Marx review
After the Socialist Revolution
-"public power loses its political character" political office no longer an enabler/protector of class dominance but in the short run we need dictatorship of the proletariat -economic reorganization must replace the market (buying and selling for the purpose of making a profit capitalism is anarchic - no governing power or plan technocratic planned economy will be more efficient if someone can make good decisions authoritarian at first, but like a well-run orchestra -end to alienation, enabling of post-economic aspirations less time working, more time for free conscious activity -presented as a prediction, rather than an ideal, will happen starting in the most advanced countries
economic reorganization
-must replace the market (buying and selling for the purpose of making a profit) -capitalism is anarchic - no governing power or plan -technocratic planned economy will be more efficient if someone can make good decisions -authoritarian at first, but like a well-run orchestra
Background
1848 Revolutions were upheaval against conservative bourgeoisie order, Marx tried to help them, but they all failed and counter-revolutions occurred believed in importance of political organization of working class beyond unions Marxism as a term came in use after his death, he was not well-known
Mode of production
Base (substructure) and superstructure Base - economic system Superstructure - cultural and political system. Marx regarded this miasmatic between economic base and social superstructure as a major source of social disruption and conflict.
Capitalism
Capitalism mediates social relationships of production (such as among workers or between workers and capitalists through commodities, including labor, that are bough and sold on the market. Accumulation of capital shapes the social system. The deepest critique of the dehumanizing aspects of this system noted that defining features of capitalism include alienation, exploitation, and recurring, cyclical depressions leading to mass unemployment. On the other hand capitalism is also characterized by revolutionizing, industrializing, and universalizing qualities of development, growth, and progressively. Marx considered the capitalist class to be one of the most revolutionary in history because it constantly improved the means of production, more so than any other class in history, and was responsible for the overthrow of feudalism and its transition to capitalism.
materialism
everything in our existence is determined by how we exchange with nature, it's all linked to our productive life "a mode of production is a way of life with any power/mode of production there is an associated culture and social order determinants of mode of production: what is being produced, what methods and technology used in production, the source of energy, and the level of knowledge and organization of the labor force historical materialism - our culture has been changing because our production has been changing, and production has always been primary factor
False consciousness
explanations of social problems as the shortcomings of individuals rather than the flaws of society. Marx wanted to replace this kind of thinking termed class consciousness, workers' recognition of themselves as a class unified in opposition to capitalist and ultimately to the capitalist system itself. In general Marx wanted the proletarians to rise up against the capitalist and overthrow the capitalist system.
response to arguments against communism
family is not as important in communism -> but proletariat can't have the bourgeois concept of the family anyway communists would introduce community of women -> but this already happens communists would abolish universal truths -> but they are only "universal" in societies in which one class is oppressing another communists intend to take rich people's property -> yes, and they're proud of it
Types of Alienation
from product of your labor from the process of production from your species-being conception of what a human should be, it is realized through free conscious activity and interaction with other species-beings from other human beings
attitude toward the Industrial Revolution
he was an enthusiast of industry, because it was a breakthrough of human powers and enabled us to be way more powerful than ever before it would provide more wealth/comfort to the population -> more free conscious activity capitalism is the driving force developing industry, but will lead to its own replacement
Marxism
hold that human societies progress through class struggle
how capitalism creates so much growth and wealth
how does the exchange of equivalent value add up to growth? wage labor is a peculiar commodity - laborer is at a disadvantage, the worker only gets a fraction of the value of their labor while owners of capital get surplus value capitalism is a set of institutions to build wealth/profits for capital owners by exploiting labor
human needs and powers
humans have basic needs for survival, so we produce things, transform nature into something useful to us from these activities comes a power (skill, ability) to do something for survival once a need is satisfied, a higher need appears, leading to creation of a new power this is a uniquely human trait we are rich in needs, so we acquire skills over time and continue to become productive we begin to gain fulfillment from effective productivity, creative potential
relation of capital to labor
increased wages are just better slave remuneration, doesn't regain worker dignity or change their relationship wage enslavement is a real thing, and workers feel that they have to give into the system just to get a little bit higher wage
solution (Communist Manifesto)
industry unites the proletariat against the right enemy, they will overcome their differences while the bourgeoisie will not communists unite workers of all nations bourgeois are unfit to rule, they can't help letting workers sink into poverty and revolution, bourgeois state will fall
