Marxism
What is it?
C19 critique of capitalism as a social system that relentlessly pursues profit and how groups exercise power over other groups.
Marx reveals how power is maintained and exercised over course of history
description and analysis of the world and a prescription for its change.
Karl Marx
studied law then philosophy
radical journalist
settled in London and worked on his magnum opus, Capital.
witnessed profound changes in economic and political life
work attempts to make sense of material inequality and injustice
writings on history, capitalism, value, and class struggle, and place of media and communications in addressing inequality.
Friedrich Engels
lifelong friend and comrade to Marx
fostered Marx’s interest in the working class
Collaborations on The German Ideology, The Manifesto of the Communist Party
Bankrolls Marx for rest of his life.
George Hegel
produced a system that seemed to offer a master key to understanding the unfolding of history.
says that the driving force of history are ideas - any idea is in constant conflict with other ideas - leads to new ideas and conflicts.
change is not the problem of history but the key to understanding it. (Dialectics)
Marx apposes Hegel: change is not driven by ideas but by material conditions or economic factors. - the lives we lead are what determine our ideas not the other way around.
History as economic
Marx’s materialist insight led him to think that we need to know how and why society behaves in a certain way.
history expresses itself in a series of clashes between classes following their objective economic interests.
society moves through changes by means of production.
Base and superstructure
the base reality = economy, the superstructure = built on tops
explains Marx interest in how society produced things, producing wealth and consuming it.
Marx & Engels in Belgium
wrote The Communist Manifesto. setting out their view of history as revolutions broke out.
Das Kapital
study of how capitalism works as a system of exploitation.
in capitalism there is a pretence of fairness
employer provides the workplace and tools: worker provides the labour
the employer possesses the surplus, the bit that is produced above what we absolutely need to survive.