Marxism

Marx's ideas, Gramsci and hegemony, Althusser's structuralist Marxism

Marx’s ideas

Like Durkheim, Marx saw both the harm caused by the modern industrial society that was taking shape in 19th century Europe, and the promise of progress to a better world that it held. Also like Durkheim, Marx believed that it was possible to understand society scientifically and that this knowledge would point the way to a better society - he described his theory as 'scientific socialism'. In these ways, Marxism is a continuation of the Enlightenment project.

unlike functionalists, however, Marx did not see progress as a smooth and gradual evolution. Instead, he saw historical change as a contradictory process in which capitalism would increase human misery before giving way to a classless communist society in which human beings would be free to fulfil their potential.

Marx was not just a theorist; he was also a revolutionary socialist. the classless society would need to be brought into being by conscious human action.

After his death, Marx's ideas came to form the basis of communism, a political movement that was enormously influential in shaping the modern world, and Marxism became the official doctrine of the former Soviet Union and other communist states.

Marx’s ideas - 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. In doing so, they use the forces of production (sometimes called means of production).

In the earliest stage of human history, these forces are just unaided human labour, but over time people develop tools, machines and so on to assist in production. In working to meet their needs, humans also cooperate with one another: they enter into social relations of production - ways of organising production.

Over time, as the forces of production grow and develop, so too the social relations of production also change. In particular, a division of labour develops, and this eventually gives rise to a division between two classes: a class that owns the means of production, and a class of labourers. From then on, production is directed by the class of owners to meet their own needs.

Marx refers to the forces and relations of production together as the mode of production. the mode of production forms the economic base of society. This economic base determines all other features of society - the superstructure of institutions, ideas, beliefs and behaviour that arise from this base. e.g. it shapes the nature of religion, law, education, the state, etc.

Marx’s ideas - class society and exploitation

In the earliest stage of human history, there are no classes, no private ownership and no exploitation - everyone works, and everything is shared. Marx describes this early classless society as 'primitive communism'. But 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.

Marx identifies 3 successive class societies, each with its own form of exploitation:
(1) ancient society, based on the exploitation of slaves legally tied to their owners
(2) feudal society, based on the exploitation of serfs legally tied to the land
(3) capitalist society, based on the exploitation of free wage labourers.

Marx’s ideas - capitalism

Like previous class societies, capitalism is based on a division between a class of owners, the bourgeoisie, and a class of labourers, the proletariat. However, capitalism has three distinctive features:

(1) unlike slaves or serfs, the proletariat are legally free and separated from the means of production. Because they do not own any means of production, they have to sell their labour power to the bourgeoisie in return for wages in order to survive. but, this isn’t an equal exchange. The proletariat don’t receive the value of the goods that their labour produces, but only the cost of subsistence - of keeping them alive. The difference between the two is the surplus value - the profit that the capitalist makes by selling the commodities that the proletariat have produced.

(2) through competition between capitalists, 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 the proletariat, until ultimately the vast majority are proletarianised. Competition also forces capitalists to pay the lowest wages possible, causing the immiseration (impoverishment) of the proletariat.

(3) capitalism continually expands the forces of production in its pursuit of profit. Production becomes concentrated in ever-larger units. Meanwhile, technological advances de-skill the workforce.

Concentration of ownership and the deskilling of the proletariat together produce class polarisation. That is, society divides into a minority capitalist class and a majority working class.

Marx’s ideas - class consciousness

Marx → capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction. e.g. by polarising the classes, bringing the proletariat together in ever-larger numbers, and driving down their wages, capitalism creates the conditions under which the wc can develop a consciousness of its own economic and political interests in opposition to those of its exploiters.

As a result, the proletariat moves from being merely a class in itself (one whose members occupy the same economic position), to becoming a class for itself, whose members are class conscious - aware of the need to overthrow capitalism.

Marx’s ideas - ideology

Marx → the class that owns the means of production also owns and controls the means of mental production - the production of ideas. The dominant ideas in society are thus the ideas of the economically dominant class. 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 legitimise (justify) the existing social order as desirable or inevitable.

