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Module 2 Topic 2 Notes (B)

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13 views2 pages

Module 2 Topic 2 Notes (B)

More summaries for Mr Tan's class.

Uploaded by

alissa.reyes
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Module 2 Topic 2 Notes

1. Manifesto of the Communist Party (Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels)


1.1 Important Definitions
● Bourgeoisie: class of modern capitalists
● Proletariat: class of modern wage-laborers who are reduced to selling their labor-power in
order to live due to lack of means of their own production
1.2 Communism
● Communism is troubling the powerful in Europe as it grown able to compete with other
European Powers
● All powers of Old Europe have united against communism
● Marx and Engels believe Communists should openly publish their views, aims and
tendencies in a declaration
1.3 Evolution of the Bourgeoisie
● Constant class struggles between oppressed and oppressor throughout history
○ Modern bourgeoisie is a product of historical development
● Modern bourgeoisie established new classes, conditions of oppression and forms of
struggle, failing to eliminate class divide
○ Simplified class divide into two camps, bourgeoisie and proletariat
● They played a revolutionary role in ending feudal, patriarchal and idyllic relations by
removing religion and monarchy from the upper class' pursuit of profits
○ Set up unethical free trade, the agreement between two or more nations to reduce
barriers to imports and exports among them
○ Led to direct and brutal exploitation, converting jobs into paid wage-labor
● They constantly seek to advance means of production and expand their customer base,
lowering the price of commodities and drawing an increasingly large number of people to
participate in their industrial pursuit of expansion for fear of not being civilized
○ Led to exodus of people from rural to urban areas where industrialization is
concentrated, making the population more concentrated in industrial areas
○ Led to an epidemic of overproduction
1.4 Alienation of Labor
● Due to extensive use of machinery and division of labor, the work of proletarians have
lost all individual character and charm
○ Workers have become an extension of the machines, doing monotonous and
easily-required skills in overcrowded environments under the command of a
hierarchy of commanders
○ Modern industry has converted workshops of patriarchal masters to great factories
of industrial capitalists
○ Workers' cost of production has been reduced to means of subsistence, making
them enslaved by the bourgeois manufacturers
○ Workers have been robbed of their status, only being seen as instruments of labor
○ The more machinery advances, the less skill and strength is needed from workers
○ Lower strata of the middle class gradually join the proletariat due to modern
industry stealing alternative self-sustaining livelihoods
1.5 Creation of Trade Unions
● Anger builds up amongst proletariat towards the instruments of production that steal their
jobs
○ They revolt by destroying machinery and burning factories in an effort to restore
the former status of the workman during the Middle Ages
● Due to modern industry, the number of proletariat grows and they increase in strength
○ Job uncertainty created by machine advancements causes conflict between the
proletariat and bourgeoisie
○ Causes workers to form permanent associations, Trade Unions, against the
bourgeoisie to maintain their wages
○ Organized riots lead to occasional victory but real victory lies in constant
expansion of unions
○ Unions are aided by improved means of communication created by modern
industry, allowing workers from different locations to maintain contact
○ Proletariats are organized into a class, which turns into a political party
1.6 Nature of Proletariat Class
● Proletariats are revolutionary and reactionary in their efforts to win back their lost rights
● They cannot become masters of the productive forces except by removing their previous
mode of appropriation
● While all previous historical movements were for minorities, the proletarian movement is
for the majority
2. Class, Status, Party (Max Weber)
2.1 Important Definitions
● Classes, status groups and parties result from power distribution in a community
● Class
○ Fate is determined by kinds of properties and services they offer
○ Services are differentiated into continuous and discontinuous
○ Not necessarily communities
● Status group
○ Normally communities
○ Depends on social estimation of honor and monetary markers of wealth
● Parties
○ Societal organizations that work towards a cause or personal goal in a planned
manner
○ Sociological structures vary depending on the kind of communal action they
struggle to influence, whether society is divided by status or class, and
according to the structure of dominance within the community → Usually
authoritarian

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