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    Marxism

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    Avinash Sahu
    Karl Marx developed Marxism in 19th century Britain and Europe during a time of social and economic unrest. Marx believed that societies could be divided into two main classes - the bourgeoisie who owned the means of production and the proletariat who worked for them. He theorized that these two classes would be in constant conflict as the bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat to maximize profits. This conflict would ultimately result in revolution and the creation of a communist society without social classes. Marx's key insight was that the economic base of society determined the superstructure of institutions, culture, politics and ideology.

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    Marxism

    Uploaded by

    Avinash Sahu
    12 views31 pages
    Karl Marx developed Marxism in 19th century Britain and Europe during a time of social and economic unrest. Marx believed that societies could be divided into two main classes - the bourgeoisie who owned the means of production and the proletariat who worked for them. He theorized that these two classes would be in constant conflict as the bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat to maximize profits. This conflict would ultimately result in revolution and the creation of a communist society without social classes. Marx's key insight was that the economic base of society determined the superstructure of institutions, culture, politics and ideology.

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    Karl Marx developed Marxism in 19th century Britain and Europe during a time of social and economic unrest. Marx believed that societies could be divided into two main classes - the bourgeoisie who owned the means of production and the proletariat who worked for them. He theorized that these two classes would be in constant conflict as the bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat to maximize profits. This conflict would ultimately result in revolution and the creation of a communist society without social classes. Marx's key insight was that the economic base of society determined the superstructure of institutions, culture, politics and ideology.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    12 views31 pages

    Marxism

    Uploaded by

    Avinash Sahu
    Karl Marx developed Marxism in 19th century Britain and Europe during a time of social and economic unrest. Marx believed that societies could be divided into two main classes - the bourgeoisie who owned the means of production and the proletariat who worked for them. He theorized that these two classes would be in constant conflict as the bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat to maximize profits. This conflict would ultimately result in revolution and the creation of a communist society without social classes. Marx's key insight was that the economic base of society determined the superstructure of institutions, culture, politics and ideology.

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    Marxism the basics

    Understand all sociologists and social theorists by knowing a little about the time they lived in

    Karl Marx 1818 - 1883

    Mid- Late Nineteenth Century Britain

    Unrest and protest Chartism


    Long hours, low pay Periodic unemployment No Welfare State No universal right to vote

    Mid-Nineteenth Century Europe Revolution in France - 1848

    Revolutions elsewhere in Europe Times of Turmoil

    Marxs insight:

    Its all about money

    Some have it

    They are called capitalists (or the bourgeoisie)

    Others dont ..

    They are called the workers (or the proletariat)

    Capitalists and workers are thrown together into relations of production

    They dont get on too well

    Capitalists want

    the maximum PROFIT and the lowest costs

    Workers want

    the highest wage for the least work

    These two groups are locked in mortal combat

    The Capitalists compete with each other.

    The successful capitalists get richer and richer

    and

    the failed capitalists fall down into the working class

    The workers meanwhile are more and more exploited by the remaining capitalists they get poorer and poorer

    Marx said that eventually the workers will rise up in revolution against the capitalist class A new communist society will be created

    The backstory

    What is making all this happen?

    Marx has a theory its because societies are always made from two parts

    The Base

    The base is like the foundations of a building. Marxists say the economy (the means of production) is the base

    And the superstructure The rest of the building which is built on the foundations

    The superstructure means all the other parts of society culture, the state, education

    The economic base determines (shapes) the superstructure

    So this is called The base-superstructure model


    Superstructure

    Base

    Social Control in capitalist society is achieved through ideology ruling class ideology

    The ruling ideas in any time are always those of the ruling class

    The working class may suffer from false consciousness not understanding their true class position

    Not a bad theory but there are several criticisms which can be made of it

    Its not all about money this is economically reductionist

    e.g. what about ideas, culture, religion?

    Marxism makes people appear to be dominated by structures

    Puppets or People with the ability to act?

    Gender and Race blind the only social groupings it seems to recognise are classes

    Now over to you weigh it up. Like any theory it has good points and bad points - but hopefully you will find it can explain some things about your society

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