Marx test 1

Class Struggle

"Class struggle...is struggle over exploitation" (book, p. 161). It is a common element whenever there are divisions in society; they can be affected by race, gender, but don't have to be. Marx argues that class struggle is the only source of revolutionary change in society, and that class struggle has already resulted in capitalism replacing previous empires and feudal societies. Class struggle is able to end exploitation and overturn modes of production and classes and put different classes with different modes of production in their place. Marx stresses class struggle as a fundamental component society that has the power, like class consciousness, bring about change to existing systems - presumably for the better of the working class, and therefore the entire society.

Ideology & Class consciousness

"Ideology" refers to social belief systems that masquerade as universal truths, which are taken to be natural, necessary, objective, and unchangeable. Ideologies are one-sided partial truths, which describe one what in which things can be seen. Marx does not argue that ideologies are simply false consciousness. "One difference b/w beliefs known to be false and what Marx calls 'ideology' is that it MAKES SENSE that persons should have these ideological beliefs under their specific material conditions" (book, p. 73). Ideologies are contradictory and contested and this contestation is a necessary condition for political struggle and deliberate change. These contradictions of capitalism can contribute to the development of "class consciousness." Marx believed that class consciousness could be used for the middle class to unite and change their world. Unlike Lenin and others, Marx believes that class consciousness should not be developed by an isolated class; rather, a class consciousness of workers of various backgrounds and life experiences is preferred. While in feudal society, there was not much class consciousness, better education, etc. led to the working class becoming more conscious. To Marx, this consciousness should trigger a fight for the rights of those in the working class, who have some things in common, at least their status in society.

Capital Accumulation

Capital accumulation refers to the capitalist's earning of profit and using that to reinvest in order to expanded capital and continue to be profitable. Marx realizes that this can only be accomplished by exploiting workers, giving them low wages, while the capitalist is able to pocket all profits (made by the workers) in order to reinvest and continue profits. In this way, the capitalists are oppressing the workers. As capitalists oppress the workers, however, they are forcing the working class to become poorer and poorer; this, however, organizes the workers, ensuring a potential proletarian uprising, which could ultimately dismantle capitalism.

Capital

Capital is money that is readily convertible into means of production. Means of production are "capital" only in a very specific setting- namely when they are the private property of some members of a society when all the others own no means of production. Means of production become capital only when most people do wage labor precisely because they do not own means of production. Objects become capital under certain social conditions. Capital is important in a capitalist society because in order to make more money you need more capital. Capital is usually thought of as money or as means of production. When Marx discusses capital he is referring to a "social relation of production;" a shorthand way of saying that means of production come to be capital and function to produce profits and accumulation of capital only where there are very specific relations of production, namely those that obtain in a society with free labor and private ownership of the means of production.

Exploitation

Capitalism distributes rewards unequally. The work of some people brings with it much greater rewards than the work of most others. Some people receive large sums of money as a regular return on their capital investments. This money results not from the work of the owners of capital but from the work of other people. These other persons are therefore exploited. Their surplus labor is not exploitative. Only where surplus labor is expropriated whether workers want it or not, where surplus labor is compelled, can we properly speak of exploitation. Marx and Engels central objection to to capitalist exploitation is that it is undemocratic. Workers do not choose the distribution of capital exclusively to the capitalists. Exploitation could be remedied by opening economic decision-making with respect to the use of available capital to all members of society. Marx argues that there is no justification for giving all the returns on capital to the capitalists for owning capital. We can easily imagine a social system where capital is owned by no one. Capital is useful and productive because it is put to work, not because it is owned by this or that person. Capitalist's receive something that they have no right to receive; by expropriating labor from workers. The upshot is that workers are exploited because (1) the exclusive ownership of capital by the capitalists leaves the workers worse off then they might be and (2) the arguments offered to justify the capitals' exclusive ownership and control of capital are defective.

