Midterm 1 Flashcards
(51 cards)
1
Q
what is praxis?
A
mixing theory and action to inform revolution
2
Q
what does Adam smith think?
A
believes people are independent producers guided by the invisible hand
- wrote the wealth of Nations
- free markets will regulate themselves and maximize profit and personal gain
3
Q
what is the invisible hand?
A
unobservable market force that helps the supply and demand
- in free market economies self interested individuals operate in mutual interdependence to benefit society at large
4
Q
what is the mode of production?
A
the mode of production is the base in Marx model of society, it is composed of the relations and forces of production
- all observable phenomena are products of the mode of production
5
Q
what are the relations of production?
A
the social groups involved around production
- ex. employers and employees
6
Q
what are the forces of production?
A
the things we use to produce things
- ex. machines and tools
7
Q
what is the peasant and lord relation?
A
peasant and the land were the main sources of production in feudalism
- urban merchants began to rise in power and challenged aristocracy
- relations of production were “obligations” between land owning lords and the farmers
- ex. you farmer and live on my land and I will feed and protect your family
8
Q
who are the bourgeoisie and proletariat?
A
the capitalists and labourers
- bourgeoisie own the forces of production and are the dominate group in society
- they try to preserve the forces of production to secure domination
- proletariat are the workers
9
Q
what are the bourgeoisie strategies for overproduction?
A
- purposefully stop production
- increase exploitation
- both strategies fetter production
10
Q
what is use value?
A
value in terms of utility
- what can it do? what can it be used for?
- ex. pen writes
11
Q
what is exchange value?
A
value in terms of potential exchange
- what will I get in return for it?
- in capitalism everything is made for exchange value
- money is the form exchange value takes in capitalism
- the heart of alienation
12
Q
what is the labour theory of value?
A
the amount of socially necessary labour put into an object equals its exchange value
- ex. 1 fish for 10 eggs, same amount of time
- as exchange rates become fixed over time we begin to forget we are really just exchanging labour and start thinking objects have intrinsic value
13
Q
explain feudalism.
A
- the agricultural revolution started it
- urban peasants would farm the land for the lords of the land
- land and farmers were the main forces of production
- ideology was based around the great chain of being
- beginning of money economies and small scale production with skilled workers
14
Q
explain capitalism.
A
- new classes start emerging
- ideology now claims we earn our social positions
- refine forces of production rapidly
- connect classes of thought to material production
15
Q
contradictions of capitalism?
A
trying to reduce production costs while producing more products
- increase profit by
- lowering production costs
- expanding the market
- lowering costs makes it more difficult to expand the market, yet are forced to lower due to competition and then fail to expand the market
16
Q
2 ways capitalism ends alienation?
A
- brings workers together
- the end of the other worldly
17
Q
what is the great chain of being?
A
fixed positions in society; where you are in society is where god wanted you to be
- naturally inferior or superior
- can’t climb ladder in society; there is no ladder to climb
18
Q
what is surplus value?
A
the value produced by labour which is not paid for by the capitalists
- profit is surplus value
- exploitation is occurring because workers produce more than they are paid for producing
19
Q
what is absolute surplus value?
A
total gain in surplus value
- ex. lengthening work day; use to work 5 hr now its 6 hr
20
Q
what is relative surplus value?
A
produce more surplus value relative to the same amount of time
- ex. increasing productivity
- machines are the best way to do this; replace variable capital, ie. living labour, with constant capital, ie. machines.
21
Q
what is labour power?
A
turning living labour into a commodity. ie. selling ones capacity to work
- restrictions because you cant work someone to death
- less exchange value
22
Q
what is labour?
A
work
23
Q
what is nature?
A
the material world
- basis for the production of life
- more important than ideas
- nature dies in the quest for profit
24
Q
what is other nature?
