Marxism (Part 1)

Marxism (Part 1) — Presentation Transcript

Marxism (Part One) Dr. Christopher S. Rice

The Early Marx

Marx Becomes A Philosopher

2 effects of his career in Journalism

He came to appreciate the central social and political importance of economics

He ceased to be a liberal and became a radical

The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844

Hegel and his influence on Marxism

Hegel’s Philosophy of History

Geist

Alienation ( entfremdung )

Dialectic the process whereby opposite views or forces come into conflict, which eventually leads to the overcoming or reconciliation of the opposition in a new and presumably higher form

The Master-Slave Dialectic

The master becomes master by physically conquering another, whom he then enslaves.

Seeing oneself through the eyes of the Other.

The master and slave are engaged in a symbiotic relationship.

The master and slave are engaged in a conflictual relationship.

The true relationship revealed through resistance.

A Happy Conclusion…

History as the Story of Human Labor and Struggle

“ The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles .”

Materialist vs. Idealist

Material Forces of Production + Social Relations of Production = Material Production

Material Forces of Production

Social Relations of Production

The Dialectic of Class

Class determined by relation to the forces of production

Dominating Class has 2 important advantages:

Monopoly on the power, agents of coercion

Control of the Mental Means of Production

Dominating Class has 2 important advantages:

Monopoly on the power, agents of coercion

Control of the Mental Means of Production

False Consciousness

Base & Superstructure

Marx’s Materialist Conception of Society (Ball and Dagger, “Socialism and Communism: More to Marx”) IDEOLOGICAL SUPERSTRUCTURE BASE IDEAS, IDEALS, BELIEFS (Morality, Law, Religion, Etc.) SOCIAL RELATIONS OF PRODUCTION MATERIAL FORCES OF PRODUCTION (“Productive Forces”)

“ Religion is the opiate of the masses”

Possessive Individualism

Marx’s Critique of Capitalism

“ The bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionary part.”

Capitalism’s 3 important progressive functions

Merchant capitalists hastened the demise of feudalism

Capitalism has made men masters over nature

Capitalism requires constant innovation and change

So why should Capitalism be replaced???

3 Reasons

Capitalism is Outmoded

Capitalism creates Alienation

4 ways in which workers are alienated under capitalism:

They are alienated from the product of their labor because they are forced to sell their labor and do not own what they produce.

They are alienated from the activity of production itself because the capitalist system of mass production kills the creative spirit, leaving workers unable to find satisfaction in their labor.

Workers are alienated from their unique and distinctively human nature and potential, particularly the power to create and enjoy beauty, by the dulling effect of living in a capitalist society.

Capitalism alienates workers from each other because it forces them to compete of jobs and wages.

Capitalism is Self-subverting

Why capitalism is DOOOOOOOMED!

Capitalism contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction

Capitalism has created its own “grave-diggers” by creating a class with interests diametrically opposed to its own, brought them together & taught them how to cooperate

Thus, they become a unified class, which has common interests and a common enemy, the bourgeoisie

The proletariat then comes to realize that it is a class with nothing to lose but everything to gain by revolting against and overthrowing the bourgeoisie

Bourgeois-Proletariat Dialectic

The Worker is enslaved by the Capitalist, though at first, he or she does not know it

The Worker wakes from a “False Consciousness”

The Dialectic turns…

Establishing the classless society

The Revolutionary Sequence COMMUNISM WITHERING AWAY OF THE STATE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT SEIZURE OF STATE POWER REVOLUTIONARY CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS IMMISERATION OF THE PROLETARIAT ECONOMIC CRISES

The Marxist View of Freedom (Ball and Dagger, “Socialism and Communism: More to Marx”) OBSTACLE: Class divisions, economic inequalities, unequal life chances, “False Consciousness" AGENT: Common/ Working People; The proletariat GOAL: Fulfillment of human potential and needs

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Marxism (Part 1)

by Christopher Rice on Sep 26, 2007

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Marxism (Part 1) — Presentation Transcript