Lesson 2 Part 2: Karl Marx

• Historical dialectical materialism


  A methodology that focuses on human societies and their development through history, arguing that history is the result of material conditions rather than ideas
• Forces of production


  The physical and non-financial inputs used in the production of economic value, including raw materials, facilities, machinery and tools
• Relations of production


  The relationship between those who own the means of production (raw materials, facilities, machinery and tools) and those who do not
• Relations of production


  • Slave owners own the slaves and natural resources, while the slaves work for the slave owners
  • Capitalists own the raw materials, facilities, machinery and tools, while the proletariat give their labor to the capitalists in exchange for money/wage
• Marx studied the different types of development of societies and observed that all types have modes of production

  
• Hegel's idealism


  Hegel believes that "ideas" can move anything and that an "absolute spirit" determines how ideas move
• Marx firmly disagrees with Hegel's beliefs as he sees ideas as abstract or unreal
• Dialectics


  The interrelatedness of things
• Marx's dialectical materialism


  1. Thesis - Forces of production

  2. Anti-thesis - Relations of production

  3. Synthesis - Analysis of society

  
• Feuerbach's materialism


  The material existence of things produces everything, and ideas must be translated into material action to be useful
• Marx used Feuerbach's idea that we must look at material reality, not just abstract ideas, in analysing society
• Marx believes that ideas are offshoots of what already exists, such as capitalism as an idea being an offshoot of capitalist society
• Forces of production


  Dynamic, as they drive changes in society

  
• Relations of production


  Static, as those who own the means of production do not want change since they are in an advantageous position
• Two types of social relations

  • Bourgeoisie
  • Proletariat
• Marx observed that in the early stage of industrial capitalism in Europe, a small part of the population turned into capitalists while the majority turned into proletarians
• Capitalists


  People who own and operate factories and other businesses in pursuit of profits, owning the means of production
• Proletarians


  People who sell their productive labor for wages
• Social conflict


  The struggle between segments of society over valued resources
• Class struggle


  The most significant form of social conflict, the clash between the proletariat and bourgeoisie over the distribution of wealth
• Conflict between capitalists and workers is inevitable as long as capitalism exists, as capitalists keep wages low to maintain high profits while workers want higher wages
• Alienation


  The experience of isolation and misery resulting from powerlessness, where workers are dominated by capitalists and dehumanized by their jobs
• Four types of alienation

  • Alienation from the act of working
  • Alienation from the product of one's labor
  • Alienation from one's human essence
  • Alienation from other human beings
• Capitalism and exploitation


  • The value of any commodity is roughly proportional to the amount of labor put into it
  • The wage the capitalists pay the laborer is equal to the amount of human labor necessary to produce the merchandise
• Failure of capitalism to adhere to the theory of value and wage results in the further exploitation of the Proletariat
• Commodity fetishism


  The perception of the social relationships involved in production, not as relationships among people, but as economic relationships among the money and commodities exchanged in market trade
• Commodity fetishism


  • PhP. 300,000.00 Hermes Bag vs PhP. 300.00 SM Bag. Both has the same USE VALUE, but different EXCHANGE VALUE
• Reification


  The process by which social relations are perceived as inherent attributes of the people involved in them, or attributes of some product of the relation, such as a traded commodity
• Reification


  • Money is just a piece of paper, but people attributed a character to it = "that it has a purchasing power"
  • People attributed to the "LV" brand the character that such brand is only for the people who can afford it
• Exploitation


  The appropriation of the SURPLUS VALUE from the products produced by the proletariat by the bourgeoisie in the basis of their ownership of the means of production
• Exploitation


  • A T-shirt factory has 100 employees who produces 1 million shirts per day. Each shirt is sold at 1,000.00. The daily wage of each worker is PhP. 600.00. Assuming that the Raw Material per shirt is PhP. 20.00, and the other expenses of the company is valued at PhP. 10.00 per shirt, compute for the surplus value.
• Commodity fetishism and reification contributes to exploitation, because it increases the SURPLUS VALUE
• Marx' solution

  • Revolution
  • Socialism
  • Communism
• Revolution


  1. According to Marx, REVOLUTION is the only way out of capitalism

  2. Certainly, revolutionary and even violent/ bloody revolution

  3. After the revolution, a SOCIALIST form of society must be established
• Socialism


  An economy in which productive property (factories, farms, workshops) is controlled socially: direct workers' control
• Communism


  • An ideology of economic equality through the elimination of private property
  • A classless, stateless society in which productive property is commonly owned and economic distribution is operated on the principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need"
• THEORY OF WAGE - The wage the capitalists pay the laborer is equal to the amount of human labor necessary to produce the merchandise.
• THEORY OF VALUE - The value of any commodity is roughly proportional to the amount of labor put into it.