Marxism Inequality Flashcards
(12 cards)
How does capitalism create inequality through economic cycles?
Marxists argue that capitalism’s booms and slumps create and reinforce inequality by relying on a reserve army of labour — a pool of workers used and discarded as needed.
What is the reserve army of labour and how does it maintain inequality?
The reserve army of labour includes the unemployed, underemployed, or marginalised workers. Capitalism expands this group during slumps, using their desperation to suppress wages, weaken unions, and discipline the working class.
How does this mechanism deepen inequality?
Workers in the reserve army are treated as disposable — easily hired during booms and pushed out in slumps. This ensures that labour remains cheap, creating long-term inequality while profits are protected.
How does the role of women in WWII illustrate this?
During WWII, women entered factories en masse to replace male workers. They were praised as essential, but once the war ended, they were pushed back into domestic roles. This shows how capitalism temporarily uses marginalised groups in times of need, then discards them, reinforcing both class and gender inequality.
What is the Neo-Marxist view on inequality and society?
Neo-Marxists argue that inequality is maintained not just through economic control but through cultural dominance, using hegemony to gain consent from the working class.
What does Gramsci mean by ‘hegemony’?
Hegemony is when the ruling class maintains power by controlling ideas and values. The working class accepts inequality as natural, because dominant ideology becomes ‘common sense’, reducing the need for direct oppression.
What are Althusser’s ISA and RSA?
Althusser argues capitalism uses two forms of control:
• RSA (Repressive State Apparatus): physical control (e.g. police, army)
• ISA (Ideological State Apparatus): control through ideas (e.g. education, media, religion)
ISAs are more effective, as they shape beliefs and reproduce inequality without force.
How does the Frankfurt School explain cultural control?
The Frankfurt School argued that mass media is used to manipulate and pacify the working class. Popular culture (TV, music, films) is standardised and shallow, distracting people from inequality and preventing critical thought or revolution.
What does Miliband argue about the role of the family in capitalist society?
Miliband (Marxist) argues that the family serves to reproduce and reinforce capitalist ideology, helping maintain class inequality across generations.
How does the family contribute to false consciousness?
Miliband claimed the family teaches obedience, discipline, and respect for authority, preparing children to accept hierarchy and their future role as compliant workers — which prevents them from challenging capitalism.
How does the family support ruling-class dominance?
The family socialises children into capitalist norms (e.g. individualism, competition, consumerism), helping to legitimise inequality. By promoting private life over collective struggle, it distracts from class conflict.
[Example]How does the family promote the myth of meritocracy, according to Miliband?
Miliband argued that the family teaches children to believe in meritocracy — the idea that success is based on effort and ability. This hides the reality that wealth and privilege are inherited, not earned.
By encouraging belief in hard work, ambition, and personal failure, the family helps justify inequality and blames the working class for their own poverty.
