Marxism Key Terms

"springtime of peoples"

nickname for the revolutions of 1848, represented the hope of the movements that ended in failure.

Realism

a literary movement that in contrast to Romanticism, stressed the depiction of life as it actually was.

Positivism

A philosophy that sees meaning in only those beliefs that can be empirically proven and that therefor reacts most of the concerns of traditional philosophy, from the existence of God to the human search for happiness, as meaningless. (a movement which demanded that there was evidence to back up one’s ideas, emphasized science.)

Auguste Comte

A French writer and philosopher who developed positivism and sociology

Sociology

the science of society (and how people impact each other)

Realpolitik

A German term referring to political practice based on a careful calculation of real-world conditions rather than ethical ideals or ideological assumptions, employed by Bismarck and other nineteenth-century politicians.

Karl Marx

founder of the principles of communism, developed his own form of socialism known as Marxism. Wrote the communist manifesto with Friedrich Engels.

Friedrich Engels

Marx’s literary companion who owned a factory in Manchester, son of a wealthy Prussian cotton manufacturer, wrote communist manifesto with Karl Marx.

Materialism

development of psychology in 19th century, belief that there is a material (scientific) reason for why people act like they do (perceptible to the senses). (direct materialism is Marx’s belief that people’s economic situation results in the way they view things, class vs class, material conditions > ideas) (theory that says historical change in the rise of class societies and the way people work together to make their livelihoods, specifically sociological)

Communist Manifesto

Written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, introduced Marx’s ideas about class conflicts

Capital

A book outlining Marx’s economic theory.

Hegel

German philosopher, believed that reality was a process of unfolding (predicting) change, the pattern of change was a dialectic, the roots of civilization are the clash of ideas which lead to conditions on society, idea vs idea, ideas > conditions

Alienation

Marx’s belief that workers were robbed of the finished product/skilled labor in capitalism, detached from work.

Condition of the Working Class in England

written by Friedrich Engels, a book that exposed the harsh working conditions in factories.

surplus value

The goods workers produced (in capitalism) were always worth more than what the workers were paid, and the difference (aka anything leftover) which was called ______ ______ by Marx, and it went to the bourgeoisie.

dialectal materialism

theory that historical and political events are a result of the conflict of social forces and are shown through a series of contradictions and their solutions. (Conditions are the roots, ideas are the trees) (material conditions caused classes, and changed make new classes resulted in struggle until the rise of a new dominant class.) (all things are in movement and in evolution and that all change comes from the clash of antagonistic elements)