Capitalism

Capitalism is characterized by a money economy, commodity production,and private property in means of production. Capitalism has transformed the ability to do wage labor into a commodity as well. There is a large group of people who have no means of support except wage labor. The pursuit of profit becomes the central motivation that pits capitalists against one another. Modern capitalism is a complex social system. Marx and Engels often summarize capitalism by saying that under capitalism means of production are privately owned. Factories, raw materials, and capital are not owned by collective society but rater by individuals. Also capital is not owned by all private individuals, but rather a small minority of society owns the bulk of resources. The rest of society does wage labor. Wage labor is free in two ways; workers are free from serfdom and slavery. Workers have the ability to change employers and to move to different towns. Wage laborers and employers strike a bargain in the labor market and are to that extent equal, but once the bargain is struck the employers are much more powerful; they control the productive resource and who will have a job. Even though capitalism is a system of voluntary exchanges, Marx argues that it is not fair, as the capitalist has much greater power than the worker.

Class (general Marxist definition)

Class can refer to: (1) an economic class, which has distinct roles in the economy of a country; (2) a social class, which is made up of those who share life experiences because they live under similar conditions (e.g., women, race; these are sometimes affected by economic class); and (3) a political class - "Workers, when they organize themselves into labor unions or parties or populist organizations likewise become political actors." Classes are groups of individuals that are united by commonalities; these commonalities define the groups of individuals. "Classes organize themselves and gain class consciousness in the course of class struggle" (book, p. 158).

note

Come up with/find examples for these essays -- historical or in the book, to strengthen argument.

Dialectical Theory

Dialectic cannot be used as a logic to supplants formal logic. There is a common view that dialectic is a logic superior to formal logic. Marx cannot use dialectic because he is a scientist. Marx often comes off as a dialectical in his writings yet this only represents his fondness for a certain type of writing, his use of dialectical turns of phrase has no significance. The less one takes Marx's apparently dialectical forms of expression seriously the closer one gets to grasping the real value of his work. Marx uses dialectic terms to provide patterns of explanation for social sciences. He regards every historically developed social form as in fluid movement. Dialectical Theory is an understanding of the maintenance and/or changes of institutions. There is a gradual transformation of institutions that are not brought about deliberately but are the consequences of the actions of individual persons or small groups in the process of trying to solve everyday problems. Marx and Engels insist that human beings make there oven history, but what human beings can do is limited by the institutions that emerged as consequence of the choices and actions of previous generations. Why did peoples actions have these particular consequences than different ones? Why so institutions have these particular effects on individuals and their actions? Institutions are not causes. They do not determine the actions of individuals in the ways in which the laws of nature determine the movement of planets, the behavior of chemical compounds, or the functioning of the human body. The relationship between the claim "institutions shape human actions" and "human beings make there own history" cannot be a causal one or else institutions would make history. Dialectical analysis of these relationships allow Marx and Engels to explain the impress of institutions on human action non causally. Institutions have abstract structures, they can change over time because individuals can fulfill their roles in new ways. There is a complex interrelation between institutions and individual actions. The institutions shape and limit what individuals can do, whereas the individual actions, in turn, serve to maintain to alter these institutions. Institutions, we see develop by taking on different forms, these different forms may well be at odds with each other. Only individuals act, but their actions are constrained by the institutions under which they live. These institutions are not the causes of individual actions, but they do set certain limits on what most people will do most of the time. But these institutions change, what makes them change; the actions of individuals. People may pursue fairly concrete goals and only afterward , do they realize that those particular actions had unintended consequences. What those further, unintended consequences are can only be understood when we look to the structure of the ruling institution of any given historical period. This interplay between individual actions and the institutions that form the framework for individual action is what Marx means by dialectic.

Economic determinism

Ideas are the effects of material conditions. A causal view of the relation between social relations of production and the ideas as follows. It maintains that the economy (base) determines or is the cause of the superstructure. The term "base"is interpreted as the economic realm, "superstructure" is taken as the sphere of law, politics, and ideology. There has been much criticism of this marxist theory, many have argued that the "base" and "superstructure" cannot be causally related and that the "base" must be capable of existing independently of the "superstructure." According to many economic determinism just doesn't make any sense.

Methodological Individualism or Abstract Individualism

Individualism is the idea that that human beings make themselves who they are. Marx and Engels are opposed to this idea, they believe that in a capitalist economy the poor and unemployed suffer even though they are as intelligent and as hard working as people who are better off. The term "individualism" is used by Marx in several senses. There are three quite different senses of "individualism," one of which is Methodological individualism; the question of what explains the actions of individual persons. Marx rejects Methodological Individualism. In this view we do not worry about the building blocks of social life but only ask what a complete explanation of any historical event would look like. This idea believes that " all social phenomena... are in principle explicable in ways that involve only individuals." When we explain social events our explanations need only to refer to the characteristics, actions, and beliefs of individuals, ignoring the social structures which allow the actions of individuals to be possible.

