...Marxist feminist Michelle Barrett (1980) argues that the role ideology plays in convincing women that unpaid domestic labour is fulfilling is important. Barrett discusses the ideology of ‘familism’ the notion that female fulfillment lies in the family. For Marxist feminists, the cause of female oppression is rooted in capitalism. They argue that although individual men benefit from women’s subordination, the main beneficiary is capitalism. Women are an unpaid labour force, as unpaid housewives, and have been used in WW1 as a reserve army of labour. This oppression is believed to be maintained by the role women adopt within the capitalist’s system as the unpaid homemaker in the family. Women are conceived that this unpaid role is natural and normal, through the ideology of ‘familism’ that promotes female fulfillment as achieved through motherhood intimacy and sexual satisfaction. Marxist feminists believe that in order to end female subordination, we must overthrow capitalism as well as the ideology of familism. This would free the sexes from restrictive family roles and ensure that domestic labour was shared equally. Strengths of Marxist feminists include the fact that they have demonstrated the power of structural factors, such as capitalism and ideology in constructing an explanation for women’s subordination. However, Marxist feminists have been criticised for failing to explain women’s subordination in non-capitalist societies. Marxist feminism also places insufficient emphasis...
Words: 2441 - Pages: 10
...BRITISH SHORT FICTION IN THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY This page intentionally left blank British Short Fiction in the Early Nineteenth Century The Rise of the Tale TIM KILLICK Cardiff University, UK © Tim Killick 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Tim Killick has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3HR England Ashgate Publishing Company Suite 420 101 Cherry Street Burlington, VT 05401-4405 USA www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Killick, Tim British short fiction in the early nineteenth century : the rise of the tale 1. Short stories, English – History and criticism 2. English fiction – 19th century – History and criticism 3. Short story 4. Literary form – History – 19th century I. Title 823’.0109 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Killick, Tim. British short fiction in the early nineteenth century : the rise of the tale / by Tim Killick. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7546-6413-0 (alk. paper) 1. Short stories, English—History and criticism. 2. English fiction—19th...
Words: 98420 - Pages: 394
...Marxism is a theory that sees society in a state of social class conflict. It looks at the conflict between the working class and capitalists. Marxists argue that the economy is the most important social institution and they believe that the family’s main role is to support and contribute towards capitalism. The economy is known as the infrastructure and other social institutions such as the family are seen as the superstructure. The family delivers norms and values that imply that the power held by the capitalists is normal and shouldn’t be questioned or challenged. This is argued by Althusser which will be further discussed within my essay. Marxists say this socialisation is promoting false class consciousness which is the inability for the working class to realise how they are being exploited. Marxists are generally interested in how the family contributes to the economic system and society and see the traditional nuclear family as the best way to support capitalism. Engels says that by having a monogamous marriage within a nuclear family, wealth can easily be passed on through the generations and show clear lines of inheritance which will help benefit the ruling class as this enables them to keep their property, name and wealth concentrated within their own hands and pass it down to their own legitimate heirs. Others such as the functionalists will criticise Engels view as they believe family benefits everyone not just capitalism and would say that despite being a structural...
Words: 1262 - Pages: 6
...Marxist Theory Marxist stems from conflict theory that concentrates on social class, distinct by the relationship of a group to the means of production. This perspective claims that capitalists, who own and control the means of production, use the law to protect their property from people who threaten it like the lower or working class. Marx believed that throughout history, human societies have consisted of two classes: those who have power to create the rules everyone has to live under and those who neither resources nor the political power to have a say what those rules will be. Examples of these economic or political systems are lord versus serf, capitalist versus proletariat and master versus slave. The capitalists are those who own means of production and the proletariats are those who work for them. Crime of the wealthy and powerful is attributed to the greed generated by capitalist economic system, and crime by the powerless is attributed to the need violate the law in order to survive. Marxist asserts the relationship between capitalism and crime, but they offer little evidence that capitalism generates crime to a greater degree than alternative economic systems, such as socialism. Marx used a base structure metaphor to describe the role of social institutions, with the economic mode of production providing the base of that structure. For Marx, the mode of production determines the characteristics of other social institutions, examples the social, political, ethnical...
