Neo-Marxian Approach - Class Consciousness – Georg Lukacs; Ideology & Hegemony -Antonio Gramsci

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NEO-MARXIAN APROACH
GEORG LUKACS & ANTONIO GRAMSCI

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NEO-MARXISM
• Neo-Marxism extend or modify Marxian theory by
incorporating elements from other intellectual traditions
such as critical theory, existentialism etc
• Comes under the broader framework of New Left
• When traditional Marxism failed to address the socio-
political challenges faced by human society, Marxian
theory was reconsidered.
• Georg Lukas and Antonio Gramsci- Key figures in Neo-
Marxism

3. GEORG
LUKACS
(1885-1971)
Hungarian
Very much connected to German
Sociology
Studied with Simmel and Weber

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• Had a wide intellectual interests, writing both within and outside
of Marxian frameworks
• His works draw heavily on Marx’s discussions of commodity
fetishism and alienation as well as upon reading of Weber,
Simmel, Hegel and Dilthey
• Played a major role in the “rediscovery” and promulgation of the
almost forgotten Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts (Marx
1978a [1844])
• A legitimating charter for a more cultural Marxism

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• One of the most important contributions: “History and
Class Consciousness” (1971)
• A collection of essays written between 1918 and 1930
• In that he described the ways that capitalism was
colonising more and more dimensions of social life
• Claimed that commodity relation have impoverished
the world and denuded it of authentic meaning

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• According to Lukacs, social relationships, activities
and human worth are increasingly defined in terms of
an alienating and objectifying monetary exchange
value- a process known as commodification
• Reacting against deterministic Marxism, Lukacs
emphasised the importance of human agency, writing
that “History is at its least automatic when it is the
consciousness of the proletariat that is at
issue” (1971:208)

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• For Marx, class consciousness refers to the believes
shared the members of the same class
• For Lukacs, it is the belief shared by the members in a
particular productive system (mode of production)
• In the capitalist system, the class do not have a clear
sense of the true class interest; they have class
consciousness only at the stage of revolution
• People are not aware that they are part of a class and
this is called false consciousness

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• When this false consciousness changes to class
consciousness, revolution takes place
• So, Lukacs feels that the workers moves from the
“class in itself” to a “class for itself” at the time of
revolution
• Class in itself-false consciousness
• Class for itself- class consciousness

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• According to him, there are several intermediate classes who
have never developed class consciousness. For instance, Petty-
Bourgeoisie and Lumpen Proletariat (small entrepreneurs,
peasants etc)
• Because of the ambiguity of position in the class structure within
the capitalist society, both these groups are viewed by a highly
ambitious state
• Thus, he argued that a sense of class identity and political
activism or class consciousness was needed among the
proletariat and this could only come about through critical self-
awareness and reflexivity about the ideological effects of
capitalism

10. ANTONIO
GRAMSCI
1891-1937
Italian Marxist Philosopher and
Communist Politician
Neo-Marxist
Perceived the need for greater
interpretative sensitivity in Marxian
analysis

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• Addressed two lacunae in Marx’s own thinking- the
neglect of politics and the neglect of culture
• His deterministic framework seemed to proclaim that
revolution was inevitable and all that was needed was
to wait until the right economic conditions were in
place
• How culture and politics might promote or hold back
an “inevitable revolutionary change”
• Gramsci’s work pointed to the links between politics,
culture and socialist strategy

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IDEOLOGY:
• For Marx, economy is the most determining factor
• But Gramsci felt that ideas are most important or
influential in society or ideas are as important as
economy; they are the weapons that can be used to
change the society and in the state of mature
capitalism, economy doesn’t have any role to play; it is
the ideology which plays the most important role
because it creates class consciousness and class
solidarity which lead to revolution

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• In his “Prison Notebooks” (1929-33), he argued that
domination was not simply rooted in the economic
sphere, but also had a major political and cultural
component
• Claimed that in Italy, the objective conditions for
revolution had been present for some years- an
advanced capitalist economy in crisis, a large
proletariat population and yet it had not come to pass
• In seeking to explain this paradox he pointed to the
role of the state, the role of the intellectuals and the
role of ideas

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• According to Gramsci, the state was growing rapidly in
power and invading civil society
• He say institutions like the church and trade union,
which had previously been independent being taken
over and regulated by the governmental agencies
• The state was not a disinterested all consuming
bureaucracy, but rather an instrument of class
domination, in particular, it represented the interests of
capital and the bourgeoisie

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• Culture comes into the picture when it is realised that a
major component of state power was the control of
ideas, as well as the use of physical force (e.g. by the
police)
• HEGEMONY!!!
• It is the ability of the state and the ruling class to
regulate beliefs within civil society
• Hegemonic beliefs are dominant cultural motifs which
reinforce inequality and which short-circuit attempts at
critical thinking; they allow dominant groups to rule
more efficiently as they permit a reduction in the level of
force required to maintain social order

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• He claimed that the activities of organic intellectuals
were central to the propagation of hegemonic belief.
• These are people like priests, journalists who translate
complex philosophical and political issues into
everyday language and offer guidance to the masses on
how to act.
• Play a crucial role in making possible the establishment
of a hegemonic bloc (an alliance of dominant forces in
society e.g.. industrialists, the aristocracy, the pretty
bourgeoisie etc), which are held together by a
hegemonic ideology that incorporated aspects of
nationalist and common-sense thinking and used to
paper this over divergent interests and class locations

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• According to him breaking down hegemony is a
fundamental precondition for mobilising latent socialist
tendencies and initiating a revolutionary
consciousness
• A solidaristic bloc could emerge; rebuilding autonomy
of institutions in civil society
• In Itali chuch was the major hegemonic force; if church
and and its teachings could be changed, it could
provide moral and intellectual leadership for subaltern
classes rather than operating as a tool of the
bourgeoisie

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Writing Activity
• Discuss the concept of class consciousness by Georg
Lukacs.
• Discuss the concept of ideology and Hegemony.

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REFERENCES
• David Mclellan - Marxism After Marx-Palgrave
Macmillan (1998).{pg:173-181 & 192-197}
• 21st Century Sociology; Philip Smith - Cultural Theory_
An Introduction-Wiley-Blackwell (2001). Pg 37-41