ENG 111 unit 4 - Lecture notes 4 PDF

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Unit 4: MARXISM ANDIDEOLOGYIntroduction:Ideology is a key concept in the fields of cultural analysis, media studies and literary analysis.The idea of ideology explains why people hold beliefs that seem antithetical to their materialposition- why do we believe we should continue withthe current syste...

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Unit 4: MARXISM AND IDEOLOGY Introduction: Ideology is a key concept in the fields of cultural analysis, media studies and literary analysis. The idea of ideology explains why people hold beliefs that seem antithetical to their material position- why do we believe we should continue with

the current system when it is obvious we are not benefitting from the present state of affairs?- how ‘culture’ is structured in such a way enables the group holding power to have the maximum control with the minimum of conflict. In this unit, you will be exploring ideology from a Marxist perspective. Let us begin!

Learning Outcomes: 1. Exhibited understanding and demonstrated competence in the analysis of texts using Marxism theory

Activate Prior Knowledge Let’s check how much do you know. Write your answer before the number. _________1. Which one of the following is a reason why Marx cannot be rejected because of his ideological orientation? a.

Marxism is the only sociological theory that is ideologically biased

b. Marx tried to hide his ideological orientations |Uni t 4

\West Visayas State University 2020 c. Marx argued that a violent overthrow of capitalism is the only way to end exploitation d. Marx was essentially a humanist not a blood thirsty revolutionary ________2. For Marx, human potential is actualized a. when democracy is institutionalized b. in the objectification of products c. during the capitalist stage d. during the primitive stage _______ 3. According to Marx’s what needs to happen to transform a society’s culture? a. the economic foundation would have to be changed b. new technologies would need to be introduced c. the mass media would need to be changed d. the economic foundation would remain the same _______ 4. The bourgeoisie can transform its false consciousness into true class consciousness. a. true b. false _______ 5. It Is the amount of socially necessary labor-time needed to produce an article under the normal conditions of production and with the average degree of skill and intensity of the time. a. surplus value

b. labor theory value

c. exchange value

d. use value

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Did you match right? Check out the answer below. 1. D

4. B

2. B

5. B

3. A Are you done? Now read through the lessons for this unit in the next few pages.

Acquire New Knowledge Who is Karl Marx? Karl Heinrich Marx was one of nine children born to Heinrich and Henrietta Marx in Trier, Prussia, on May 5, 1818.. His father was a successful lawyer who revered Kant and Voltaire, and was a passionate activist for Prussian reform. Although both parents were Jewish with rabbinical ancestry, Karl’s father converted to Christianity in 1816 at the age of 35. Karl Marx began exploring sociopolitical theories at university among the Young Hegelians. He became a journalist, and his socialist writings would get him expelled from Germany and France. In 1848, he published The Communist Manifesto with Friedrich Engels and was exiled to London, where he wrote the first volume of Das Kapital and lived the remainder of his life. Marx died of pleurisy in London on March 14, 1883. While his original grave had only a nondescript stone, the Communist Party of Great Britain erected a large tombstone, including a bust of Marx, in 1954. The stone is etched with the last line of The Communist Manifesto (“Workers of all lands unite”), as well as a quote from the Theses on Feuerbach.

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\West Visayas State University 2020 IMPORTANT KEY CONCEPTS AND IDEOLOGIES

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CAPITALISM: Marx believed that Capitalism is not only an economic system but it is also a political system.