Words: 306 - Pages: 2
...Marxist Justice Karl Marx believed that society as a whole would be better if the bourgeois and proletariat classes were combined. In other words, with everyone in society having the same means, when one person experiences misfortune, for instance the loss of a home, everyone pays a small amount and helps that person. In my opinion I feel that Marx had sound beliefs but his ideologies are diluted by the concept of the middle class in today’s world. Only taking into consideration the capitalist and the laborer eliminates the middle class and our society is too diverse to not fill this category. Marx beliefs that our society would be a better unit as a combined class doesn’t seem to fufill a better good as it would hinder the rest of society if any individual was at a loss. The implementation of providing help to others when they have misfortune seems great but not at the cost of total equality. Disallowing individuality would create a lack of innovation and hinder creativity at a high cost. Our society has grown due to entrepreneurs, and small business owners and in a Marxist society all this would be eliminated. I don’t agree with Marx’s idea of justice and would not want to live in a Marxist society becuase a society of equals would eliminate any type of competition which would eliminate motivation and competitive markets/economies. Living In a classless society would eliminate personal individuality, society would think as a whole, totally eliminating individual decision...
Words: 370 - Pages: 2
...to us as Marxism. Marxism is a theory of economics and history and the basic explanation for how societies go through the process of change, Marx believed that capitalism was evil and created increasing disproportion so wealth in society, since the worker would become poorer the more wealth he created for their employers, this was because a worker becomes a cheaper commodity the more commodities he produces. The central theme of Marxism is public ownership and control of all means of production. Marxism thus calls for abolition of the capitalist economic system where chief means of production are privately owned. According to Marxism, supporting the development of a classless society would have led to prosperity and freedom for all. Marxist Ideas One of the basic ideas of Marxism is that of Dialectical Materialism. This outlook is referred to as dialectical materialism because its approach to the occurrences of nature, its method of studying and apprehending these occurrences is dialectical. Dialectics is derived from the Greek word, dialego, which means, to disclose, or to debate. Ancient philosophers believed that the disclosure of contradictions in thought and the clash of opposite opinions was the best method of arriving at the truth. The method of dialectic thought was extended to occurrences in nature, developing the dialectical method of...
Words: 1210 - Pages: 5
...Social Inequality Unit 04 [pic] What are Marxist theories of inequality? Learning targets: • Marxism is concerned for the poor and powerless. • It claims that society is in conflict between the rich who control everything and the poor who must work for the rich and gain little in reward for their work. • The rich are able to maintain their position of power through control of the law, the police and other forms of authority. • The rich also control the manufacture of ideas about society through controlling the media and education so poor people are taught to believe that capitalism is a good thing. Key questions (AO1) What is the Marxist view of society? (AO1) What causes inequality according to Marxists? (AO2) What are the strengths of the Marxist view? (AO2) What are the weaknesses of the Marxist view of inequality? Summary of Key Points Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) was an economist, philosopher and journalist who was motivated by concern for workers who were experiencing terrible poverty while all around was great wealth and power. He was a revolutionary who believed in working for a classless society. Marxism was not a powerful force in sociology until the 1960s and 1970s when it formed the basis of a challenge to functionalism. It offered a better account of the divisions of society at that time than functional sociology did. Marxism also triggered many of the ideas that were...
