Political Sociology - I

Marxist Approach
 Introduction
 Born- May 5th ,1818, Trier, Rhine Province, Prussia
(Germany) Died- March 14th 1883, London (England)

 Education – Bonn, Berlin & Jena Active member of

( Doctor’s Club) influenced by Hegel

 In 1841- Doctoral Dissertation “ On the Difference

between the National Philosophy of Democritean and
the Epicurean Philosophy” From University of
Jena(1841)

 After Ph.D. , could not find teaching job. He started his

career as a Journalist- Young Hegelian Journal
‘Deutsche Jarbrucker”(1842) then in ‘Rheinishe
Zeitung’ (on Socio- Political Issues) After close down of
the news paper, he went to Paris & England.
 Writings of Karl Marx
 Critique Of Hegel’s Philosophy Of Rights,1843
 On The Jewish Question,1843
 Notes On James Mill, 1844
 Economic And Philosophic Manuscript,1844
 The Holy Family,1845
 Theses Of Feuerbach,1845
 The German Ideology,1845
 The Poverty Of Philosophy,1847
 Wage, Labour And Capital,1847
 Communist Manifesto, 1848
 The Class Struggle In France,1850
 A Contribution To The Critique Of Political Economy,1859
 Theories Of Surplus Value,1862
 Value, Price & Profit,1865
 Das Capital In Volumes(I,II,& III),1867,1885,1894
 The Civil War In France,1871
 Critique Of The Gotha Programme,1875
 What is Marxism
 Founders: Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
 After the death of Karl Marx , Engels and other
believers circulated the term ‘Marxism’.
 Marxism is an economic and political doctrine
which resolves the problems between the rich
and poor.
 Marxism believes in Radical Socialism (Economic
& Social equality)
 It also believes that violent revolution is
necessary to change the
system(Capitalism)which helps the rich people.
 Economic aspects are very important to change
 Theories of Marxism
 Dialectical Materialism
 The Theory of Historical Materialism
 The Class Struggle
 The Theory of Surplus Value
 The Theory of Alienation
 The Theory of Revolution
 Dictatorship of Proletariat (Vanguard Party)
 Socialism
 Withering Away of the State / Communism
 Dialectical Materialism – Hegel
 ‘Dialectical’ word borrowed from Hegel (German
Philosopher)

 Dialectic is the study of contradictions which lie at

the very heart of existences.

 Hegel described – how the history was developed?

(Capitalism from the beginning)
 The universe is dynamic.
 The only reality is idea, spirit or reason.
 Reason is the reality. It is not static, dynamic.
 The idea (reason) develops through the history
of the world / surrounding environment.
 All development proceeds by ideas in a zigzag
manner.
Dialectical Materialism – Hegel Cont.

Synthesi
s

Thesi Anti-
s thesis
 Dialectical Materialism – Hegel vs.
Marx

 There are two views which explain the

development of society; Idea and Materialism.

 Idea is real and the materialistic world is

the reflection of the idea - Hegel.

 Materialistic world is real and the idea is

the reflection of it - Marx
Dialectical Materialism – Karl Marx
 Karl Marx in his book ‘Das Capital’ explained
the theory of Dialectic Materialism.

 Materialism is the real element in this theory.

 As per Marx, economic conditions are the

main cause of the development of the society.

 Marx divided the society in two classes -

Haves and Have-nots

 Marx believed in Ideological Superstructure

 Base(economic) and Super structure
(culture, Social etc.)
Historical Development through
Dialectic Materialism
Synthesis
(Communis
m)

Thesis
Anti Thesis
(Dictatorship of
Synthesis
Proletariat
(Capitalist
Stage)

Thesis Anti –
(Slave System) Thesis
(Feudal
 Historical Materialism
 Also known as The theory of History/
Economic Determination/Social Existence/
Material Conception of History

 The Theory of History or Material

Conception of History

 Economic Determination: History is

determined by the economic conditions
(Economic Philosophy)

 Base and Super-Structure of the society are

decided by economic relations.


