Personalisation of Education by AI and Big Data - Lourdes Guàrdia
Karl Marx Ideology what is he wanted what he said
1. Theories of Inequality
Marxist Social Conflict Perspective
View of Society
Causes of Inequality
Plan for Action
Problems with Marx
Useful Insights from Marx
Weber’s Social Conflict Perspective
View of Society
Multidimensional View of Inequality
Outlook on the Future
Structural Functional Perspective (Davis &
Moore)
View of Society
Explanation of Inequality
Problems with Davis and Moore’s Perspective
Useful Insights from Davis and Moore
3. View of Society
Economic context
Political context
Modes of production
Means of production
Relations of production
Key assumptions for Marx
4. Causes of Inequality and the
Labor Theory of Value
Selfishness of capitalists under
capitalism
Leads to exploitation of the worker
Leads to sharp divisions between
classes
Leads to feelings of alienation and
frustration by workers.
5. Plan for Action:
Becoming Class Conscious
Concentration and Communication
Deprivation
Economic Insecurity
Alienation at Work
Polarization
Homogenization
Organization and Struggle
6. Problems with Marx
Revolution did not occur
Capitalism was more prosperous
for the worker class than Marx
predicted
Profits don’t necessarily come
solely from labor
Marx did not account for other
divisions in society besides class
Marx does not account for authority
7. Useful Insights from Marx
Marx was right that once in
large factories workers would
organize
8. Useful Insights from Marx
There is a growing gap
between upper and lower
classes, e.g. CEO salary
compared to worker salary:
1973 45 x’s
1991 141 x’s
2002 500 x’s
9. CEO pay and other trends (original figures have been converted
into constant 96 dollars) (10)
1990 1995 Percent change
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Average CEO pay $2.34 million $3.86 million +65%
Average worker pay $27,615 $27,448 -0.6%
Corporate profits $212 billion $317 billion +50%
Worker layoffs 316,047 persons 439,882 persons +39%
In 1996, Business Week published the findings of an income
survey of the top two executives at 362 of the nation's largest
companies.
Current CEO compensation and the bailout.
10. Useful Insights from Marx
Class conflict does exist
Trends in the deskilling of
American workers
11. Useful Insights from Marx
Capitalism has generated
greater concentrations of wealth
owned by fewer people
1950--top 100 of top 200,000 corps.
controlled 40% of industrial assets
1986--top 100 controlled 61%
12. Source: Wolff, Edward N. 2007. “Recent Trends in
Household Wealth in the United States:
Rising Debt and the Middle-Class Squeeze.” p. 15
(http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_502.pdf).
14. Weber’s Approach to Inequality
Weber’s view of society.
Weber’s multidimensional view
of inequality.
Weber’s outlook on the future.
15. Weber’s View of Society
Society is located in ideas
Religion as source of ideas
leading to capitalism
The Protestant Ethic
The Spirit of Capitalism
16. The Emergence of Capitalism
Protestant Ethic
Protestant Reformation—
Luther’s idea of a “calling”
Notion that God expected
people to master the world
and master nature
Doctrine of predestination
(Calvin)
17. The Emergence of Capitalism
Protestant ethic established a rational
approach to the unlimited pursuit of
profit = capitalism
19. Weber’s view of the future
Inequality is inevitable
Iron Cage of Bureaucracy
20. Structural Functionalist Approach
to Inequality (Davis and Moore)
View of Society
Explanation of Inequality
Flaws and Useful Insights
Kingsley Davis
(1908-1997)
Wilbert E. Moore
(1914-1987)
21. View of Society
Basic ideas of functionalism--
society is like an organism with
interdependent parts
Davis & Moore--society is a
hierarchy of positions
Key assumptions
22. Explanation of Inequality
Inequality is necessary
Motivate best people to take appropriate
positions
Insure people perform once in those
positions
How are positions ranked?
Functional importance
Scarcity of skill
23. Explanation of Inequality
How are people matched to positions?
Differential rewards are attached to more
important positions (i.e. those that require
greater skill or training)
Economic
Prestige
Ascetic
24. Flaws of Davis & Moore’s
Theory
Leads to blaming the victim.
Equality of opportunity is implied
Training is not always costly
Over-emphasizes the value of economic
rewards
Most important jobs are not always
highly rewarded (and vice versa)
Who gets to decide which jobs are the
most functionally important?
25. Useful Insights
Understanding of the importance of
occupation to the placement of
individuals in society
Taps into our notion of how things
should work--meritocracy
27. Three Perspectives on How
Society is Divided
Capitalist
(Bourgeoisie)
Worker
(Proletariat)
Marx
Class Status Party
Weber
Hierarchy of Positions
Davis and Moore