Words: 3822 - Pages: 16
...Assess the contribution of Marxist theories to our understanding of society today Within sociology there are many varieties of conflict perspectives. Marxism is one of these. It is both a structural and a conflict theory. From a structural perspective, Marxists analyse the way society as a whole fits together. It views society as a structure in which the economic base determines the shape of the superstructure. The superstructure is made up of all the institutions such as the family, the media and the education system. Their function is to serve ruling class interests and maintain a capitalist society, according to traditional Marxists. Traditional Marxism has been extended through the work of neo Marxism. Neo Marxism is a more modern, new and up to date version of traditional Marxism. Karl Marx is the founding father of Marxism and Marxism is based on the ideas of Karl Marx, hence the name Marxism. Marx describes the concept ‘Polarisation of the Classes’. This describes the historical process of the class structure becoming increasingly polarised. Marx describes how in capitalist society the class structure becomes polarised into a wealthy bourgeoisie and an impoverished proletariat. One way in which Marxist theories helps us to understand society is through explaining historical materialism. Materialism is the view that all humans are beings with material needs, such as food, clothing and shelters and must therefore work in order to meet them. Overtime tools have been developed...
Words: 1483 - Pages: 6
...Capitalism acts to constrain the forces of production. The notion of free and competitive market penalizes inefficiency and redistributes the surplus to the more efficient enterprises. Adam Smith’s idea of invisible hand promotes rivalries. Therefore the majority of petty owners is pushed out of the market and forced to sell labor power. The surplus value is derived from exploiting these workers. The rate of exploitation is surplus value divided by the labor value. Laborers produce a use value but get paid only for their labor value. The left-over surplus value becomes profit for the capitalist. This wealth can be use for investment, mechanization, research development, management and etc. Industrial enterprises spend money on capital and labor to produce a product. Rate of profit is calculated from surplus value divided by capital and labor cost. Therefore the rate has an inverse relationship with labor and capital cost. As they fall, rate of profit rise. The average cost is total spent divided by output. By mechanizing, it allows companies to produce more resulting in cheaper price per unit For example, say three companies produce the same amount of goods using identical labor and capital cost structure. When one company mechanizes, it can produce more goods by only increasing capital and not labor cost. It can also produce more merchandise with same amount of capital and labor. These two scenarios are both forms of increase efficiency. They also are forms of labor exploitation...
Words: 880 - Pages: 4
...To what extent does Disney’s presentation of the Aladdin legend reflect and present the ruling class ideology? In this essay I will be focusing on the ruling class ideology that is shown frequently in the Disney version of Aladdin. I will discuss the relevance of Jafar, the power and reputation of the Genie and the beauty of Jasmine who Aladdin feels he himself doesn’t deserve. The other concepts that I will briefly touch upon is the false class consciousness theory, this is where the proletariats don’t know they are being exploited by the bourgeoisie. Also, I will explore ruling class exploitation; this is where the ruling class take advantage of the working class for their own personal gain. Throughout the whole of the story a ruling class ideology is very apparent, and towards the start of the book it starts to represent Aladdin as a ‘thief’ and a character that may have been this way his whole life. You could say that throughout the story, he is trying to break sociological norm and make his way to the top of society. Members of a lower class of society truly believe that they can’t make it to the top, and in truth this isn’t correct. Members of the Bourgeoisie sell us a pipe dream and would say that they have every right to get to the top, but the lower class suffer from false class consciousness and through social aspects such as media, sport and religion this consciousness is reflected in a capitalist view. The working class feel that they have to have done something...
Words: 1411 - Pages: 6
...one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three four five one two three...
Words: 11400 - Pages: 46
...Assess the usefulness of Marxist approaches to crime In this essay I will be discussing the usefulness of Marxist approaches to crime. Marxists believe that the law is part of the superstructure which is used to socialise people therefore, benefiting capitalises. They argue that the law is only enforced on the working and middle class in order to maintain power of the ruling class. On the other hand, Marxists have been criticised by Neo-Marxists. Marxists state that laws maintain capitalist as capitalists define what behaviours are seen as criminal and not criminal. Chambliss supports this as he stated that that the law need to look at decision and non-decision making, this refers to categorising what is seen as criminal behaviour and what is not. There are certain behaviours aren’t defined as criminal because they help maintain wealth and power of the ruling class in society for example, cigarettes aren’t classed as criminal even though they are taxed and kill thousands every year. Snider also supports this as he believes the government are reluctant to pass laws which put capitalist profits at threat. A criticism of Marxism is that they focus on class inequality too much and ignore other inequalities relating to things like ethnicity and gender. From a feminist perspective Marxists ignore the role of patriarchy and how that influences the criminal justice system. For example, Durkheim argues that crime is needed in society to help individuals be aware of what is right...
