(5) Karl Marx (The critique of political economy)

What is the economy according to Marx?

The economy ++(=the organisation of labour and ressources in a society)++ was the foundation, and everything else: Politics, culture, religion even families (=what marx called the superstructure) is based on the material reality.

What 5 problems did Karl Marx identify with Capitalism?

1. Modern Work is Alienated. 2. Modern work is insecure. 3. Workers get paid little, while capitalist get rich. 4. Capitalism is very unstable. 5. Capitalism is not only bad for the workers, but also for the Capitalist.

When Marx looked at industrial capitalism, what two classes did he see?

1. The Proletariat = The working class, who don't own the means of production. 2. The bourgeoisie = The capitalist, control the means of production and the things that come from it.

What is primitive communism?

10.000 years ago, everyone spend all day trying to get food. People are strongly bound by natural constraints, but socially very equal.

What is primitive accumulation?

A.k.a. "accumulation by dispossession," it is the process by which precapitalist societies move toward the capitalist stage in Marx's scheme (ex: the enclosure movement). Capitalists shrink wages of the labourers, in order to increase their profit margins.

What is a concrete example of how capitalism limits itself?

An example of this process could be the following: 1. People are working for wages. 2. New technological innovation, means we need fewer workers. 3. People are laid off, and therefore the total amount spent on wages go down, and profits go up. 4. But, because the people who are supposed to buy these products now have less money (on average) fever goods will be sold. 5. This is how a crisis of overproduction happens - You wound up with a population that couldn't afford to buy anything - while at the same time being offered way more then they would ever need. 6. And with the economy in shambles, there is no way for the Forces of Production to keep developing - there is no money to invest in new factories or new technology. 7. So the realtions of productions, that created economic growth, became precisely the thing that caused crisis.

Why is capitalism so unstable?

Capitalism is characterised by many crisis. Everyone of them, is said to be a one of its kind, and _soon to be the last one_, but in fact crisis are _endemic_to capitalism. And they are caused by overproduction.

Why is modern work insecure?

Capitalism turn the worker into just a term, amongst many others: Labour. This makes people ultimately expandableble, a factor that can be cut down, the minute cost rises or technology renders it useless. Marx knew, we don't want to be just a factor, and be able to arbitrarily let go - we are terrified of being abandoned. Communism solved this deep-seated longing, for a place in the world.

Why is profit just another term for exploitation?

Capitalist see profit as a rewards, for iniquity and technological talent. Marx argues, that profit is just theft - and what you're stealing is the talent and hard work of your workforce. It doesn't matter how much you dress up the findamentals - at its core, capitalism means paying your workers one price, and then selling it off at a higher price. ++Profit, is just another term for exploitation.

What sociological paradigm did Marx lay the foundation for?

Conflict theory. Social conflict theory sees social life as a competition and focuses on the distribution of resources, power, and inequality. Conflict theorists view society as an arena of inequality that generates social conflict and social change. Karl Marx is considered the father of social conflict theory.

How does Marx explain the rise of capitalism?

For Marx, Capitalism is a historical phenomenon, meaning is has a beginning, a development and an end. I.e. its phase. Capitalism arose from the feudal societies, in which the Feudal Lord owned the land, and permitted the serfs to work on the land in order to provide for themselves, but in return having to provide a generous amount of the harvest to the Lords. ++(This parallels the relationship, between worker/capitalist)++ As time passed by, agricultural feudalism gradually developed into Capitalist Agriculture. In this social set‐up, the peasant is no longer able to work the land in the manner explained under Agricultural Feudalism and is effectively made landless. In order to support themselves the peasant has no other option but to "sell his labour" as this is all he has left to sell. While the peasant is in some sense "free" to choose who he works for, his "wage" is now fixed both in amount and the time in which he can earn it. The role of the market now becomes central to daily life - everything must be bought and sold "in the marketplace". At this point, all things from food to labour become commodities.

What did Marx think about politics and religion?

He did care about them, he just thought they were secondary, to the production and control of resources. And secondary, as in equally important, but in order to understand those things, you have to undertand the material reality they were based on first.