Ideology fosters a false consciousness in the subordinate classes and helps to sustain class inequality. but, as capitalism impoverishes the workers, so they develop class consciousness. They see through capitalist ideology and become conscious of their true position as 'wage slaves'.

Marx’s ideas - alienation

Marx believes that our true nature is based on our capacity to create things to meet our needs. Alienation is the result of our loss of control over our labour and its products and therefore our separation from our true nature.

Alienation exists in all class societies, cuz the owners control the production process for their own needs. but, 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 division of labour is at its most intense and detailed: the worker is reduced to an unskilled labourer mindlessly repeating a meaningless task.

Marx’s ideas - the state, revolution and communism

Marx defines the state as 'armed bodies of men' - the army, police, prisons, courts, etc. The state exists to protect the interests of the class of owners who control it. As such, they form the rc. They use the state as a weapon in the class struggle, to protect their property, suppress opposition and prevent revolution. Any class that wishes to lead a revolution and become the economically dominant class must overthrow the existing rc.

Previous revolutions had always been one minority class overthrowing another, but in Marx's view, the proletarian revolution that overthrows capitalism will be the first revolution by the majority against the minority. It will:
- abolish the state and create a classless communist society.
- abolish exploitation, replace private ownership with social ownership, and replace production for profit with production to satisfy human needs.
- end alienation as humans regain control of their labour and its products.

Marx predicted the ultimate victory of the proletarian revolution and the establishment of communist society on a world scale. He expected the revolution to occur first of all in the most advanced capitalist societies. but, he wrote relatively little about exactly how the revolution would come about.

AO3 - criticisms of Marx

Marx’s view of class:
(1) Marx has a simplistic, one-dimensional view of inequality - he sees class as the only important division. Weber → status and power differences can also be important sources of inequality, independently of class. e.g. a 'power elite' can rule without actually owning the means of production, as it did in the former Soviet Union. Similarly, feminists → gender is a more fundamental source of inequality than class.

(2) Marx's two-class model is also simplistic. For example, Weber sub-divides the proletariat into skilled and unskilled classes, and includes a white-collar middle class of office workers and a petty bourgeoisie (small capitalists).

(3) Class polarisation has not occurred. Instead of the mc being swallowed up by an expanding proletariat, it has grown, while the industrial wc has shrunk, at least in Western societies. On the other hand, the proletariat in countries such as China and India is growing as a result of globalisation.

economic determinism:
(1) Marx's base-superstructure model is criticised for economic determinism - the view that economic factors are the sole cause of everything in society, including social change. this fails to recognise that humans have free will and can bring about change through their conscious actions.

(2) similarly, the base-superstructure model neglects the role of ideas. For example, Weber argues that it was the emergence of a new set of ideas, those of Calvinistic Protestantism, which helped to bring modern capitalism into being.

(3) a related criticism is that Marx's predictions of revolution haven’t come true. Marx predicted that revolution would occur in the most advanced capitalist countries, such as Western Europe and North America. but, it’s only economically backward countries such as Russia in 1917 that have seen Marxist-led revolutions.

(4) but, in defence of Marx, while there are examples of economic determinism in his work, there are also instances where he argues that 'men make their own history' and that the wc would free themselves by their own conscious efforts - indicating that he gave a role to human action as well as economic forces.

Marx’s ideas - the ‘two Marxisms’

Since Marx's death in 1883, the absence of revolutions in the West has led many Marxists to reject the economic determinism of the base-superstructure model. Instead, they’ve tried to explain why capitalism has persisted and how it might be overthrown.

Gouldner (1973) - two broad approaches to these questions:
- Humanistic or critical Marxism - This has some similarities with action theories and interpretive sociology. (voluntarism: humans have free will. they are active agents who make their own history. their consciousness and ideas are central in changing the world.)
- Scientific or structuralist Marxism - a structural approach and has similarities with positivist sociology. (determinism: structural factors determine the course of history. individuals are passive puppets - victims of ideology manipulated by forces beyond their control.)