Economic Crisis Tendencies of Capitalism

Marx and Engels believed that capitalism was not built to last and that it would inevitably fail. The following list outlines how capitalism is believed to lead to its own collapse. "The capitalists' drive for profits has these consequences: (1) The immiseration of the worker; (2) The falling rate of profit; (3) The concentration of capital; (4) More and more severe economic crises; (5) A more united and better-organized proletariat; (6) The final breakdown of capitalism; (7) The proletarian revolution" (book, p. 128). While Marx admired how capitalism came to be, he clearly believed that it oppressed and exploited the worker; once this became realized, the proletariat would replace capitalism with a new, socialist model.

Historical Materialism

Marx understands historical change as processes in which structures are transformed. Historical Materialism stresses the importance of the economic concerns of individuals both in the identifications of structure and in understanding why and how they change. Historical materialism does not claim that economic concerns are the causes of individual actions. Often actions are caused by religious beliefs, by attachment to social or political tradition, ect... If we want to understand why people hold certain beliefs or remain attached to certain traditions, we need to understand the ways in which they go about meeting they daily needs. Historical Materialism asserts that the causal role of religion, or other beliefs, can best be explained by looking at peoples economic lives; the way in which people meet their daily needs, and the changes that those economic conditions are subject to. In the contacts of Historical Realism "Economic," is used to refer to whatever is involved when people at a particular time and place meet their ordinary need for food, shelter, companionship, and whatever else is considered to be essential for a good life.

Species Being

Marx's concept of human nature that humans change themselves. Marx distinguishes animals from human beings by the fact that human beings plan their actions before they preform them. Human beings act with forethought and act even when they are not compelled by need. Human beings create their own needs. "The satisfaction of the first need... leads to new needs." Human beings are species beings because they are able to change themselves, for example by creating new needs. Human beings do not merely belong to the human species they also make the species. They change human nature. But we also change human nature by deciding, differently at different times, what it means to be a good human. Our self created standards in turn affect how people choose to live. Our beliefs about what it means to be a good human are translated into actual behavior. We make ourselves into certain sorts of human beings differently then those in other societies. Not everything our actions bring about is intended. Humans do not set out deliberately to change human nature, but some changes in human nature are the unintended consequences of other changes made deliberately.

Fetishism

On a basic level, fetishism refers to the worship of human-made objects that are endowed with higher or supernatural powers. Although these are made by humans, other humans forget that the powers they revere in their fetish were bestowed by them in the first place. In capitalism, fetishism moves from religion to economics, as commodities are fetishized. "Market forces have been made into fetishes insofar as they appear to people to have independent powers that dominate human affairs" (book, p. 80). These forces, although results -- whether intentionally or not -- of human actions, become fetishes to be worshipped because they are thought not to be under our control, but rather that they control our lives. This misconception tries to mask market forces/prices/commodities as a fetish by implicating that it is beyond human control and cannot be changed. This conceals the possibility of fundamental change from the workers.

Alienation

One of Marx's major critiques of capitalism is that it alienates the worker, making him unfree. The book's definition (p. 118): "the fact that workers are forced to accept what they do not want and are as a result forced to strengthen their enemies, at the same time becoming weakened by dissension with other workers over the opportunity to work." As a worker's labor becomes alien to him, it enslaves him, instead of being controlled by him. In a free model, the subject (socially active humans) should have control over the object (material world produced by human social activity); instead, capitalism provides an unfree model in which the object controls the subject, alienating him. In short, Marx defines alienation as how a worker FEELS. This alienation should drive the worker to desire a change with the existing system.

ESSAY #2

Probably won't do.

ESSAY #3

Similar to ESSAY #1, at least for an introduction/background -- differences b/w liberals/capitalists and Marxists. [See definitions of "freedom," "alienation."] Discuss contradictions of capitalism (from lectures). "Capital is alienated labor" because capitalism alienates the worker, making him unfree. The book's definition for alienation (p. 118): "the fact that workers are forced to accept what they do not want and are as a result forced to strengthen their enemies, at the same time becoming weakened by dissension with other workers over the opportunity to work." As a worker's labor becomes alien to him, it enslaves him, instead of being controlled by him. In a free model, the subject (socially active humans) should have control over the object (material world produced by human social activity); instead, capitalism provides an unfree model in which the object controls the subject, alienating him. In order for humans to truly be free, {workers must own their modes of production, and capitalists should not be able to have more power than the workers.