A
using thoughts and ideas for production
25
how do nature and other nature relate?
they both allow us to produce, just different things
| - ex. material world produces wood, our ideas of what to do with the wood produces different uses
26
what is exploitation?
having your weaknesses targeted for the benefit of others
- such as working more than you receive because you have no other choice
- exchange value and surplus value are exploitations
27
what is constant capital?
dead or accumulated labour
- end result of someones previous labour
- ex. machines, tools
- doesn't produce surplus value unless variable capital is put in
- dead labour controls the living labour; the things we produced control us now
28
what is variable capital?
living labour
| - this is displaced as constant capital is increasingly productive
29
what is alienation/estrangement
relationship of commodities displaces human relationships
- must understand society is something we produce everyday; socially constructed
- things we created end up controlling us; produced as a group, controlled as a group
30
what are 3 important forms of alienation?
- religion; forces of production were so weak people created religion to explain the things they cant understand. forms alienation by people looking up to god, the thing that was socially produced now controls us. this happens when people forget that religion is a social construct
- commodity fetishism; not recognizing the connection between human labour that gives things their exchange value
- private property; produce the object that ends up controlling us. we end up serving the end result of past labour
31
what is materially concrete contradiction?
capitalist production is killing the 2 foundations of society; nature and labourers
- this isn't sustainable
- this is a real materially grounded fact not theoretical
32
what is Marx model of society?
base: very foundation of society (mode of production) composed of the forces of production and the relations of production
- change in the base results in change everywhere else
superstructure: major institutions in society, ex. family, law
- influenced by the base; in feudalism a large family was a productive unit, thus was common and helpful. today families are a consumptive unit, thus are not economically beneficial
ideology: perception of the world
- traced to the base; feudalism weak forces of production resulted in the great chain of being where god determines social positions. today there is democracy where everyone is supposed to be equal and free willed as we now have the ideology we earn our social positions; effort rather than gods will
33
what is religion to Marx?
social contract that produces certain ideas and understandings that alienate us by forgetting that religion is a social construct
- inability to control nature leads to the production of religion
34
what are empty abstractions?
exists through thought
| - lacks material content
35
what are concrete abstractions?
grounded in real material practice
| - scientifically valid construction
36
what is material critique?
helps distinguish between empty and concrete abstractions
37
what is historical materialism?
the historical evolution of production
| - our thoughts are limited to the society we live in; our consciousness is a product of society
38
what is social formation?
the general form of society
| - ex. feudalism, capitalism
39
what is political economy?
roughly todays economy with more ties to the culture surrounding the economy
- looks at society in a wider context
40
what is Hegel about?
he is an idealist who believes the social world is the result of ideas; ideas produce society
- argues history is about conflicting ideas ending in absolute knowledge; dialectics
- absolute knowledge allows us to finally understand the world, leads to freedom; nothing that cant be explained
- ideas and knowledge are key to freedom
41
what is idealism?
ideas are the most important things about reality
- ideas are central to history and reality
- social world is the result of ideas
42
what is materialism?
physical world is the most important thing about reality
- thoughts and ideas are rooted in the material world; as we interact with the material world we produce our consciousness
43
what are dialectics?
people holding different views and try and synthesize them to find the truth
44
what is commodity fetishism?
misrecognition of what gives an object its exchange value
- humans give objects value by thinking they have intrinsic value; really it is the labour that was put into the production of the object that has value
45
what is primitive communism?
- hunting and gathering societies
good characteristics:
- people are not alienated
- produce together
- relations of production; one class group producing as a group for the group
- forces of production; land, simple tools that are common property; there was no private property
bad characteristics:
- beginning of alienation
- inability to control nature leads to production of religion
46
what is the end of history?
```
capitalism
- it is the end of class struggle; conflict and domination
```
47
what is the contradictions of overproduction?
- empty abstraction: large demand for products; yet stop production until it can be sold
- concrete abstraction: peoples needs are not really being met; recession is created by the capitalists quest for profit not by lack of demand
48
what is commodity production?
wealth is created through the production of commodities
49
what is the structure/agency debate in Marx view?
- people are limited by structure but are not completely determined
- agency allows us to use our creativity within limits we are given by structure
- it takes agency to recognize to do things differently
- ex. given a rubber band, nails and piece of wood, use agency to make different things with it, could make guitar or slingshot etc.
50
what is species being?
being aware and self conscious
51
what is the connection between consciousnesses and the way we produce?
only become aware of certain problems once the potential to change the issue is existent
- have to have material means to produce social change before you think of it
