...Sociological Theory Assess the contributions of Marxism to our understanding of society. (33 marks) Marxism looks at the large scale societal structure in order to gain answers about how society work and operates. Marxism at its core is about the class struggle between those who own the means of production and those who use the means of production. These two groups are called the bourgeoisie, the ruling class and the proletariat, the working class. The Marxism perspective looks at the development of the western world, in particular capitalist countries. They believe that in a capitalist society, the owners of the means of production, the bourgeoisie, continually seek to exploit their labours, the proletariats for profit of their own gain. So majority off the working class who are the labourers work to earn a poor wage while the profit exceeds into the pockets of the owners, the business men, the ruling class. The owners of these productions control the state and institutions such as education and the media. The media portrays ideas to keep the working class under false class consciousness and alienation. If the proletariat members of society were to be class conscious then they would also be aware of the need to overthrow capitalism. Society as a whole alienates the working class by separating them from materials they have made or the work that they have done, stripping them of their identities. Keeping them away from other workers puts a stop to any thought processes about...
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...sectors of society. Marxists believe that the capitalist system is criminogenic – which means that by its nature it inevitably causes crime. As item B states, Marxists see crime in the capitalist system as ‘a tool of the ruling class’ where they can control the working class and crime is an unavoidable result because of the oppression the working class are subject to. They also believe that laws are enforced mostly to benefit the interests of the ruling class. (An example of this is 80% of laws exist to protect private property.) NeoMarxists (also known as critical criminology) are another branch of Marxism which was established in the 1970s. They discuss more contemporary ideas of crime and their ideas, such as saying crime results out of political anger. They note that the traditional Marxist perspective is too deterministic and try to implement an element of free will in their theory. Traditional Marxist’s view of crime has 3 key aspects: The Criminogenic capitalism, the state and law making and ideological functions of crime and law. As previously stated, criminogenic capitalism is the Marxist idea that crime is inevitable because of the nature of capitalism. They believe that because of capitalism as the unequal divide between classes, committing crime is sometimes the only way people can live. For example, a young woman who is living in poverty may have to resort to prostitution in order to survive. In addition, sometimes the working class may feel frustrated that they are...
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...Marxism It’s a political and economic philosophy by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed in the mid-19th century. Originally, it consisted of three related ideas: a philosophical anthropology, a theory of history, and an economic and political programme. It’s about a concept of the class struggle and within it the theory of how people in a society develops and fall into certain categories due to the politics’ pressure. Marxism in Feminism: It talks about the rights of women, which has kept changing over the time, and along with it the Feminist theory and the freedom of women having the control of her own life and desires. Marxist Feminist mainly believes in the moral right or wrong in corruption of wage labour, which is caused by the oppression of women. And to understand the capitalist sources of this, Marxist theory is developed and applied into it. Strengths of Marxism: Marxist theory looks at society as a whole, therefore acknowledging all the social forces involved. It recognises the power interests of different groups. Is good at explaining conflict and change in society. Stresses the role of class struggle (conflict) within society between the proletariat (workers) and the bourgeoisie (owners). Recognises that society is organised under capitalism, in that the bourgeoisie aim to maximise profit by exploiting the proletariat. Weaknesses of Marxism: Marxist theory finds it difficult to explain the presence of certain phenomena (for example Kerry Katona has...
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...Marxism grants social and political theorists a most realistic, dynamic, and comprehensive framework that allows the study of the causes of war in its ‘totality’; which crosses the boundaries of each theory of international relations and encompasses the political, social, and economic aspects of the causes of war.<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[2]<!–[endif]–> Marxist theory applied in conjunction with the ‘three levels’ of analysis, which are, the individual, the state, and the international system, is relevant and significant to the study of international relations. In particular, Marxism as an analytical tool has been able to evolve within and adapt to the altering environment of international relations, especially with concerns to global conflict. An examination of Marxism, from its rudimentary forms and its progression into its modern day applications proves that Marxism offers an extremely viable basis for analysing the causes of war. Marxism accepts that capitalism, hence, the capitalist mode of production gives birth to two classes in society, the owning bourgeoisie and the working proletariat, which are inherently antagonistic towards each other’s existence and prone to class conflict. Also, the capitalist states represents the interests of the bourgeoisie, and as the ruling class, the bourgeoisie controls the means of production, which is basically the states material power and economic foundations. Marxists embrace the materialist conception of history,...
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...According to Eatwell and Wright (Eatwell, Wright. 1999, pg. 104) Marxism is the theory of communism the practice- or else that both are perplexing mixtures of theory and practice. The history of Marxism is essentially the history of putting theories into practice to solve practical problems. which in turn promotes the continuous development of human society. Its impact far exceeds its theoretical scope and significance and an important reason lies in the fact that Marxism originates from practice, guides the practice and is developed in the practice. Karl Marx is considered by many to have been the greatest thinker and philosopher of all time. His idea on life, society and social structure revolutionized the ways in which people think and still holds much relevance in today’s society. Although there were many downfalls within his thinking he still set out the basis of Communism within Russia. Marx drew distinctions between the bases of his own contemporaries and his own scientific theory of which he believed were firmly rooted within society. He believed that social change was needed in order to achieve a better society for everyone and in order to achieve social change there must be class conflict. Marx’s major concern for social change was economic change and his most famous work dealt with the issues of class conflict and the opposition between the capitalists/bourgeoisie and the working class. During that time it was the bourgeoisie who were responsible for the controlling...