Socialism

Socialism is a societal and economic system by which the means of production are socially owned. Through socialism, man is able to work in a noncompetitive/un-alienated way that combats capitalism's oppressive and disabling components. Instead of being crushed by capitalism, Marx argued that socialism should grow out of capitalism so that man's real potential over his own powers and abilities could be fully realized and implemented. This is relevant because Marx viewed socialism as a viable alternative to capitalism; he argued for a "scientific" form of socialism instead of a "utopian" form.

Forces of production

Technology and the organization of work; the way in which work or military organizations are organized. Corresponds to the relations of production; the claim being- the way in which the production process is organized changes in response to the means by which production is carried on. Changing tools changed the organization of an activity. Marx and Engels claim, the transformation of the tools in the production process bring about different organizations of that process. However developments of the forces of production does not bring about change in property relations. The dominant interpretation of Marx on his thesis of the primary forces of production is "historical materialism enunciates a number of causal laws that account for social change by establishing necessary conditions between changes in forces of production and the relations of production."

Human Nature

The question of what differentiates human beings from animals. Assumptions about human nature underline a number of widely held economic and political theories. Certain institutions are explained and justified by reference to a set of traits that some or all human beings are said to possess regardless of the particular society in which they live. Adam Smith explained the existence of the free market through human nature, their need to trade and exchange goods, "truck." Marx and Engels were extremely skeptical about such broad assertions about the essential traits of all human beings. In order to establish generalizations we need to compare the behaviors, values, and socially approved practices across time. "All of history is nothing but a continuous transformation of human nature." The changes in human nature have been closely connected with the ways people produce the means necessary for their continued existence. In producing the particular goods that a group needs, its members produce the particular ways in which they go about meeting their material needs; they produce "their actual material life." This worklife determines their entire way of life and people who live differently are different people. Therefor you cannot claim all humans are greedy or competitive. People living in different societies organized around different customs will turn out to be different. Different technologies will dictate different societies and values. Human beings not only produce things but also produce themselves as well, and as people produce their livelihoods in different ways, so they make themselves into different people.

Relations of production

The rights of ownership and control. Corresponds to the forces of production; the claim being- the way in which the production process is organized changes in response to the means by which production is carried on. The beginning of changes in relations of production always comes with the development of the productive forces. Relations of production promote the development of forces of production at some times, when at other times they retard the further development of forces of production. When this begins to happen Marx believes the relations of production are due for replacement. Marx suggests that the forces/relations of production explanation of historical change is incomplete, and that political power is an important lever of change in the relations of production.

The Capitalist State

This is the theory that there is a pro-capitalist state; this state is separate from civil society, and it is purely political. To Marx, it is political in the sense of only defending the bourgeois class, while further oppressing and exploiting the proliteriat. The power of the state is therefore in the hands of only one class. As it is separate from the private realm of the economy, the capitalist state will always favor the capitalist class. "It will favor the capitalist class because the very limitation of the state as a specialized and coercive institution favors the maintenance of capitalism - the private pursuit of private profit and the private appropriation of that profit. The capitalist disposes of capital and its profits, the worker of labor power. The owner of capital retains all the profits because capital is, after all, private property" (book, p. 182).

Capitalist Class (under capitalism)

Under capitalism, the capitalist class is the one being favored. The capitalist class is naturally predisposed to compete with each other, in order to pursue greater profits/capital. Under capitalism, the owner/capitalist receives payments based on workers' production, and he also gets a "reward" in order to reinvest and grow his business. While the working class is motivated to work in order to survive, the capitalist class is motivated to work in order to make more capital and acquire all profits. "Capitalists, in receiving interest on their capital, receive monies that are the reward for the contributions of capital, NOT of the capitalist" (book, p. 110) himself. The capitalist controls the access to the possibility of work to the worker. The capitalists not only have this power over entrance in the job market; they also control capital and receive all new capital, which Marx considers exploitative. Capitalism allows the capitalist to have much greater power than the workers and thus have a much greater ability to shape the world to their own advantage and to the advantaged of their children.

