Marxism is a political and economic theory derived from Karl Marx's work analyzing capitalism. It views society as split between the bourgeoisie who own capital and the proletariat who must sell their labor. Marx argued that in capitalist societies, the economic base of wealth pursuit supports a superstructure of institutions like media that legitimize inequality by creating false consciousness among the proletariat. Later theorists like Gramsci developed the idea of hegemony, where the ruling class uses institutions like media to promote their ideologies as common sense. Marxists view media as serving capitalist interests by pacifying the masses and naturalizing the status quo.

1. Marxism Made Easy

2. The following ideas
summarise the section on
Marxist Perspective in
Media Studies A2: The
Essential Introduction for
WJEC. It would be a good
idea to read the entire
section in the original, if
you want to fully get to
grips with these ideas and
ways of looking at media
texts.

3. Marxism derived from the
political and social ideologies
written by Karl Marx in the
1867 book Das Kapital.
It developed into a political
system that became the basis
of communism, central to the
old Soviet Union and still part
of the social fabric of China
and North Korea.

4. Since Marx’s death in 1883, his ideas have ben taken
and expanded by others, so modern Marxism is more
than just the work of Karl Marx.

5. One of Marx’s core ideas about society was that all
societies have an economic base. This is seen to be
the central core and focus of any society – what
makes the rest of it tick.
In Western cultures this economic base is
essentially capitalist – in other words, the whole
system is based on the pursuit of wealth. The
problem is that this does not benefit all – the rich
get richer and the poor poorer in this type of
system. It leads to social inequality.

7. A capitalist system encourages
individuals to pursue wealth and
prosperity and allows them, after
due taxes have ben paid, to keep the
profit. This is seen to motivate
economic success.
As a result capitalism has valued
individuality, competitiveness,
conspicuous consumption (as an
obvious sign of success) and
materialism. Greed is not necessarily
a vice, as it promotes the desire to
produce wealth.

8. Marx sees a capitalist society
as a split society. Those who
control or have power are
called the bourgeoisie. Those
who do not and who have to
sell their labour for minimal
pay and often no share of the
profit are called the
proletariat.

9. Marx saw that the economic
base supported a
superstructure – the
institutions that exist in a
society such as those linked to
the law, education, politics and
the media. These are shaped
by the economic base and
exist to support, serve and
legitimise the base to society –
they partly exist to convince
people that the way the
country works is the right way.

10. The bourgeoisie in any society
are outnumbered by the
proletariat, so why don’t they
simply rise up and overthrow
their masters’ as happened in
the Russian Revolution?
Marx’s theory about this was
that elements of the
superstructure, like the media,
were used to brainwash the
proletariat into seeing the
current set-up as natural and
right.

11. The media, amongst other
elements, created a sense of
false consciousness – a fake
view that the world is exactly as
it should be. This view reassures
the proletariat and stops them
feeling that anything should be
done about their lot. In other
words, they are rendered
unaware of the true nature of
their exploitation and the
unfairness of the system they
live in.

12. It becomes the objective of
the most powerful ruling
group to stay in power, to
preserve their privileged
position. It is for this reason
that they use the media and
other elements of the
superstructure to try and
get others to agree to keep
society the way it is.

13. Two later theorists developed ideas about
the role the media plays in this pacification
and hoodwinking of the masses.
Althusser identified two types of
mechanism that states use to control the
masses:
•Repressive State Apparatuses – physical bodies
that can restrain people if they step over the lines
the ruling group sets, institutions like the army
and the police
•Ideological state Apparatuses (ISAs)- structures
which use ideology to try to dominate people, a
subtler approach. Includes institutions like the
media, education and religion.

14. Gramsci developed ideas about
hegemony, describing the
process whereby the ruling
classes own and control the ISAs
like the media. They can, thus,
use them to promote the
ideologies of the ruling classes.
Through repetition and the
absence or marginalisation of
other views, the proletariat
eventually accept them as
‘common sense’ and the natural
way to view things.

15. These views show how
Marxist’s view media in a
capitalist culture as agents of
the ruling elite. The media is
used as a more subtle, less
objectionable control
mechanism than the army.
They aim to gain people’s
agreement to the way
society is rather than having
to beat them into
submission.

16. The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the
ruling ideas
Karl Marx

17. Obviously, communism tried to create
a society that ran on very different
lines to capitalism:
•There should be no private ownership of
business or industry, so no one person gets
all the profit
•All work and share in the outcome –
common ownership
•No classes, so no one group can set
themselves up over others
•State control of media and other ISAs like
religion etc to avoid the creation of false
consciousness

18. The ideas behind communism
were to eliminate the
problems people like Marx
saw in capitalist societies
during the Industrial
Revolution.
Countries like Russia and China
ran their countries on these
lines. However, as with all
systems, their implementation
was not problem free, nor did
they arguably produce fairer
societies.

19. Just because Marx wrote in 1883, does that mean his
ideas are still relevant today?
Many think so, although it is true that many capitalist
societies have seen changes that may affect some of
Marx’s original ideas:
•Poverty today in the UK is much less than it was when Marx
wrote his treatise (he gained many ideas during a sojourn in
Manchester) – maybe divisions are less stark? Although, you may
like to consider how much some bankers and footballers earn!
•Big companies are less likely to be owned by a few private
individuals but often belong to shareholders, who may well be
workers from a variety of backgrounds
•The internet is allowing more and more people to work for
themselves

20. How does Marxism apply to media texts?
• You can look at who owns a media production and who
benefits the most financially
• Texts can be examined to see if they promote ideologies that
support the ruling classes/ the status quo – is it being used to
exert hegemonic control – ask what ideologies are being
pushed? Who do they benefit?
• Do texts naturalise inequality between groups based on power
– are men privileged over women? White groups over other
cultures? Capitalism over any other economic system and
values?

21. • Are media texts produced just like any other product in
the capitalist system – for maximum profit? The need
for efficient mass production may lead to a formula
approach to media creation, weakening elements of
creativity and imagination. Some Marxist critics, like
Theodore Adorno, certainly saw capitalist media
systems as antithetical to the production of ‘good’ and
valuable culture. Some products will never get made as
they are unlikely to yield a profit.