where capitalism is headed in the future
is destined to be transcended structural instability - capitalism always includes booms and busts, though this has smoothed out since the Great Depression while growth was large it was not stable an undervalued commodity attracts chaotic investment, then leads to overproduction, then a recession there must be a better way than everyone acting chaotically the more people live through the ups and downs of capitalism, the more they will look to find a better way technological progress will lead to less labor necessary, more leisure for ordinary people indefinite economic growth cannot continue while labor is diminished
free conscious activity
is what people would naturally do to express themselves is done because of its intrinsic value, while labor is done to fill a need moving up the spiral of needs has created powers that desire free conscious activity
end to alienation, enabling of post-economic aspirations
less time working, more time for free conscious activity
Characteristics of capitalism
private property, especially over land, energy, factories, means of production free market activity heavy reliance on money commodity production (goods produced in order to be sold to make a profit) is the dominant mode of productive activity having these characteristics doesn't make modern capitalism - emerged in certain countries in Western Europe in the 16th-17th century set of institutions devoted to fostering indefinite economic growth and multiplication of wealth
Dynamics created by class division
recipe for domination and exploitation, because classes have fundamentally different interests states try to unify classes with military power and nationalism, political symbols why do the poor sign up for military service in a state that doesn't help them? middle class influences, rather than controls, the system
Human nature
self-development begins with an experience of internal alienation stemming from this recognition, followed by a realization that the actual self, as a subjective agent, rends its potential counterpart an object to be apprehended. Human nature exists as a function of human labor.
Historical function of capitalism
the bourgeoisie has done more to develop human powers in one generation than all preceding generations combined it rescues people from the idiocy of rural life forces societies to create modern politics breaks down ethnic and local loyalties Marx was always a proponent of capitalism, which angered some socialists
state of the worker (Communist Manifesto)
the history of man has always been the struggle of one class against another the proletariat are just an extension of the machine, doing repetitive labor, their cost (and wage) is only the bare minimum it takes to maintain a worker (wage slavery) proletariat only have value if their labor increases capital for bourgeoisie wage labor creates only capital, not private property for the worker - most workers don't have private property
Class struggle
a conflict between an ownership class that controls production and a dispossessed laboring class that provides the labor for production.
mechanism for creating a communist state
abolish private property and rents heavy progressive income tax and abolish right of inheritance nationalize banking, transport, communication extension of state-owned production, increased cultivation and land improvement free education in public schools, abolish child factory labor create industrial armies, combine agriculture and manufacturing, town and country
historical materialism
arguing for the primacy of matter over idea. Marx saw this as an unnecessary mystification, obscuring the reality of humanity and its physical actions shaping the world.
Human history
began free, productive and creative work that was over time coerced and dehumanized, a trend most apparent under capitalism. This was not an intentional process; rather, no individual or even state can go against the forces of economy.
working class as an agent of change
capitalism empowers its victims and invites them to assert themselves draws people in the direction of democratization since people should take control of their own labor natural self organization of labor unions and parties democratization slides toward socialism
human productivity
changes and improves over time, while animals' production is in an unchanging, instinctual way (ex. beehive)
bourgeois era
entrepreneurial class dictates, not aristocracy of Middle Ages they alway struggle to grow their wealth rather than social good **capitalism empowers its victims, turns them into citizens** first time subject class has political rights only a matter of time before they become class conscious and radical revolution: communists want armed insurrection, social democrats want legal change
private property
the relation of the world to the things it produces makes us stupid - object is only ours when we possess it, use it as capital, or consume it alienation of all senses in favor of a sense of possession nature goes from utility to human utilization communism is the un-alienation of man, but if it is not complete and political in nature, it is still contaminated by the problem of private property
Commodity fetishism
the things that people produce, commodities, appear to have a life and movement of their own to which humans and their behavior merely adapt.
alienation
traditional philosophical problem - essence vs. existence, gap between what we could be and what we actually are Marx says this gap is a specific condition due to the historical underdevelopment and misutilization of human powers, that can be overcome this is a new idea! we can't be creative beings while struggling to make a living For Marx, the possibility that one may give up ownership of one's own labor - one's capacity to transform the work - is tantamount to being alienated from one's own nature; it's a spiritual loss.
