3. Historic Materialism
Primitive
Communism
•Early classless society in which it’s
members collectively provide a source of
food and materials for one another.
Social relns &
forces of prod’
•Social relationships & forces of production
e.g raw materials, technology, scientific
knowledge.
Development
into two
classes
•Owners of the means of production (legally
owned forces), the bourgeoisie.
•Labourers, the proletariat
4. Capitalism
• Minority capitalist class Vs Majority working
class.
• Proletariat do not receive the value that
their labour produces, only the cost of
sustenance.
• Means of production = concentrated e.g
MNCs. Independent businesses become part
of the proletariat.
• Technological advances de-skill workers.
smaller workforce = more profits for
bourgeoisie. Consequence = higher levels of
unemployment.
5. Alienation & Class
Consciousness
• Alienation – separated and no control over our
labour and products. Unable to release our true
creative nature. Work acts as a confinement.
Frustration released by spending money in the
entertainment & leisure industry and materialistic
world. Forces money back into the Bourgeoisie’s
pockets.
• Class Consciousness – Separated from the owners
of production -> polarisation of the classes, WC
develop their own perspective of society. They
become aware of the need to overthrow
Capitalism.
6. Ideology & Revolution
• Ideology - Ideas of the economically dominant class.
Institutions produce ideologies to legitimise social
order and present a Capitalist society as desirable and
inevitable.
• Revolution Prevention
The ruling class use the state as a weapon to supress
the WC.
• Aims of a Revolution
State -> classless society
Private ownership -> Social ownership
Profit -> satisfaction of human needs
Alienation -> Control
7. Evaluation of Marx
• # (+) Marxist economic ideology has been at the heart of
many social revolutions e.g French Revolution.
• # (-) Class – Simplistic, one dimension view of inequality.
• # (-) Feminists – Gender inequality is more fundamental.
• # (-) Variation of class structures in different societies.
Western society -> + MC jobs due to decline in
manufacturing industry.
Eastern society -> +WC jobs due to globalisation and
therefore more exploitation.
• # (-) Economic Determinism.
8. Humanistic/Critical
Marxism
Similar to action theories and interpretive
sociology
Scientific/Structuralist
Marxism
Similar to positivist sociology
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)
First leader of the Italian Communist
Party (1920’s)
Louis Althusser (1918-90):
Leading intellectual within the French
Communist Party.
9. A. Gramsci - Hegemony
= ideological and moral leadership
Gramsci rejects ‘economic
determinism’:
Capitalism -> Communism – The
poor economic state of a country
i.e mass unemployment and falling
wages act as preconditions for a
revolution however an overthrow
will cease to occur until there is a
change in the ideology and morals
of the proletariat.
In order for the bourgeoisie to be
overthrown, the proletariat must
develop a ‘counter-hegemony’.
Greece
2015 – 49.8% of under 25’s are unemployed
(poor economic state)
Nationwide disagreement with EU governance
and current hostile living conditions stimulates a
change in morals/ideology.
(EU policies = Capitalist Hegemony)
Alexis Tsipras, Leader of ‘Coalition of the Radical
Left’ voted in as prime minister (Jan 2015)
(counter-hegemony)
10. Bourgeoisie Vs. Proletariat
• Bourgeoisie (ruling class)= minority. In
order to maintain rule, they form
alliances with other groups such as the
middle class. Ideological compromises
must be made such as reduced tax for
MC and funding for the private schools
that educate their children.
• Proletariat (working class) = dual
consciousness. Socialised by bourgeoisie
ideology however experience of
exploitation and material deprivation
means that individuals are sceptical of
the bourgeoisie’s intentions.
11. Evaluation of Gramsci
# (+) Like Paul Willis (’77) who found that the school boys he
studied were only partially permeable to bourgeoisie
ideology, Gramsci recognises that individuals are not passive
puppets of Capitalism, the WC realise that they are being
exploited.
# (-) lack of acknowledgment to RSA. Workers may want to
overthrow Capitalism but fear state repression or
unemployment.
12. L. Althusser: Structural
Determinism
Economic level – national
currency that serves the
needs of individuals.
Political level – form of
national governance
and organisation.
Ideological level – how
people perceive
themselves and the
world around them.
Factors that
contribute to
revolution
formation.
13. Ideological function – Workers socialised into
accepting the policies of the dominant ruling
class.
Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs)– inc. The
media, education system, family and trade
unions.
Ideological State
Apparatuses
14. Repressive State
Apparatuses
Political function – Workers who rebel are
punished. Thus, workers are coerced into
complying with the will of the bourgeoisie out
of fear.
Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs) – inc. The
government, military and criminal justice
system.
15. Evaluation of Althusser
# (-) Assumes that three structures maintain
capitalism, Structural Determinism. Ignores
incoming influence on an individual,
interactionist level.
# (-) A scientific and rigid perspective on society
prevents social change. Individuals feel as
though institutional control is inevitable and
undefeatable.