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...Outline and asses marxist theories on social inequalities. Marxism is a political, social, and economic philosophy derived from the work of the 19th-century historians Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It views human history as a struggle between social classes and asserts that capitalism is inherently exploitative. According to Marxism, social inequality is an unfair situation, in which some individuals or groups have more money, influence and power etc over others, usually referring to the bourgeoisie, who use this advantage to oppress the proletariats. Marxists would argue that social inequality is caused by false class consciousness, and that eventually would lead to a revaluation. Marxism is a conflict theory, focusing on inequalities and divisions within society. According to Karl Marx, all stratified societies have two major classes, the bourgeoisie (rich) and the proletariats (poor). The rich owns the means of production, such as land capital, machinery etc, while the poor does not, this gives the ruling class the power to exploit the lower class, through the use of the superstructure, e.g. the legal and political system to justify their actions and maintain social order, due to the fact that the ruling class have more influence compared to the working class. According to Karl Marx, the rich exploits the working class who have to sell their labour to survive, thus creating huge inequalities, furthermore, due to the fact that many working class people rely on this...
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...Marxist theory has both informed community development and provided one of the most resonant critiques of it. Discuss Over the years Marxist theory has not only informed community development but it has also provided one of the most resonant critiques of it. To Marxism, the biggest critique of community development is that it is a mechanism for control to keep the working class in their place and in reserve for when their labour is needed. I will discuss the Marxist theories of alienation and struggles over mode of production and resource allocation, as well as how Western Marxism has shaped community development. In this essay I will also discuss how Marxist theory has identified that the working class are to be exploited by the bourgeoisie and the only way to improve society is to dismantle the capitalist society and install a socialist society. Marxist theory is based on Karl Marx’s theory of the struggle of the working class people selling their labour to the bourgeoisie – the capitalists – and their oppression by the welfare system. Marx believed that the rich bourgeoisie exploited the working class and the only way to stop this exploitation was to overthrow the capitalist system with socialism. The only real difference between capitalism and socialism is that private property rights and voluntary exchange define capitalism, whereas socialism is based around collective ownership of the means of production, which is owned by the state (Butgereit and Carden 2011...
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...Karl Marx and Marxism Karl Marx set the wheels of modern Communism and Socialism in motion with his writings in the late nineteenth century. In collaboration with his friend, Heinrich Engels, he produced the The Communist Manifesto, written in 1848. Many failed countries' political and socio-economic structures have been based on Marx's theories, for example the USSR, East Germany etc. Many people believe that Marxism is not applicable to today's society, as Karl Marx put forward his ideas not anticipating the type of society we have today. The welfare state system has effectively nullified Marx's arguments, and made them irrelevant. Karl Marx, born on May 5, 1818, died on March 14, 1883, was a German economist, philosopher and revolutionist whose writings form the basis of the body of ideas known as Marxism. In his youth he was deeply affected by the philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel, and joined a rebel group called the Young Hegelians, which contributed ideas towards the movement against organized religion and the Prussian Autocracy. Later on in life, he was influenced by the writings of Ludwig Feuerbach, who wrote that God was invented by humans as a projection of their own ideals, and that in creating such a 'perfect' being, in contrast to themselves, mankind lowered themselves to lowly, evil creatures who needed guidance from the church and government. He said that, in creating God in their own image, humans had 'alienated themselves from themselves.' ...
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...Reconstituted Family? | A reconstituted family is a family that consists of a mother and her children from one family and a father and his children from another family joining together through marriage. | | What is meant by the term 'industrialisation'? | When the industry changed from being one of agriculture to one where factories, shops, markets and healthcare was provided. This is the process of Structural Differentiation. | | What does cohabitation mean? | Cohabitation is where people live together without being married, it is also seen as a 'trial' marriage. | | The definintion of the 'Warm Bath Theory' | The Warm Bath Theory is... After a long, stressful and tiring day at work, going home to your family or household is said to relax you like a warm bath would. | | Who came up with the 'Warm Bath Theory'? | Parsons was the one who believed that the warm bath theory was an important major function of the family (stress reliever). | | What is Primary Socialisation? | Primary socialisation is where the family teaches the children the values and norms of society and the behaviour that is acceptable and unacceptable. | | What is meant by an Instrumental Leader? | The instrumental leader within the family is the male as he goes to work to earn money and provide for his family. | | Who identifield the Instrumental and Expressive Leader? | Parsons identifield the Instrumental and Expressive Leader. | | What is meant by an Expressive Leader? | The expressive leader...