Gramsci and hegemony

Gramsci (1891-1937) introduces the concept of hegemony, or ideological and moral leadership of society, to explain how the rc maintains its position. He argues that the proletariat must develop its own 'counter-hegemony' to win the leadership of society from the bourgeoisie.

Gramsci was the first leader of the Italian Communist Party during the 1920s. He rejects economic determinism as an explanation of change: the transition from capitalism to communism will never come about simply as a result of economic forces. Even though factors such as mass unemployment and falling wages may create the preconditions for revolution, ideas play a central role in determining whether or not change will actually occur.

This can be seen in Gramsci's concept of hegemony. Gramsci sees the rc maintaining its dominance over society in two ways:
(1) coercion: it uses the army, police, prisons and courts of the capitalist state to force other classes to accept its rule.
(2) consent (hegemony): it uses ideas and values to persuade the subordinate classes that its rule is legitimate.

Gramsci and hegemony - hegemony and revolution

In advanced capitalist societies, the rc rely heavily on consent to maintain their rule. Gramsci agrees with Marx that they’re able to do so cuz they control the institutions that produce and spread ideas, e.g. the media, the education system and religion. So long as the rest of society accepts rc hegemony, there won’t be a revolution, even when the economic conditions might seem favourable.

but, the hegemony of the rc is never complete, for two reasons:
(1) the rc are a minority. To rule, they need to create a power bloc by making alliances with other groups, such as the middle classes. They must therefore make ideological compromises to take account of the interests of their allies.
(2) the proletariat have a dual consciousness. Their ideas are influenced not only by bourgeois ideology, but also by their material conditions of life - the poverty and exploitation they experience. This means they can 'see through' the dominant ideology to some degree.

thus there’s always the possibility of rc hegemony being undermined, particularly at times of economic crisis, when the worsening material conditions and increased poverty of the proletariat cause them to question the status quo. but, this will only lead to revolution if the proletariat are able to construct a counter-hegemonic bloc - they must be able to offer moral and ideological leadership to society.

the wc can only win this battle for ideas by producing their own ‘organic intellectuals’. By this he means a body of class conscious workers, organised into a revolutionary political party, who are able to formulate an alternative vision of how society could be run in the future. This counter-hegemony would win ideological leadership from the rc by offering a new vision of how society should be organised, based on socialist rather than capitalist values.

AO3 - evaluation of Gramsci

Gramsci is accused of over-emphasising the role of ideas and under-emphasising the role of both state coercion and economic factors. e.g. workers may see through rc ideology and wish to overthrow capitalism, but be reluctant to try cuz they fear state repression or unemployment. They may tolerate capitalism simply cuz they feel they have no choice, not cuz they accept the moral leadership of the rc.

Sociologists working within a Marxist framework have adopted a similar approach to Gramsci. They stress the role of ideas and consciousness as the basis for resisting domination and changing society. e.g. Willis (1977) describes the wc lads he studied as 'partially penetrating' bourgeois ideology - seeing through the skl's ideology to recognise that meritocracy is a myth.

These writers often draw on perspectives such as interactionism that emphasise the role of ideas and meanings as the basis for action. Because they combine Marxism with other approaches, they are sometimes called neo-Marxists - 'new Marxists'.

Althusser’s structuralist Marxism

While humanistic Marxists see humans as creative beings, able to make history through their conscious actions, for structuralist Marxists, it isn’t people's actions but social structures that really shape history and these are the proper subiect of scientific enquiry. The task of the sociologist is to reveal how these structures work.

Althusser's version of Marxism rejects both economic determinism and humanism.

Althusser’s structuralist Marxism - criticisms of the base-superstructure model

In Marx's og base-Superstructure model, society's economic base determines its superstructure of institutions, ideologies and actions. Contradictions in the base cause changes in the superstructure and ultimately bring about the downfall of capitalism.

