Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism Andrew J. Perrin SOCI - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism

Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 September 17, 2013

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Karl Marx 1818–1883

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Karl Marx: Life & Times

Academic star in Gymnasium Studied in Bielefeld, then Berlin Early member of “Young Hegelians” Becomes politically active, leaves academia to be activist & journalist Founder of “scientific socialism” movement Living in exile in London, dies and is buried there

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Big Themes in Marx

Dialectical Materialism Parsimony / reductionism Base / Superstructure Conflict / Consent The Theory of History

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Dialectical Materialism

Marx’s theory of historical progression Dialectics: Progression through antagonistic opposition Materialism: Progression through real interests

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Materialism

“Social life is essentially practical. All mysteries. . . find their rational solution in human practice and in the comprehension of this practice.” –Theses on Feuerbach “History is nothing but the succession of the separate generations, each of which exploits the materials, the capital funds, the productive forces handed down to it by all preceding generations.” –The German Ideology

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Species Being

What is special about humans?

Humans work What distinguishes human societies is the organization of human production Humans’ species being is a complete link between self and worldly activity

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Alienation

Artificial separation of things that are naturally united

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Primitive Communism

“Primitives” are not alienated from their labor

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Economic Development Drives Social Change

...and the news isn’t (all) good!

1 Intellectual success breeds economic growth 2 Economic growth enables technological change 3 Technological change brings social change 4 More on this next week Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 11 / 21

Alienation of Labor

A person and her work are naturally merged Economic necessity drives society to divorce them Man is therefore alienated from his own labor because it confronts him as external

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The Commodity Fetish

Remember: a fetish is desire misplaced onto an incorrect object Why do people work?

1

to make the stuff they need;

2

because it’s their species being

Under capitalism, people don’t understand their own desires; they want things because of the price they command

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The Origin and Role of Ideas

The world of material production is the origin of ideas.

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The Origin and Role of Ideas

“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.” (The German Ideology)

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The Origin and Role of Ideas

Paradox Why do criticism, then, if it’s material reality and not ideas that move the world? Answer Dialectics! The material and the ideal are dialectically related. Ideas (Superstructure)

• Material (Base)

Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers from the chain. . . so that [man] shall cast off the chain and pluck the living flower. Material force can only be overthrown by material force; but theory itself becomes a material force when it has seized the masses.

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Conflict and Consent

History, therefore, is driven by conflicts Conflict is functional and fundamental Consent: a kind of false consciousness produced by the ruling class in an attempt to suppress conflict

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The Overall Theory of History

Primitive society: nomads ⇒ animal husbandry and agriculture Agriculture ⇒ feudal class structure (landowners vs. peasants) Efficient planting ⇒ trading ⇒ trading class (bourgeoisie) Importance of trading grows ⇒ bourgeois revolution (French, American, etc.) Processing and manufacture ⇒ capitalist class structure (capitalists

• vs. workers)

Dependence on workers ⇒ proletarian revolution ⇒ socialism . . . = ⇒ Communism

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Conventional (Durkheim) View of Progress

Progress Time

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Dialectics

Progress

Synthesis Thesis Antithesis Synthesis Thesis Antithesis Synthesis Thesis Antithesis Synthesis Thesis Antithesis

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Dialectics and History

Progress Time

Durkheim Marx Weber

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