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...between reality and class. If one examines capitalist Marxism, one is faced with a choice: either accept cultural narrative or conclude that discourse is created by the masses. Therefore, Baudrillard uses the term ‘textual dematerialism’ to denote not theory, but neotheory. Marx’s essay on capitalist Marxism states that art is capable of significance, but only if subdialectic structuralist theory is valid; otherwise, Sontag’s model of Lacanist obscurity is one of “postmaterial semanticist theory”, and therefore part of the futility of consciousness. Thus, the example of cultural narrative which is a central theme of Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction is also evident in Four Rooms. The main theme of Humphrey’s[2] critique of Lacanist obscurity is a mythopoetical paradox. Therefore, the subject is interpolated into a capitalist Marxism that includes truth as a totality. Porter[3] implies that we have to choose between subcapitalist capitalism and Batailleist `powerful communication’. However, the characteristic theme of the works of Rushdie is the common ground between reality and sexual identity. The subject is contextualised into a cultural narrative that includes truth as a paradox. In the works of Rushdie, a predominant concept is the concept of structural art. It could be said that if neoconstructivist theory holds, the works of Rushdie are an example of subdialectic Marxism. Marx uses the term ‘capitalist Marxism’ to denote a self-referential reality. But the premise...
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...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...
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...A summarised reality of the social and economic chaos of cultural Marxism, containing the best explanatory links and preparing you for the 1% revolution, sold to you and previous generations as a utopia. Why do we have a feeling that something just isn’t quite right, but are unable to put our finger on it? Why does it no longer matter who you vote for, nothing seems to change? What happened to 'Power to the People' and 'Workers of the World Unite'? I write short articles of explanation, trying to cram in as much information as possible in a short space. The reason I don’t do news is because it’s so fast changing, that whatever is written is out of date by the time it’s posted. Further, what is often happening throughout the west on a daily...
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...<Feminist theory>: What are traditional gender roles? Men: “rational, strong, protective, and decisive” Women: “emotional (irrational), weak, nurturing and submissive” What are traditional gender roles? Men: “rational, strong, protective, and decisive” Women: “emotional (irrational), weak, nurturing and submissive” Gender studies： * Feminist theory * Patriarchy * Male role * Female role （Patriarchy is a system of social organization that traces descent through the male line and bestows privilege and power to males on the assumption of their physical and intellectual superiority over women.） * Purpose of feminist analysis: * A writer of a feminist analysis intends to closely examine how male dominance and female powerlessness manifest themselves in specific aspects of society through a text. Format of Feminist Analysis * General tension and thesis： * Tension will stem from some aspect of patriarchy in the text * Thesis: what is author saying about tension? * Resolve/lack of resolve? Character transgress/submit? * Body: Integrate feminist theory with literary devices * Organize paragraphs by literary device/chronology/order of thesis * Weave in feminist theory as you go along, defining terms as you delve into each device. * Use feminist jargon appropriately and in context * Conclusion <Marxism>: Gender studies： Marxist Literary Theory： ...
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...Assess the usefulness of Marxism and other conflict theories of our understanding of society. Marxism is a useful conflict theory in helping us to understand why there was obedience, particularly in the past in society. Marx was seen as an economic determinist, as he believed that the functioning and running of society was based upon the economy. Because of this, Marx says that is why there was a divide between the proletariat (working class who have only their skills to sell) and the bourgeoisie (the ruling class who own the means of production). The bourgeoisie cannot operate without the proletariat, as they cannot produce products, and similarly the proletariat cannot operate without the bourgeoisie, as they need them so they can be paid a wage and feed their families. Therefore, even though the Bourgeoisie were exploiting the proletariat and the proletariat could have walked away to stop being exploited, they never walked away as they needed the money. On the other hand, this can be viewed from a different perspective. The reason why these people may have not left their jobs is because they could have been in a state of false consciousness, whereby they were unaware of their exploitation by the bourgeoisie. This helps us to understand society as the Marxism theory provides reasoning on how the bourgeoisie were able to exploit the proletariat, which in turn fuelled capitalism and allowed the ruling elite to maintain their profits. It is also relevant to today’s society,...
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...like slavery and feudalism. Hence, he constructed his own model, the Marxist model of class conflict to explain negative circumstances that existed in his time. The main features of Marxism include class conflict, surplus value extraction, false consciousness, revolution and by extension communism. The features of the Marxist model are all applicable to Caribbean society, however due to significant changes in society, they are not relevant to the extent that Karl Marx witnessed. The communist manifesto of 1848 declared that the history of all existing society hitherto is the history of class conflict i.e. oppressor and oppressed. According to Marx, this was reflected by the Bourgeosie as the oppressor and the Proletariat as the oppressed, this statement can be applied to society during the period of Colonization which implanted a Plantation Society which exploited the Indigenous people, West Africans, Indians, Chinese and Madeirans. The methods of class exploitation were visible through the Encomienda, Enslavement and Indentureship. In a Post-Colonial society, class conflict still exists however, it is not to the extent that Marx argued occurred in his time. There are class conflict issues that arise in the Caribbean due to lack of protection for labour and worker rights but many critics of Marxism disagree with Marx. They argue that the Marxist model cannot be applied to Caribbean society as now there has been an expansion in the social pyramid, which...
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