What are the relations of productions?

How people organise themselves around labour. ++Do people work for wages, or does everyone produce and sell their own goods? How does ownership or property work? Is trade an essential part of the economy? All question about the realtions of productions. The relation of Production specifies how the surplus is taken from the people who produce it, and who gets to decide how the surplus is used. ++

How is profit created according to Marx?

If the proletariat lack access to the means of production, then they only have one thing they can sell: their labour. And they must sell their labour in order to survive - but they are being paid less than the worth of what they produce. This is the surplus value, or profit. The bourgeoisie decide what to do with the profit, and because of this they will always be looking to make the profit as large a possible.

How is surplus value created?

In the beginning, the capitalists where focused on increasing the absolute surplus value, on order to increase surplus value (profits). In the early days, 14-16 hours work days were normal. However, since we are talking about humans, the absolute surplus value, can only be increased so much. The new focus became improving the relative surplus value.

What is absolut surplus value?

Increasing the length of a working day for a certain wage.

What is relative surplus value?

Involves reducing the share of the working day, required to produce the value of the labour power or, in other words, to make less expensive those goods the wage worker needs in order to survive. If the value of these goods drops, then the wage worker spends a lower and lower portion of his working day creating the value of his own wage, so the share that creates the surplus value can become larger and larger.

What is historical Materialism?

Its looks at how production is organised, and who has things as food, money and who doesn't - over time (historical).

What is the difference between use value, exchange value and surplus value?

Labour is a commodity that can be bought. - **The exchange value** = **wages**, that the worker receives when he sells his labour capacity to the capitalist. - **The use value** = the value that the worker can create during a certain time. - **The surplus value** = is the difference between the two, and another term for **Profit.*

What was Marx's ideal society?

Marx didn't want to "Write recipes for the soup kitchen of the future". His did however give us some hints at what an ideal society would look like for him: 1. No private or inherited wealth. 2. Steeply graduated income tax. 3. Centralised control of the banking, communication and transport industries. 4. Free public education. 5. A society where people could develop lots of different aspects of their selves.

How would Marx argue is the way past the stall, caused by Relations of Production?

Marx saw this, as in point that all modes of production (periods of history) eventually meet. And the way to move past was _Class Conflict. _History is matter of struggling classes, each aligned with either the Forces of Production or the Relations of Production. ** Aligned w. Forces of Production** = (Proletariat, as they want the further development of the FoP, of which their labour makes up a large party and a complete change in the realtions of production - They want and end to exploitation, and they want the surplus to benefit them = They want revolution) **Aligned w. Relations of Production** = Bourgeoisie, because these relations allow them to extract surplus from the workers, so they are quite happy with the current situation)

Why is capitalism also bad for the capitalist?

Marx was aware of the sorrows of the bourgeoisis, fx marriage. He saw this type of marriage as an extension of business. With people staying together not for love, but rather for financial reasons. Marx believed that the capitalist systems forces everyone, to put economic interest at the heart of their lives. So much so, that we can no longer know deep honest relationships: Commodity Fetishism.

How do forces of production and realtions of productions relate to each other?

Materialism refers to the basic needs that humans have which we must work to achieve e.g. Forces of production. Relations of production emerge from this when we begin to organise production and use machines to assist. Two classes emerge with this development: owners of the means of production and wage labourers.

What is the biggest evil of capitalism according to Marx?

One of the biggest evils of capitalism, is not that there are corrupt people at the top (this is true in any human hierarchy), but rather, that capitalist ideas tech all of us to be anxious, competitive, conformist and politically complacent. There is an insidious, subtle way that the economic system colours the sort of ideas we end up having. The economy generates, what Marx called, an ideology: A society, where all people think thoughts like: A person who doesn't work is worthless, Leisure (beyond a few weeks a year) is sinful, More things will make us happier, Worthwhile things and people, will invariably make money.

What did Marx think about leisure?