 Base & Super-Structure
Society

(Horizontal change)

Super-
Base Economic structure
System

(Vertical change)
]
Cultural
Means of Relation of System
Production Production Primitive Communist
(Instrumen (b/w-Haves
Political Stage
t) & Have- Slave System
nots) System
Feudal Stage
Capitalist Stage
Morality, Dictatorship of
Religion, Art
Proletariat
& Philosophy Communism
Historical Communis
m
Synthesis
Development

Thesis Anti-
thesis
Dictatorship
Capitalist Stage
of Proletariat
Synthesis

Slave System Feudal

Thesis Stage
Anti-thesis
 Class Struggle
 Karl Marx explained the theory of Class-Struggle in his book
‘Communist Manifesto’

 The class struggle is for Marx, the manifestation of the material or

economic dialectic in history.

 Origin of the Struggle: Engels in his book “On the Origin of Family,
Private Property & State” wrote that family is the first exploiter
institution and woman is the first exploited in the society.

 In primitive communist society – once the private property arise,

society is divided into two category: 1) Haves & 2) Have-nots

 The struggle continued from Slave system till Capitalism.

 Means of production changed in every stage.

 This theory is based on the theories of Marx-Dialectical

Materialism, Historical Materialism, Surplus theory.
 The Class Struggle Theory
 “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history
of class struggle.”

 Means of production exploits labour of the worker.

 The struggle b/w two- 1) Exploiters (rich) and 2) Exploited

(poor)

 The class struggle is intensified.

Change in Equitable
Revolutio Social Relations
n takes order
place

 17th & 18th century feudalism replaced by capitalism. E.g.

French Revolution(1789) - opened the way for the
development of capitalism
Contd.
18
 Rising of Awareness
Power among the industrial Communism-
Proletariat Classless &
Stateless
Society
.
Class-Struggle
would end with
the destruction
of Capitalism.
Brings Class-
Struggle

The Class Struggle

b/w the two:
Bourgeoisie (Haves) &
Revolution
Proletariat (Have-nots)
ary Change

19
 Theory of Surplus Value
 The theory of Surplus Value is the cornerstone of
Marxism. Its an economic theory. Marx explained it in
‘ Value, Profit & Price’

 The Labour theory – first time formulated by Sir

William Pent (England). After that, it was developed by
Ricardo.

 Marx was influenced by Ricardo's 'Labour Theory of Value’

 Ricardo- The value of commodity is determined by the value

of labour spent on it.

 According to this, labour decides the price of

commodity.
 Theory of Surplus Value Cont.

 The value of a commodity is equal to the

value of labour spend on its production.

 The surplus value only can be produced by

the labourer.

 Surplus Value = The value of commodity -

wages (Profit is taken by the Capitalist)
 Theory of Alienation & Revolution
 Alienation is a situation in the which creation of
humanity appear to humans as alienate objects
and such creations are seen as independent from
their creators and invested with the power to
control them.

 In Capitalism – Men are exploited in four ways

1) Alienation from system of production
2) Alienation from Nature
3) Alienation from Family(Society)
4) Alienation from him own self

 This results in Revolution and capturing of the

means of the production by the proletariat class.
 Dictatorship of the Proletariat
 Immediately after the revolution, the
proletariat classes capture the means of
production and control over society.

 The proletariat classes, on behalf of the

society, hold the control over means of
production and society till socialism is
established.
 Socialism
 The dictatorship of the proletariat (a
temporary phenomena after revolution)
continues till socialism is established

 Basic principles of socialism include...

 Public ownership of means of production (by state
or community)
 May exist in parallel with capitalist systems.
 Private property is allowed to a reasonable extent
in order to continue the chain of production
 Centrally planned economy to achieve equality and
surplus for everyone.
 Withering away of the state /
Communism
 As the practice of socialism becomes
normal, after a certain stage the necessity of
the state starts decreasing gradually –
eventually leading to communism or
stateless society.

 Features of communism include...

 Wealth is owned by the community
 Classless society
 Based on the principle “each according to
his need” in contrast to the principle of
“each according to his ability” in
capitalism.
Review
Thank You