Why do class relations exist?
underdevelopment/misutilization of productive resources historically there has only been a small productive surplus, so only a few people could live well antiquity: citizens (free men) vs. slaves middle ages: nobility vs. serfs capitalism: bourgeoisie vs. proletariat socialism: free and equal citizens
Political Economy objectives of his writing
wanted to create a socialist alternative to bourgeois political economy, which was all that had been written to that point bourgeois peco was static and a-historical - generalized that human experience has been the same across place and time, which isn't true bourgeois peco is abstract - takes economic experience and tries to separate it from other aspects of life, which is incorrect labor is done by human beings with certain experience and mentality Capital attempts to create all-encompassing social science
Social Change
was about the conflict between opposing interests, driven, in the background, by economic forces.
social order
we are born into social structures that give us our identity (family, ethnicity, etc.), passed down through generations social order is a relationship between classes class is passed down, no upward mobility people in different classes have different lifestyles, different modes of production produce different class structures social inequality is a fact - people's life chances vary based on their birth class = relationship to the means of production owners of capital dictate production and distribution middle class has some advantages but don't own means of production proletariat are part of the means of production
political economy ignores the direct relationship between the worker and production
worker externalizes himself into his product, and therefore into the process of production itself alienated labor tears man away from his species-being, makes a man's essence (as a certain type of worker) the reason for his existence man by nature is conscious in life activity, produces things outside of what he needs and when he is free from physical need
Means of production
Land, natural resources, and technology, necessary for the production of material goods and the relations of production. The social relationships people enter into as they acquire and use the means of production.
Class antagonisms
Marx argued that class antagonisms under capitalism between the bourgeoisie and proletariat would eventuate in the working class' conquest of political power and eventually establish a classless society, communism, a society governed by a free association of producers. Marx actively fought for its implementation, arguing that the working class should carry out organized revolutionary action to topple capitalism and bring about socioeconomic change.
Common interest
Marx believe states were run on behalf of the ruling class and in their interest while representing it as the common interest of all; and he predicted that, like previous socioeconomic systems, capitalism produced internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system: socialism.
structural contradictions
Marx believed that those structural contradiction within capitalism necessitate its end, giving away to socialism, or post-capitalistic, communist society.
Labor
Marx had a special concerns with how people relate to their own labor power. Marx's thoughts on labor were related to the primacy he gave to the economic relation in determining the society's past, present and future.
Surplus value
Marx observed that in practically every successful industry input unit-costs are lower than output unit-prices. Marx called the difference surplus value and argued that this surplus value had its source in surplus labor, the difference between what it costs to keep workers alive and what they can produce. Marx's dual view of capitalism can be seen as in his description of the capitalists: vampires sucking worker's blood, but at the same time, he notes that drawing profit is by no means an injustice and that capitalists simply cannot go agains the system. The true problem lies with the cancerous cell of capital, understood not as property or equipment but the relations between workers and owners - the economic system in general.
Philosophy
Marx's writing was the beginning of modern social science but steeped in philosophical tradition, people thought social science would replace philosophy as a source of ideas 3 claims 1- humans are a naturally productive animal 2 - we find fulfillment through productive activity 3- how humans engage in productive activity determines everything else about their existence
Conflict Theory
Marxism posited that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, would inevitably produce internal tensions leading to its own destruction. Marx ushered in radical change, advocating proletarian revolution and freedom from the ruling classes. Marx was aware that most of the people living in capitalist societies did not see how the system shaped the entire operation of society. Just like how we see private property, or the right to pass that property on to our children as natural, many of the members in capitalistic societies see the rich as having earned their wealth through hard woe and education, while seeing the poor as lacking in skills and initiative. Marx rejects this way of thinking.
Proletariat
The class of wage-earners (especially industrial workers) in a capitalist society whose only possession of significant material value is their labor-pose (their ability to work)