Marxism

Question 1

What type of theory is Marxism?

Answer 1

Conflict theory- Conflict between the ruling class (bourgeoisie) and the working class (proletariat)

Question 2

What type of sociologist is Marx?

Answer 2

Positivst

Question 3

What are forces of production?

Answer 3

Tools, machinery etc. used to assist production

Question 4

Who owns the mode of production?

Answer 4

Ruling class= capitalist mode of production

Question 5

What is the base-superstructure model?

Answer 5

1. Economic base= forces of production
   -shapes and maintains the superstructure
2. Superstructure= institutions that legitimise the base e.g. education, the family, politics

Question 6

What is false-class consciousness?

Answer 6

The proletariat do not recognise that they are being exploited

Question 7

How is it maintained?

Answer 7

Institutions in society spread the ruling classes dominant ideologies, which legitimise the existing social order as desirable

Question 8

What is alienation?

Answer 8

The loss of control over our labour and its products, resulting in separation from our true nature

Question 9

What are workers separated from?

Answer 9

The forces of production

Question 10

What does Marx believe will eventually happen?

Answer 10

1. By polarising the classes, the working-class will be brought together in large numbers
2. The working-class will develop a consciousness of its own economic and political interests
3. The Proletariat will overthrow the Bourgeois class

Question 11

What will the revolution create?

Answer 11

A classless, communist society

Question 12

What is Marx’s base-superstructure model criticised for?

Answer 12

Economic determinism- the view that economic factors are the sole cause of change
-Humans have free will to bring about change and make conscious actions

Question 13

What are other criticisms of Marx?

Answer 13

1. Feminists: Argue that gender is a more important inequality than class
2. Marx’s predictions of revolution have not come true

Question 14

What type of Marxist is Gramsci?

Answer 14

Humanistic Marxist

Question 15

What do Humanistic Marxists believe in?

Answer 15

Voluntarism- humans have free will

Question 16

What does Gramsci reject?

Answer 16

The base-superstructure model- argues that idea’s play a central role in determining whether change will occur

Question 17

According to Gramsci, how does the ruling class control the working-class?

Answer 17

1. Coercion e.g. the use of the police, army and prisons
2. Hegemony= using ideas and values to transmit the ideology of the ruling class

Question 18

Why is the hegemony of the ruling-class never complete?

Answer 18

The proletariat have a dual-consciousness- they ‘see through’ the dominant ideology

Question 19

What do the proletariat need to construct in order to have a revolution?

Answer 19

Counter-hegemonic bloc, led by ‘organic intellectuals’ i.e. class-conscious workers

Question 20

Why is Gramsci criticised?

Answer 20

Over emphasises the role of free-will and choice
-Workers may see through the ruling-class ideology but fail to challenge it due to the fear created by state repression

Question 21

What type of Marxist is Althusser?

Answer 21

Structural Marxist

Question 22

What do structural Marxists believe in?

Answer 22

Determinism- individuals are passive puppets shaped by structural factors

Question 23

What does Althusser reject?

Answer 23

The idea of free-will= illusion

Question 24

What does he replace the base-super-structure model with?

Answer 24

Craib: Structural determinism

Question 25

What are the three structures?

Answer 25

1. Economic level- ability to produce something
2. Political level- forms of organisation
3. Ideological level- way people see themselves

Question 26

What does Althusser’s model have?

Answer 26

Relative autonomy- the political and ideological level have independence from the economic level

Question 27

What does Althusser divide the state into?

Answer 27

1. Repressive State apparatus- ‘armed bodies of men’ e.g. police, army
2. Ideological State apparatus- institutions like the family, education that manipulate the working-class into a false-class consciousnesses

Question 28

According to Althusser, how will socialism come about?

Answer 28

Because of a crisis of capitalism as a result of over-determination i.e. contradictions in the 3 levels of structural determinism= collapse of the system

Question 29

What does Craib argue?

Answer 29

Althusser offers the ‘most sophisticated conception of social structure in the social sciences’

Question 30

Why is Althusser criticised?

Answer 30

Scientific approach discourages political activism because the stress of the structural factors suggests that individuals can do little to create change