understand history?
historical materialism
materialistic dialect
dialectical materialism
Marx used the term of Materialistic conception of history
what are the stages of development in Marx’s ‘Materialistic dialect’
primitive communism - no classes, no privaate ownership
ancient society - one dominant class other others
feudal society - property ownership shales class
capitalism - class relates to means of production
communism - no private ownership, no class
each stage is defined by economic relations and ownership of property
what does Marx mean by class consciousness?
a class becomes aware of its material position within history
the proletariat is aware that they are being exploited by the means of production
a subjective understanding of the working and living conditions are unacceptable and is oppressed
form a unity to rise up against these forces, no longer oppressed by the captialist system and the bourgeoisie
shifts from being a class in itself to a class for itself
how does Marx and Engels understand capitalism?
capitalism is system of social relations, workers being separated from the means of production
commodities are produced to be exchanged, for profit
but did see capitalism as a good thing as it moved on to the next stage in historical materialism closer to communism
what did Marx see in capitalism as problematic?
drives conflict, awareness of disdvantages
mechanisation, less workers causing hardship
overproduction and under consumption, workers cannot afford commodities
exploit in consumers and producers
periodic economic crisis is endemic to capitalism
economic crises, deprived of the ownership of business, bourgeosie become apart of the proletariat
how does ideology link to communist thinkers?
it is seen to be apart of the superstructure
exposes the problems of capitalism, doesn’t explain why those who are exploited deal with it
who is Gramsci? what did he do for communism?
Italian Marxist philosopher, leader of the communist party in Italy
imprisoned for campaigning against Mussolini
he wrote extensive notebooks on political theory ‘Prison Notebooks’
known for his theory Euro-Marxism
theory of cultural hegemony
what is cultural hegemony?
theory of how powerful elites retain power
elites engineer power from the population to allow them to continue to rule
worldwide view of the powerful becomes the accepted norm
what is the definition of hegemony?
ideas of dominant group
product of ideas and the position for those who have the ideas and where they place in society
what is the definition of counter hegemony?
counter ideas of dominant groups
what is the definition of subaltern?
people who don’t have power
excluded groups
hegemonic blocs can divide subalterns into those who must be accommodated and adversaries who are seen to be a threat
how does a successful hegemonic bloc work?
elites engineer a situaiton where the common sense of the subaltern aligns with their own, allows the population to consent to those dominant groups to be in power for longer
