Marxist Critical Inquiry outlines key concepts of Marxism including base and superstructure, economic determinism, and false consciousness. It discusses how Marxist critical inquiry can be applied to research in social sciences and literature. Marxism holds that economic factors determine society and that literature reflects class struggle and materialism.

1. Marxist Critical Inquiry
Sadia Azam
Ayesha Hassan
Yasmeen Akhtar

2. Outline
• Introduction
• Basic concepts
 Base & superstructure
 Classes in a society
 Economic Determinism
 False consciousness
 Marxist critical inquiry and research
 Marxism and literature
• References

3. Introduction
• Karl Marx (1818-1883) was
a German philosopher.
• Marx is known as a principal
moulder of modern
thought.
• Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels were the joint
founders of this school of
thought.
• Marx notable work is Das
Kapital . Marx and Engels
jointly wrote Communist
Manifesto.
• They themselves Called
their economic theories
‘Communism’ rather than
‘Marxism’.

4. Basic Concept
• The Aim of Marxism is to bring about a classless
society.
• Main feature of Marxism is public ownership of
means of production, exchange and distribution.
• Marxism aims at the overthrow of capitalism and
its replacement by a classless society.
• A classless society where common mean of
ownership is practiced.
• They regard capitalist society as exploitative. In
capitalist society everything is determined by
money and economics.

5. Capitalism

6. Base & Superstructure
• For Marxism, economic power is the motive behind all
social and political activities.
• A society is constituted by a base and a superstructure.
• A base is the material means of production,
distribution and exchange. In simple words base is
constituted by those who hold the resources,
capital(money).
• While the superstructure includes the institution that
exists in a society such as media, law, politics,
education and religion. Superstructure is supported by
the base.

7. Class based society
• From Marxist perspective, economy
determines our class. Society is always divided
in two classes. The class of “haves” and “have-
nots”.
• The class of “haves” (which controls means
and capital) is called bourgeoisie. This group
owns the capital and rules the masses.
• While the class of have-nots (the working or
labor class) is called proletariat.

8. Economic Determinism
• Marxists’ view is that everything in class based
society is economically determined.
• Marxism states that ideas in a society are not
innocent rather economically determined.
• Money not only determines our social status but
ideas and thoughts as well. This belief is called
economic determinism.
• For example if a person is financially strong he
will receive more respect in the society. This is
how money determines our status in the society.

9. Class struggle & false consciousness
• Marx believed that social change occurs because
of struggle between the classes within a society.
Classes in a society compete to each other and
this brings the social change.
• The ruling class always tries to create a false
consciousness in order to satisfy the masses.
• Institutions like media create a false
consciousness among the people in a society.
They present a view that world and society is
exactly as it should be.

10. false consciousness cont….
• In Marxian terms, ideology spreads the false consciousness
in order to satisfy the masses. For example Consumerism is
an ideology that says “I’m only as good as what I buy”.
• For example you may have heard a tagline of a mobile
phone company “Pakistan smart ban raha hai ap kab smart
ban rahy ho?
• Through media it is inculcated that mobile phone is
necessary for being a smart person.
• Similarly a shoe brand says “Wear your confidence”. This
tag line shows that a human being’s confidence is
associated with materialism.
• Thus, false consciousness is inculcated through media and
advertisement.

11. Research in Marxism
• It is based on society. Marxist critical inquiry
can be applied on social sciences and
literature.
• It is not just related to literature. It is a broad
term which includes research in different
subjects i.e. business studies, media studies,
anthropology and sociology.
• Any research approach qualitative or
quantitative can be used in Marxist critical
inquiry.
• Data collection and analysis depend on the
research question.

12. Marxism and Literature.
• Marxist literary theory is based on the
theories of Marx . It started in 20th century.
• It holds the view that a work of literature is a
product of a society.
• Marxist criticism is the belief that literature
reflects the class struggle and materialism.

13. Questions Marxist literary critics ask
• How does the literary work reflect the socio-
economic conditions of the time?
• What is the social class of the author?
• Which class does the work claim to represent?
• What values does it reinforce?
• What social classes do the characters represent?
• How do characters from different classes interact
or conflict?