theory - marxism

Marx’s ideas

recognised the harm and progress brought by the 19th century industrialisation

• Historical materialism: Work is needed to meet material needs.

• Class society: Early societies were classless; capitalism is highly class-based.

• Capitalism:

  1. A small ruling class (the bourgeoisie) owns factories, land, and resources, while the majority (the proletariat) owns only their labor.

  2. Workers must sell their labor to survive. Capitalists exploit them by paying less than the value of what they produce — the difference becomes profit for the bourgeoisie.

  3. Capitalism inevitably leads to conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat

• Class consciousness: Workers can unite against their exploiters.

• Ideology: Ruling class controls wealth and ideas, spreading false consciousness.

• Alienation: Workers are separated from their work and creativity.

• State and revolution: State protects ruling class; workers must overthrow it to create a classless, exploitation-free society.

criticisms of Marx - Marx’s view of class

1. simplistic / dimensional view of inequality

2. simplistic 2 class model

3. class polarisation has not occurred as MC has expanded and industrial WC exported

criticisms of Marx - economic determinism

1. base superstructure model fails to recognise individuals have free will and can bring about change

2. marx prediction of revolution have not come true in advanced capitalist countries in europe / north america.

Gramsci

RC maintains dominance through:

• Coercion: using state force

• Consent: spreading ideas/values to legitimize rule

Hegemony is incomplete because:

• RC is a minority → must ally with other groups → ideological compromises

Proletariat has dual consciousness:

• Influenced by bourgeois ideas but aware of poverty/exploitation.

evaluation of Gramsci

accused of over-emphasising the role of ideas and under-emphasising the role of both state coercion and economic factors.

similar approach: Paul Willis = describes the working class lads he studied as ‘partially penetrating’ bourgeois ideology - seeing through the school’s ideology to recognise that meritocracy is a myth.

Althusser

criticisms of the base-superstructure model:

more complex model: structural determinism in which capitalism has 3 levels…

1. economic level: comprising all those activities that involve producing something in order to satisfy a need.

2. political level: comprising all forms of organisation

3. the ideological level: involving the ways that people see themselves and their worlds.

RSA: armed bodies of men that coerce WC into complying with the will of the bourgeoisie.

ISA: institutions like education that manipulate WC into accepting capitalism as legitimate.

Althusser’s criticisms of humanism:

• Free will is an illusion — social structures shape all our thoughts and actions.

• Althusser rejects humanism — people can’t freely change society through choice or awareness.

• False beliefs — we think we have free will (e.g., in education) but it’s just an illusion created by society.

• Pre-set roles — society prepares us to fit into roles that support capitalism.

• Revolution happens — not through people choosing it, but when capitalism breaks down because of its own contradictions.

evaluation of Althusser

Thompson: criticises Althusser for ignoring the fact that he’s the active struggled of the WC that can change society. He accuses Althusser of elitism - the beliefs that the communist party knows what is best for the workers who should therefore blindly follow the party’s lead.