Althusser rejects this model in favour of a more complex one, which Craib calls 'structural determinism'. In this model, capitalist society has 3 structures or levels:
(1) the economic level, comprising all those activities that involve producing something in order to satisfy a need
(2) the political level, comprising all forms of organisation.
(3) the ideological level, involving the ways that people see themselves and their world

In the base-superstructure model, there’s a one-way causality: the economic level determines everything about the other two levels. By contrast, in Althusser's model, the political and ideological levels have relative autonomy or partial independence from the economic level. The political and ideological levels aren’t a mere reflection of the economic level, and they can even affect what happens to the economy. Instead of a one-way causality, we have two-way causality.

Althusser’s structuralist Marxism - ideological and repressive state apparatuses

Although the economic level dominates in capitalism, the political and ideological levels perform indispensable functions. e.g. if capitalism is to continue, future workers must be socialised, workers who rebel must be punished, etc.

In Althusser's model, the state performs political and ideological functions that ensure the reproduction of capitalism. He divides the state into two 'apparatuses':
(1) the repressive state apparatuses (RSAs) → These are the
'armed bodies of men' - the army, police, prisons etc. - that coerce the wc into complying with the will of the bourgeoisie. This is how Marxists have traditionally seen the state.
(2) the ideological state apparatuses (ISAs) → These include the media, the education system, the family, reformist political parties, trade unions and other institutions. ISAs ideologically manipulate the wc into accepting capitalism as legit. This is a much wider definition of the state than the traditional Marxist view.

This is similar to Gramsci's distinction between coercion (the RSAs) and consent (the ISAs) as different ways of securing the dominance of the bourgeoisie.

Althusser’s structuralist Marxism - Althusser’s criticisms of humanism

structuralist Marxists → the sense of free will, choice and creativity is an illusion. everything about us is the product of underlying social structures. Craib (1992) → society is a puppet theatre, people are merely puppets, and these unseen structures are the hidden puppet master, determining all our thoughts and actions.

Althusser is thus dismissive of humanism, including humanistic Marxists such as Gramsci. Humanists believe that people can use their creativity, reason and free will to change society. e.g. humanistic Marxists believe that a socialist revolution will come about as a result of the wc actively developing class consciousness and consciously choosing to overthrow capitalism.

Althusser → we’re not the free agents that humanists think we are - our belief that we possess free will and choice is simply false consciousness produced by the ISAs. e.g. we may believe that education gives us the chance to achieve what we’re capable of, but this is an illusion - the 'myth of meritocracy'.

In reality, we’re merely products of social structures that determine everything about us, preparing us to fit into pre-existing positions in the structure of capitalism. This is similar to Parsons' idea of status-roles, where society socialises individuals to slot into pre-existing roles that will meet society's needs.

thus, in Althusser's view, socialism won’t come about cuz of a change in consciousness - as humanistic Marxists argue - but will come about cuz of a crisis of capitalism resulting from what Althusser calls over-determination: the contradictions in the three structures that occur relatively independently of each other, resulting in the collapse of the system as a whole.

evaluation of Althusser

Althusser claims to oppose both humanism and determinism, but he’s harsher on humanism. Although he rejects economic determinism, he simply replaces it with a more complex 'structural determinism' in which everything is determined by the three structures and their interrelationships.

For humanistic Marxists such as Gouldner, this 'scientific' approach discourages political activism cuz it stresses the role of structural factors that individuals can do little to affect. Similarly, the Marxist historian, Thompson (1978), criticises Althusser for ignoring the fact that it’s the active struggles of the wc that can change society. He accuses Althusser of elitism - the belief that the Communist Party knows what is best for the workers, who should thus blindly follow the Party’s lead.

Craib → Althusser ‘offers the most sophisticated conception of social structure available in the social sciences’. but, while Althusser believed he was developing a scientific analysis of society to help bring about progress to a better society, his structuralist Marxism has been a major influence on theories such as postmodernism that reject the very idea that scientific knowledge can be used to improve society.