Our factories are so efficient, that we could give everyone a pretty good standard of living. Our modern economy i so efficient, that few of us actually need to work. But rather than seeing this ability to not work, as the freedom that it is, we label it with negative terms such as "unemployed" and complain about it. _We are not all needed at the assembly line._We should instead make leisure admirable, and redistribute the massive wealth of the large cooperations, that make so much surplus money, and give it to everyone.

What are social constraints?

Primitive communism stands in contrast to the middle ages, under feudalism, where the bourgeoisie never worked, and the serfs/working class spend a lot of time producing food for the nobility. People produced more than they needed, but instead of the surplus being equally distributed, society was setup so some people never had to work, while others had to work harder. Thats not a natural constraint but a social constraint. Working together allowed us to transcend our natural constraints, but the way labour is organised, leads to massive inequality.

What are modes of production?

Stages of history: Fx Primitive communism, Feudalism and Capitalism, are all modes of production. Modes of production are all defined by a combination of Means of Production, and Realtions of production. Marx saw historical development in terms of modes of production and economic classes.

What is the superstructure?

Superstructure, quite simply and expansively, refers to all other aspects of society. Marx argued that the superstructure grows out of the base, and reflects the interests of the ruling class that controls it. Politics, culture, religion even families.

What is alienation?

The disconnection between the labourer and the thing produced. We no longer have any relationship to the produced goods, and therefore the work we do, because we are so specialised in modern work.

What is the base?

The means of production and the Relations of Production.

How does capitalism become its own limitation?

This happened because of the contradiction, between the Means (Forces) of production and the relations of productions. Marx understood historical advances as a series of advances in the forces of production: Like greater cooperation between capitalist, more technological complexity, and more organisational innovation. But eventually, those advances always stall - as the forces of production run up against the limits, created by the relations of production. For example, in the early days of capitalism the relations of production, included things like private ownership of property, competition amongst capitalist, and wage labour. These things, allowed for explosive economic growth. But eventually, these very same things, became limitations on the forces of production. Because capitalist drove wages down, in pursuit of profit, and they competed with each other, leading to a lack of coordination in the economy. So you wound up with a population that couldn't afford to buy anything, while at the same time being offered way more goods than it would ever need.

What is Marx's model of history?

This is Marx's model of history. A series of Modes of production, composed by Forces of Production and Relations of Production. These forces and realtions, develop together until they eventually come into conflict (a stall) - leading to a revolution by the oppressed class, and the institution of a totally new set of Relations of Production, where the workers benefits from the efforts of their labour.

What are the means of production?

Tools, Machines, Factories, Land, Raw Materials, technology and the Human labour that makes them go. ++The technical, scientific and material parts of the economy. (also includes cultural/social technologies: the idea of the assembly line and mass production) ++

How do crisis of overproduction occur?

We reached a point where the forces of production, were so developed, we could produce far more than we needed, but the vast majority of people couldn't afford to buy any of it. So we had crisis, where the economy collapsed, despite the fact that there was more than enough to go around.

What does it mean that modern work is alienated?

Work can be a source of great joy and fulfilment - but in order for this to happen, "workers need to be able to see themselves in the objects they have created". Labour (particularly craftsmanship) offer us a chance to externalise what's good inside us. This i rare in the modern world, as work is very specialised - very efficient, but deprives people of the ability to see the real contribution they are making to humanity. Modern work leads to "entfremdung" (alienation) - a feeling of disconnection, between what you do all day, and the true contribution you feel you could be making.

Will the bourgeoisie be looking to make profit as large as possible?

Yes, by driving down wages and by driving up productivity.

Is there a hermeneutical relationship between the base and the superstructure?

Yes, the base (relations and forces of production) shape the superstructure (everything NOT related to production: Art, culture, Religion, philosophy...) But the superstructure then shapes and affects the Base in return. This moves in a spiral pattern, but the base is usually dominant in its shaping effect.

What is **Commodity Fetishism**?

the perception of the social relationships involved in production, not as relationships among people, but as economic relationships among the money and commodities exchanged in market trade Marx believed that the capitalist systems forces everyone, to put economic interest at the heart of their lives. So much so, that we can no longer know deep honest relationships