Theories and methods

• Capitalism


  The economic system based on market competitions and the pursuit of profits in which the means of production or capital are privately owned by individuals or corporations
• Bourgeoisie


  The class that owns the means of production
• Proletariat


  The working class
• Karl Marx


  • Acknowledged as one of the founding fathers of sociology
  • Believed that scientific progress and knowledge will lead to a better society
  • Called his theory scientific socialism
• Capitalism


  The society that's organized around the creation of wealth and profit, centered on two classes - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat
• Bourgeoisie


  Maintain their wealth through the exploitation of the proletariat
• Proletariat


  Suffer from a false consciousness or false class consciousness, not realizing they are being exploited
• Base-superstructure model


  1. The economic base (modes of production, factories, materials, machines) influences the superstructure (institutions that legitimize the base and reinforce beliefs)

  2. Everything in society is influenced by the economic base
• Profit


  The surplus created when workers are paid a fixed wage but the products they make are sold at a higher cost
• Superstructure


  The institutions that legitimize the economic base and reinforce beliefs that stop workers from realizing they are being exploited
• Institutions in the superstructure

  • Family
  • Religion
  • Criminal justice system
• Family


  • Inheritance of private property
  • Ideological function of teaching obedience
  • Unit of consumption
• Religion


  Distorts reality, misleads the poor into thinking suffering is a virtue, the "opium of the people"
• Criminal justice system


  Focuses on working-class crimes, ignores crimes of the powerful, uses harsh punishments to protect private property and maintain the ruling class
• Marx predicted a proletariat revolution where the majority overthrows the minority and establishes a communist, classless society
• Marx's theory has been criticized as economic determinism, failing to account for other factors that influence social change
• Gramsci


  • Rejected Marx's economic determinism
  • Focused on the role of ideas and beliefs in driving social change
  • Introduced concepts of "hegemony" and "organic intellectuals"
• Hegemony


  The ideas and values that persuade the working class that the ruling class's rule is legitimate
• Dual consciousness


  The working class can see through the ruling class's ideas/ideology and form their own counter-hegemony
• Organic intellectuals


  Members of the working class who can lead the revolution by developing an alternative vision of society
• Religion


  Has a dual character, not just an ideological tool of the ruling class
• Dual consciousness


  The working class can see through the ideas or the ideology of the ruling class and are aware of the material conditions of life
• Organic intellectuals


  Can lead the revolution by producing their own ideas and alternative vision of how society should be run
• Religion


  Can help workers see through the ruling class's ideas and give them visions of a better world, through the clergy acting as organic intellectuals
• Father Torres in Colombia


  • Helped workers and peasants fight oppression under the protection of the church, developed literacy programs and educated the poor
• Working-class lads in "Learning to Labor"

  Developed their own counter-hegemonic culture and rejected the school's ideology of meritocracy
• Gramsci over-emphasizes the role of free will and choice, as workers might be reluctant to reject ruling class ideas due to fear of unemployment
• Structural Marxism


  Criticizes orthodox Marxism's base-superstructure model as too deterministic, and replaces it with a more complex system of structural determination where the political and ideological systems have relative autonomy from the economic base
• Ideological State Apparatus (ISA)


  Institutions like the family and education that socialize people into the values of capitalism
• Repressive State Apparatus (RSA)


  Institutions like the criminal justice system that use physical force to maintain the capitalist system
• Structural Marxism over-emphasizes the role of structure and ignores the active struggles of the working class that have changed society
• Flexible accumulation


  A shift from Fordist mass production to post-Fordist small niche markets and factories that can switch production quickly
• Flexible accumulation


  Encourages shifts in fashion and consumerism, with families acting as units of consumption and children pestering parents for the latest products
• Flexible accumulation


  Requires education to produce flexible, adaptable workers who can be retrained
• Flexible accumulation


  Allows companies to exploit workers in countries with lax regulations, leading to new types of corporate crime
• Postmodern Marxism argues that the recent changes in capitalism have weakened the working class, leading to a fragmented opposition of different groups rather than a unified working class revolution