1. Capitalism/ist Bourgeoisie Proletariat Ideological Repressive Religion
Marxism recap: using the information from the YouTube video and your own knowledge write a paragraph summing up Marxist ideas. Try and use all the words below.
Capitalism/ist Bourgeoisie
Proletariat Ideological
Repressive Religion
Police Class consciousness
Revolution Ruling class
Karl Marx Communism
Conflict Structural Macro

2. Marxism Learning Objectives
Know and understand the basics of Marxism and neo-marxism.
Apply different sociological thinking to Marxism.
Analyse and evaluate different ideas surrounding Marxism.
Some – analyse the strengths and weaknesses of Marxist theory.
All – recall key concepts about Marxism;
Most – understand the basic concepts behind Marxism and neo-Marxism;

3. Classic Marxism key terms
Communism – an equal society without social classes or class conflict. Means of production are the common property of all.
Bourgeoisie (or capitalists) – class of owners of the means of production in industrial societies whose primary purpose is to make profit.
Proletarian – the social class workers who have to work for wages as they do not own the means of production.
Labour power – people’ capacity to work in a capitalist society, people sell their labour power to employers in return for a wage. Employers buy only their labour power but not the whole person.

4. Marxism is a conflict, macro theory. (Conflict theories mean?)
Marxists believe that the economy shapes society and that capitalist society is unequal.
Marxists see society as being based around class differences; there are two social classes: the ruling class (the bourgeoisie) and the working class (proletariat).
According to Marxists, the ruling class control, could decide where factories were located, when they were open/closed and could control the workforce through hiring & firing.
Democratic governments could not ignore the power of the bourgeoisie, otherwise they may face rising unemployment or other problems. Marx believed that through institutions like the law, the police, the justice system they weren’t concerned with protecting everyone, but with protecting the interests of the ruling class.
Marxism recap
Macro – looks at large scale social processes

5. Marxism recap
Marx argues that labour is the sole source of wealth
As society began to produce more than was necessary it became possible for some people in society not to work, and to be supported by the labour of others.
Marx saw privately owned production as the means to society, with people being dependant on the owners for employment.
This divided society into 2 classes and he argued that as ways of production development became more sophisticated (i.e. better technology) society would evolve due to revolutionary changes due to conflict between owners and non-owners.
He said this would eventually lead to communism.
Use the information on the following slides to add detail to the paragraph you wrote at the start of the lesson.
Hegemony – leadership or dominance over another group or state

6. Marxism recap
Marx argued that the non-owners produce more than is needed for employers to pay them their wages – this surplus value provided profit for the owners. This leads to exploitation of the workers as they do not get the full value of their work.
This exploitation, Marx said, created conflict between the 2 classes. The workers want higher wages (why?), but these would be at the expense of the owners profits. The owners want higher profits (why?), but could only achieve this through keeping wages low.
Use the information on the following slides to add detail to the paragraph you wrote at the start of the lesson.
Hegemony – leadership or dominance over another group or state

7. Marxism recap
Marxists argue that the ruling class create a particular ideology which is imposed onto the working class, known as hegemony, which makes them accept the capitalists system and prevents the system being challenged.
Marxists argue that the working class are not aware of the true extent of their exploitation (false class consciousness) but as things become progressively worse, they will come together and overthrow the system. They will develop class consciousness, join together and act against the bourgeoisie (through strikes, demonstrations and other forms of protest) which would cause a revolution and society be replaced with socialism and communism,.
Use the information on the following slides to add detail to the paragraph you wrote at the start of the lesson.
Hegemony – leadership or dominance over another group or state

8. Key Marxist thinkers/ sociologists:
Karl Marx wrote during the height of the industrial revolution and was deeply pessimistic about the values of capitalism which he saw as greed, competition and the pursuit of profit by the bourgeoisie at the expense of the proletariat. His ideas were very powerful politically.

9. Key Marxist thinkers/ sociologists:
Friedrich Engels explained how the family upholds capitalism through male inheritance practices, keeping wealth among the wealthy and by treating women as private property to be owned.

10. Key Marxist thinkers/ sociologists:
Louis Althusser focused on the way various institutions such as the family and education function as ideological state apparatus, encouraging the working class to accept the system and become docile workers rather than challenge their own exploitation.

11. Key Marxist thinkers/ sociologists:
Antonio Gramsci focused on hegemony, the idea that the ruling class develop ideologies which are imposed upon the working class. These powerful ideas prevent revolution and ensure that capitalism is maintained.

12. Analysis/ Evaluation
There are strengths and weaknesses of Marxism – complete the missing words sheet to understand what they are.

13. Strengths of Marxism:
Sum up the strengths of Marxism in your own words.
The first critical theory which explains the huge and persistent inequalities in society.
Marxist ideas illustrate the power of the economy in shaping relationships and ideas as well as offering a solution or alternative to society.
Marx’s ideas were so influential that a third of the planet was ruled under his ideas in 1900.
Many Marxist ideas are relevant today as we see capitalism spread around the world; it may even be possible to see how developing countries have become the new proletariat.

