Marx

• scientific socialism

  Marx believed that it was possible to understand society scientifically and that this knowledge would point the way to a better society
• marxism become the official doctrine (set of beliefs) for communist societies and former soviet unions
• Marx's key ideas

  1. historical materialism
  2. class society and exploitation
  3. capitalism
  4. class conciousness
  5. ideology
  6. alienation
  7. the state, revolution, communism
• historical materialism

  • early society - forces of production were through unaided labour, man-made labour
  • modern society - forces of production grow and develop, divide into 2 classes: class that owns means of production, class of labourers
• primitive communism 


  early classless society has no classes, no private ownership, no exploitation
• 3 types of class societies

  1. ancient society - based on exploitation of slaves, with pharaohs at the top
  2. feudal society - based on exploitation of peasants, with the monarchy at the top
  3. capitalist society - based on exploitation of workers, with business owners at the top
• capitalism

  • based on the division between bourgeoisie and proletariat
  • 3 features of capitalism

  1. proletariat are free from means of production, however as they do not own any of it need to sell their labour to bourgeoisie in order to survive
  2. small concentration of ownership - means small independent companies are taken over by big conglomerates, creates competition between capitalists
  3. capitalism expands the forces of production in its pursuit of profit. Production becomes concentrated in ever-larger units. Meanwhile, technological advances de-skill the workforce.
• class polarisation

  • Concentration of ownership and the deskilling of the proletariat together produce class polarisation.
  • society divides into a minority capitalist class and a majority working class
• class consciousness

  • due to capitalism, the proletariat develop class conciousness
  • become aware of exploitation from the bourgeoisie
  • become aware they need to overthrow capitalism to stop this
• ideology

  • the ruling elite develop dominant ideology - rich stay rich poor stay poor
  • institutions spread these ideas that legitimise existing social order as desirable
  • ideology creates false class consciousness - working class unaware they are being exploited e.g education perceives to be meritocratic in which everyone has equal chance to achieve
• alienation

  • the result of our loss of control over our labour and its products and therefore our separation from our true nature.
  • e.g pre-industrial era most owned their own labour and sold it themselves. after industrialisation, most labour owned by a few companies
  • leads to workers being completely separated from/ have no control over production
• Marx's view on the state

  • defines the state as ‘armed bodies of men’ – the army, police, prisons, courts
  • the state exists to protect the interests of the class of owners who control it. As such, they form the ruling class. 
  • Any class that wishes to lead a revolution and become the economically dominant class must overthrow the existing ruling class.
• revolution and communism

  • Marx believes the proletariat will one day revolt and overthrow the capitalist system
  • it will abolish the state and create a classless communist society
  • it will abolish exploitation, replace private ownership
  • end alienation as humans regain control of their own labour
• criticisms of Marx

  • did not specify how exactly the proletariat would be able to revolt against the bourgeoisie
  • outdated - his ideas were form the 19th century - society has changed since then
  • class polarisation has not occurred - in western countries, state has been able to narrow the gap between classes e.g through welfare state
  • no one has been able to overthrow capitalism
• base-superstructure model

  • Base - to the production forces, or the materials and resources, that generate the goods society needs. mode of production
  • Superstructure - describes institutions, ideas, beliefs, behaviour that are shaped by the base of society
• a03 economic determinism

  • Marx's base-superstructure criticised for being too deterministic
  • views economic factors are the main cause of everything in society
  • Critics argue that this fails to recognise that humans have free will and can bring about change through their conscious actions. (social action theories)
• gouldner - 2 marxism approaches

  • after Marx's death, further approaches developed from his original ideas
  • many have tried to explain why capitalism has persisted and how it might be overthrown

  1. humanistic or critical marxism
  2. scientific or structuralist marxism
• gramsci - humanistic marxism

  • Draws on Marx’s early writings, where he focuses on alienation and people’s subjective experience of the world.
  • Voluntarism: humans have free will. They are active agents who make their own history. Their consciousness and ideas are central in changing the world.
  • similar to action theories
• Althusser - structuralist marxism

  • Draws on Marx’s later work, where he writes about the laws of capitalist development working with ‘iron necessity’ towards inevitable results.
  • marxism is a science - discovers laws of capitalism
  • Determinism: structural factors determine the course of history
  • links to positivist sociology
• Marxism is a perspective based on the ideas of Karl Marx (1818–83)