Working Class (under capitalism)

Under capitalism, the working class is the one being exploited, disabled, and made undemocratic and unfree. The worker relies on capitalist employment in order to stay alive; the worker becomes completely subjugated and removed from his own productional power, as he is reliant upon capitalists' employment and has to play by their rules. The working class is dependent on wage labor and does not own any means of production. The working class's power (over the means of production and capital) is transferred to the capitalist class. Under capitalism, the worker cannot survive off of his own production, so he must take an exploitative job, compelled by economic need (i.e., the threat of starvation). Marx believes that the working class should be given more control over their means of production.

Surplus Value

When people exchange commodities, they determine the ratios at which they exchange by the amount of time it took to produce the different commodities. If in a capitalist marketplace equals exchange for equals then that must also be true in the labor market. Wages represent the value of the labor power that the worker sells to the employer. If value corresponds to labor time, then the value of labor power represents the amount of work required to produce say, a person's ability to work for a day. Now consider the value of a commodity, the total value of a commodity is equal to the value used to produce it; but then the capitalist also expects to make a profit. Where does the profit come in? As long as equals exchange for equals, the value of the commodity is identical to the amount of labor time that is expended in its production directly. Profit is a return above and beyond the replacement value of capital goods consumed to produce the product. The value of profit is all important to capitalists, but where does the profit come from? Marx answer was that lob or is exploited in capitalist production. Workers get paid the value of their ability to work. Suppose the worker has to work six hours to produce value equivalent to his or her wage. If workers work longer than six hours then the worker produces value that does not belong to the worker, but goes to the capitalist. This value Marx refers to as...

Democracy (Marxian vs. liberal understanding)

[Marx and Engels agreed with liberals in respects to the fact that "wealth or talent should not oppress those who had less but where all would be equally free to develop their capacities to the fullest" (book, p. 6). However, liberals thought that the capitalist marketplace was the preferable economic system for all industrial nations -- which Marx obviously disagreed with.] As liberals support capitalism, Marx argues that this "democracy" is bound to represent the private interests of the few as opposed to the interests of the large majority. This is because capitalist societies stress private ownership of the means of production. "In the capitalist state, the economy and with it exploitation are outside the realm of politics and thus not affected by the extension of suffrage and the development of democratic political institutions" (book, p. 184). Capitalist/liberal democracy allows capitalists a lot of power, whereas others can only vote. Socialist/Marxian democracy deals with a more equal distribution of economic or political power by ending exploitation. "Once power over work and investments is generally shared, democratic procedures must be extended to the economy, which becomes subject to popular control through democratic procedures" (book, p. 202).

ESSAY #1

[See definitions for freedom and democracy -- liberals vs. Marxists] Marxists could respond to this by saying that workers do not actually enter the job market voluntary. They are not explicitly forced to get a job in the capitalist/exploitative system, but they must decide between this or starving to death. The worker is forced to accept low wages and own no means of his own production. In doing so, the worker offers his production, and the capitalist owner is able to pocket the profits in order to reinvest and continue profits [See definition for capital accumulation]. In terms of stating, "Both persons must agree to the deal or it would not occur," this is assuming workers are truly acting freely. Marxists believe that the market IS actually political, since capitalists have a lot more power than workers, who can only affect workers with a single vote. Capitalists can affect politics with their large amounts of capital, through donations and lobbying/pressuring candidates to act or vote in specific ways. OTHERS, TOO. This could relate to fetishism, in that some forces are attempted to be masked from the working class in order to further progress the capitalist class, so that they can continue being profitable.

Freedom (Marxist vs. liberal understanding)

[See democracy definition for basic differences b/w Marxists and liberals.] While workers "freely" enter a job, they submit themselves to exploitation from the capitalist/owner only because they want to avoid starving. Therefore, the job is only being accepted in order to stay alive. The worker has to accept low wages and does not own any means of productions. Liberals/capitalists make arguments against this idea of coercion by stating that capitalist countries often offer unemployment insurance. Marxists respond with the following: "But the levels of unemployment are always deliberately pegged below the minimum wage for the precise purpose of making unemployment less attractive than working. Only those who have never tried to live on unemployment insurance can believe that it is as attractive as drawing a wage" (book, p. 112). Marx calls this "unfreedom;" it is not explicit, but workers are not free. Although they enter jobs voluntarily, and appear to be working willingly, they are being exploited.