14. Weaknesses of Marxism:
Marxist ideas focus on social class, which many argue is becoming less relevant than other parts of a person’s identity, such as ethnicity and gender.
The communist revolution didn’t happen universally and where it did occur, it wasn’t seen as being particularly successful.
Many argue that society has become fairer, e.g. through the expansion of the welfare state offering free healthcare to all.
Marxist ideas fail to consider the fact that social mobility can and does occur, the working class can increase their life chances.
Now sum up the weaknesses of Marxism.

15. Neo Marxism
Neo Marxism accepts that some of Marx’s ideas are out of date or problematic.
Neo Marxists show that ideas created by the ruling class are applied to the working class through religion, the media, law, education and the family in ways that make them difficult to challenge.
In certain circumstances, neo Marxists show how it may be possible for the working class to create changes in the economy through ideas. For example, oppressed people in Latin America used religion (ideas) as a force for change and greater equality, a process known as liberation theology.

16. Key neo Marxist thinkers: Gramsci
Task – convert each paragraph into a bullet point of no more than 20 words as a summary.
Gramsci emphasised the importance of the power of ideas in shaping society, rather than just the economy alone. Gramsci argued that, in fact, ideas have ‘relative autonomy’ (superstructure of society has some independence from the economy, rather than being directly determined by it) from the economic base.
Gramsci argued that the state maintains its power through hegemony (the dominance in society of the ruling class’s set of ideas over others, and acceptance and consent of them by the rest of society). He said that people’s ideas played a larger part in influencing behaviours, rather than just the economy (as Marx said). He said that people ‘s ideas, choice and actions were important when bringing about change and not just economic conditions such as homelessness, poverty and unemployment.
Gramsci said that the control of people’s minds was due to the dominant ideology, rather than simple control by the police, prisons and other agencies of the state, as one of the main reasons why the working class had not rebelled against the ruling class, as they had failed to develop their own alternative vision of how society might be.
The concept of hegemony, meant that Gramsci’s theory was leaning more towards a social action approach to society, with a greater emphasis on people’s ideas, meanings and actions to bring about revolutionary change.

17. Key neo Marxist thinkers: Althusser
Althusser argues that society consists of three levels:
The economic level (economy & production of materials)
The political level (government & organisations involved in political organisation and control of the society, including the RSA)
The ideological level ( concerned with beliefs, ideas and values Consists of the ideological state apparatus – as series of institutions which spread the dominant ideology and justify the power of the dominant class – media, education, religion)
Althusser argues that these three levels preserve and justify the capitalist system in various ways. Each level has relative autonomy and some independence from the economic base
Althusser, argues that ideas are important in changing society (like Gramsci); however, the economy remains very important in shaping society (like classic Marx). He does not share the view that people have more free will and choice than Marx suggested (like Gramsci does).
Key neo Marxist thinkers: Althusser
Task – draw Althusser’s idea into a diagram representing what he believed – annotate the different parts of the diagram with notes.

18. Strengths of neo Marxism
Updates Marxist ideas and makes these more applicable to contemporary society.
Acknowledges the power of ideas in shaping the economy, thus avoiding the criticism that they are economic determinists, i.e. they see society as being shaped by the economy alone.
The concept of hegemony recognises the importance of ideas and actions.
The idea of relative autonomy suggests that institutions in the superstructure can impact on the economy.

19. Weaknesses of neo Marxism
Summarise the strengths and weaknesses of neo-Marxism.
Some would argue that Marx did recognise the importance of ideas and meaning, with his discussion of class consciousness.
They underplay the importance of the economy in shaping social reality.
Gramsci has been criticised for over-emphasising the role of ideas and for under-emphasising the role of material factors like economic crisis and collapse, fear of poverty and unemployment as factors to why the working class do not rebel..

20. Discussion questions
Do you think an analysis of Britain today fits more closely the consensus perspective of functionalism or the conflict perspective of Marx? Why? Can you give relevant examples from society today?
What evidence might you use from contemporary Britain to suggest that Marx’s ideas are (a) still relevant today, (b) out-of-date?

21. Exam practice:
Item C
Marxists see society as based on conflict between social classes. Those who own the means of production and are able to exploit those who do not and are also able to impose their views on society.
However, different Marxists have different views about the nature of a capitalist society and about how social change occurs.
The item and question comes from the Napier Press revision guide as opposed to the textbook.
Applying material from Item C and your own knowledge, evaluate the usefulness of Marxism to our understanding of society. (20 marks)

22. Marxism as a political ideology
Marxist theory is an important influence in sociology.
Marxism is a sociological perspective that tries to understand and explain how society works and changes. It has been a highly influential political ideology.
He regarded himself as providing the means for changing and improving the world through the establishment on communist societies.
By 1980s, around 1/3 of the world’s population lived under communist governments which claimed to be inspired by Marx’s ideas.
Many communist regimes collapsed in the 80s and 90s there are still 5 countries under communist rule.
Communist parties are also found in several coalition governments around the world.

23. Countries under communist regimes
Vietnam
China
North Korea
Laos
Cuba