Words: 329 - Pages: 2
...Marxist Perspective on Education The Marxists have a conflicting view of the education system, believing that it reproduces inequality and sorts individuals into existing positions in the stratification system which maintains expliotation and privilege in a capitalist society. They believe education sorts students by social class, ensuring proletariat have jobs with low pay and that children of the rich maintain a high status and prestige. Louis Althusser was a Marxist who researched the role of education in a capitalist society and went on to conclude that the education system was an ideological state apparatus. His theory said that education had replaced the role of the church, which origionally was the main agency for ideological control. This may be due to secularisation and the increasing urge from the nation for more and a better education for children. Althusser said that the ruling class can not control through force as it produces more rebellion and that ideological control is more effective as it influences the way people think. Schools transmit an ideology which states that capitalism is reasonable and unknowingly prepares students for future expolitation by breaking their spirit by treating them harshly so that they will be made into a perfect worker and a wage slave. Althusser’s research method however was armchair theorising and his work lacked empirical support as it was all based on his Marxist beliefs which didn’t give the research much validity. In 1969 he...
Words: 611 - Pages: 3
...Outline and assess Marxist explanations of the role of education in society (50): Marxists believe that education is an important part of the superstructure of society, it is there to serve the needs of the economic base which contains everything to do with production in society. Marxists also state that education performs two main functions in a capitalist society, one is that it reproduces the inequalities and social relations of production of a capitalist society and the other is that it serves to legitimate these inequalities through the myth of meritocracy. A criticism of this comes from Althusser (1971) who is a Neo-Marxist, they disagree that the main function of education is to reproduce inequalities and to justify them, they believe that education’s main function is transmit common values and argue that it is the Ideological State Apparatus that legitimates and serves these inequalities. Marxists also believe that education reproduces the conditions needed for capitalism to flourish without having to use some force, which would then expose it as oppressive. They assert that instead, ideology gets the same results which exerts its influence subconsciously, this is apparently done through the hidden curriculum. The hidden curriculum is basically what students pick up and learn throughout their time in school, it is not formally taught to them. They learn things like; hierarchy, conformity and status. This makes them much more aware of what society is like outside of school...
Words: 655 - Pages: 3
...“W. Labov: Case Study Martha’s Vineyard and New York” Sprachwissenschaft Englisch Hausarbeit “Sociolinguistics“ Maria Juchem 2003 List of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Labov’s motivation for studying Sociolinguistics 3. Labov’s observations in Martha’s Vineyard 3.1 Geographical and historical basics of Labov’s studies 3.2 Repetition of the studies in 1961 by Labov 3.3 Labov’s explanation of the observations 4. Labov’s studies in New York 4.1 The Social Stratification of (r) in New York Department Stores 4.1.1 Preliminary Überlegungen 4.1.2 The experiment 4.1.3 The results of the department store study 4.2 Study of Lower East Side 4.2.1 The MFY Survey 4.2.2 The ALS (American Language Survey) 5. The meaning of Labov’s studies for modern sociolinguistics 6. Conclusion 1. Topic and Introduction The topic of this term paper are “Labov’s studies in New York and Martha’s Vineyard”. Labov’s observations in Martha’s Vineyard served Labov as a model for his Master’s essay and his observations in New York as a model for his dissertation. The second chapter will give a survey of William Labov’s motivation for studying sociolinguistics. Chapter 3 is about his observations in Martha’s Vineyard. After that I’ll give a detailed description of his studies in New York (chapter 4) divided up into the two parts: First, the social stratification of (r) in New York City Department Stores (4.1) and second The Lower East Side (4.2). These studies are Labov’s most famous works and...
Words: 3380 - Pages: 14
