Marxism

• Meckage


  & Allenation
• The state


  • rectation
  • conspecion
• Marx's view of class

  • His view of inequality is simplistic and one-dimensional-seeing class as the only important division
  • Weber argues that status and power differences can also cause inequality, such as the power elites in the Soviet Union causing inequality despite not owning the means of production
  • Feminists argue that gender is a more fundamental source of inequality than class
  • The two-class model is also simplistic-Weber instead divides the proletariat into skilled and unskilled and capitalists into white-collar office workers and petty bourgeoisie
  • Class polarisation hasn't accurred-the middle class has grown instead of being taken into the proletariat, and the industrial working class has shrunk in Western societies
• Criticisms of Marx


  • Economic determinism: Marx's base-superstructure model is criticised for economic determinism-seeing economic factors as the sole cause of everything
  • This fails to recognise that humans have free will and change via their conscious actions
  • His prediction of a WCR is also criticised for not coming true
• The 2 Marxisms


  • Gouldner (1975) establishes 2 types of Marxism after some Marxists rejected the base-superstructure model and its economic determinism:
  • 1. Humanistic Marxism-similarities with action theories and interpretative sociology
  • 2. Structuralist Marxism-structural approach that has similarities with positivist sociology
• Hegemony


  The ideological or moral leadership of society, which is how the ruling class keeps their position
• How the ruling class maintains dominance over society

  • Coercion uses army, police, prisons, courts of the state to force other classes to accept their rule
  • Consent (hegemony)- uses ideas/values to persuade subordinate classes that its rule is legitimate
• Hegemony & revolution


  • The ruling class relies a lot on consent to keep their rule in capitalist society
  • Gramsci & Marx agree this is due to institutions like education and religion spreading ideology that makes lower-classes accept ruling class hegemony
  • However, the hegemony of the ruling class is never complete because: 1) They're a minority- to rule, they need to ally with other groups like middle-classes, which will mean making ideological compromises to account for the new group's interests 2) Proletariat have dual consciousness- the WC can see through the dominant ideology because their ideas are influenced by the poverty/exploitation they experience, not just bourgeois ideology
  • Therefore, there's always the possibility of ruling class hegemony being undermined, especially in times of economic crisis and increased poverty cause the WC to question the status quo
  • However, a revolution can only happen if the proletariat are able to make a counter-hegemonic bloc-to find a alternative way society can be run
• Criticisms of the base super-structure model

  • In Marx's base-superstructure model, society's economic base determines its superstructure of institutions, ideologies and actions. Contradictions in the base cause changes in the superstructure which will eventually bring the fall of capitalism
  • Althusser rejects this model in favour of structural determinism, where capitalist society has 3 structures: 1) The economic level-comprising all those activities that involve producing something in order to satisfy a need 2) The political level- comprising all forms of organisation 3) The ideological level- involving the ways people see themselves/their world
  • In the base-superstructure, the economic level determines everything about the other levels, but in Althusser's model, the political and ideological levels have relative autonomy from the economic level
• Ideological and repressive state apparatuses

  Althusser argues the state preforms political and ideological functions for capitalism, which he divides into: 1) RSAS-army, police, prisons, etc that coerce the WC into complying to the bourgeoisie 2) ISAs-media, education system, family, reformist political parties, trade unions, etc that ideologically manipulate the WC into believing/accepting capitalism as legitimate
• Althusser's criticisms of humanism

  • Structuralist Marxists believe our sense of free will, choice and creativity is an illusion - the truth is that everything about us is born from underlying social structures
  • Therefore, Althusser criticises humanist Marxists for believing people can use their creativity, reason and free will to change society-instead arguing that our free will is actually false consciousness created by ISAs, such as the myth of meritocracy in education