Marxism and Literary Theory Flashcards

Flashcards covering key concepts in Marxism and literary theory, based on lecture notes.

What type of philosophy is Marxism?

Materialist philosophy

What does Marxism try to interpret the world based on?

The concrete, natural world and society we live in

What is Marxism opposed to?

Idealist philosophy

What did Karl Marx say about philosophers and the world?

The philosophers have only interpreted the world…the point is to change it.

According to Marxism, how does society progress?

Through the struggle between opposing forces/classes

What originates out of the exploitation of one class by another throughout history?

Class struggle

In the Industrial Age, what was the struggle between?

The capitalist class (bourgeoisie) and the industrial working class (proletariat)

According to Marx, what will the confrontation between the proletariat and capitalist class result in?

Replacing the system by socialism

Who originally developed the concept of the dialectic?

Hegel, an 18th-century German philosopher

What is Marx's dialectic known as?

Dialectical materialism

According to Marx, what are all mental (ideological) systems products of?

Real social and economic existence

What is one of the fundamental concepts of classical Marxist thought?

The concept of base and superstructure

What does the base stand for in the base and superstructure model?

Socio-economic relations and the mode of production

What does the superstructure stand for in the base and superstructure model?

Art, law, politics, religion, and ideology

What did Adorno and Horkheimer call the production of culture by capitalist corporations?

The culture industry

What question does Walter Benjamin's essay, 'The Author as Producer,' address?

What is the literary work's position within the relations of production of its time?

Who further developed the Marxist approach through the introduction of concepts like overdetermination and ideology?

Louis Althusser

What does Althusser's concept of overdetermination refer to?

An effect that arises from various causes rather than a single factor

Who introduced the concepts like Hegemony and the Subaltern?

Antonio Gramsci

What critical method did Raymond Williams coin?

Cultural Materialism