CLASS STRUGGLES: Marx believed that conflict produces class and inherently class produces conflict. |Uni t 4

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EXPLOITATION: Marx believed that Capitalism can only thrive exploitation of the working class

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ALIENATION: The workers are forced to sell their labor to the Capitalist to survive

MARX ON CAPITALISM Marx wrote “Capital” to layout the inner workings of the economic system called Capitalism. He saw Capitalism as an economic system by the need to maximize profit Two fundamental classes dominate society: A. A capitalist class that privately owns society’s means of production. B. A working class that owns no means Capitalists make profit by exploiting wage labor. Capitalism’s primary characteristic is its profitdriven need to commodify wage labor. This |Uni t 4

\West Visayas State University 2020 can only happen if the producers (workers) can be separated from their means of production (tools, land, etc.). Historically, this was done by coercion and force. Once separated from their tools, workers have nothing to sell but their labor power, which they must sell to capitalists who now own the means of production. (Agri-business & farm workers in the countryside. Factory owners and industrial workers in the city)

CAPITALISM AND COMMODITY Marx begins his analysis of capitalism by examining the commodity. The goods and service produced for sale under capitalism are commodities. They are “useful” things or activities designed to be sold in a market. Thus, commodities have a dual nature. They have a “use value” & an exchange value”. Any service, resource or product transformed through labor to make it useful has a “use value”. Anything with use value that is exchanges for something else has an “exchange value” as well. As the capitalist market expands, the profit motive turns more and more useful activities and goods into commodities with exchange value.

CONTRIBUTION OF MARXISM IN THE MODERN WORLD SYSTEM • • • • •

Elaboration of the conflict model of society, specifically his theory of social change based on antagonisms between classes. The idea that power originates primarily in economic production. Concern in with the social origins of alienation. Understanding of modern capitalism Welfare state-the government is responsible for the individual and social welfare of its citizens.

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Apply your Knowledge

This Chanel 2011 advertisement has been constructed to allow the audience to believe that from buying Chanel products will be introduced into a lavish or glamourous lifestyle. Give 5 reasons that may encourage consumers to buy their product. Briefly explain your answer. You may write your answers on your journal.

1. _______________________________________________________ 2. _______________________________________________________ 3. _______________________________________________________ 4. _______________________________________________________ 5. _______________________________________________________

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Assess your Knowledge This advertisement has become controversial and was scrutinized by a lot of consumers. Study this visual text and analyze every detail using the Marxist approach. Write your analysis in your journal.

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What I Learned from this Unit

Marxism is both a social and political theory, which encompasses Marxist class conflict theory and Marxian economics. Marxism was first publicly formulated in the 1848 pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto , by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, which lays out the theory of class struggle and revolution. Marxian economics focuses on the criticisms of capitalism brought forth by Karl Marx in his 1859 book, Das Kapital.1 Marx’s class theory portrays capitalism as one step in the historical progression of economic systems that follow one another in a natural sequence driven by vast impersonal forces of history that play out through the behavior and conflict between social classes. Marx believed that the society was made up of two classes, the bourgeoisie, or business owners who control the means of production, and the proletariat, or workers whose labor transforms raw commodities into valuable economic goods. Marx believed that capitalism is based on commodities, which are things bought and sold. In Marx's view, an employee's labor is a form of commodity. Workers are also readily replaceable in periods of high unemployment, further devaluing their perceived worth. To maximize profits, business owners have an incentive to get the most work out of their laborers while paying them the lowest wages possible. They also own the end product that is the result of the worker's labor, and ultimately profit from its surplus value, which is the difference between what it costs to produce the item and the price for which it is eventually sold. The media and academics, or intelligentsia, produce propaganda to suppress awareness of class relations among the proletariat and rationalize the capitalist system. Marx felt that capitalism creates an unfair imbalance between capitalists and the laborers whose work they exploit for their own gain. In turn, this exploitation leads the workers to view their employment as nothing more than a means of survival.

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References: https://www.slideshare.net/marcusleaning/emt-l3ideologyandmarxism https://www.radford.edu/~junnever/theory/marx.quests.htm https://www.slideshare.net/usmanaslam114/presentation-karl-marx https://hellowildan.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/feminist-and-marxist-perspective-onadvertisements/ https://www.slideshare.net/JaytiThakar94/paper-no-8-marxism https://www.slideshare.net/CraigCollins2/marx-on-capitalism-an-ecomaterialistcritique

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