Disciplines and Ideas
in the Social Sciences
Module 6:
Marxism and Symbolic
Interactionism and its
Importance in
Examining Socio Cultural,
Economic, and Political
Conditions
What I Know
Direction: Match the following terms in column A to their respective definitions in column
B. Write only the letter of your answer in a separate sheet of paper.
A.
_____1.
Class Conflict
B.
a.
An approach in sociology that views society as
a complex system whose parts work together
to promote solidarity and stability.
_____2.
Economics
b. The French philosopher who noticed and
started to think that society was made up of
building
blocks that
were focused
towards a common goal.
_____3.
Emile Durkheim
c.
_____4.
Extinction
d.
The American sociologist and functionalist
who attempted to develop and perfect a general
analytic model suitable for analyzing all types
of collectivities.
It refers to a person’s standing with regards to
his/her access to resources, monetary
capability, income status, occupation, and
living situation.
_____5.
Infrastructure
e.
It refers to the conflict between different
classes in a community that is composed of
different social or economic positions and
opposing interests.
_____6.
Marxism
f.
Population, basic biological need, and
resources defined this level of culture model.
_____7.
Negative
g.
A social psychological theory developed from
the work of Charles Horton Cooley and George
Herbert Mead.
Reinforcement
_____8.
Politics
h.
A social, political, and economic philosophy
named after Karl Marx.
1
_____9.
Positive Reinforcement
i.
Rewards a behavior by removing an
unpleasant stimulus, rather than adding a
pleasant one.
____10.
Punishment
j.
Defined as something done after a given
deliberate action that lowers the chance of that
action taking place in the future.
____11.
Socio - cultural
k.
Related to the different groups of people in
society and their habits, traditions, and
beliefs.
____12.
Socioeconomic status
l.
The branch of knowledge concerned with the
production, consumption, and transfer of
wealth.
____13.
Structural
Functionalism
____14.
Symbolic
m. The activities associated with the governance of
a country or other area,
especially the debate or conflict among
individuals or parties having or hoping to
achieve power.
n.
Interactionism
____15.
Talcott Parson
Scribes the best-known examples of operant
conditioning: receiving a reward for acting in a
certain way.
o.
Defines extinction as the loss of conditioning
over time when the conditioning stimuli are no
longer present. Over time, an animal (or
person) will become less conditioned unless
the stimuli that conditioned them in the first
place is reapplied.
LESS
LESSON 1:Marxism and Symbolic
Interactionism Theories
Marxism is complicated by the fact that Marx is by no means the only influence on
this critical school. Indeed, given the various sorts of political movements that have been
inspired by this thinker (socialism, Trotskyism, communism, Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism,
radical democracy, etc.), one despairs at trying to provide a fair and lucid introduction.
Add to that the fact that Marx himself changed his mind on various issues or
sometimes expressed opinions that appear mutually exclusive, and one is faced with a rather
high hurdle. Nonetheless, there are a number of Marxist thoughts and thinkers that have
been especially influential on recent scholarly developments (particularly in literary, cultural,
and political studies).
2
In short, the goal of this section of the Guide to Theory, as with any of the sections,
is not to give an exhaustive account of this critical school but, rather, to give a sense for the
major concepts influencing this approach while attempting to stay conscious of the various
ways that individual terms have been contested over the last number of decades.
What’s In
Direction: Write down the importance of Structural - Functionalism in the given conditions
in the boxes below. Use a separate sheet of paper for your answer.
3
What’s New
Direction: On the box below, list down the important activities by the following
conditions that led and contributed to the rise of Marxism. Use a separate sheet of
paper for your answer.
4
What is It
Marxism Theory according to Quexbook, 2018
Marxism is a social, political, and economic philosophy named after Karl Marx, which
examines the effect of capitalism on labor, productivity, and economic development and
argues for a worker revolution to overturn capitalism in favor of communism.
Marxism posits that the struggle between social classes, specifically between the
bourgeoisie, or capitalists, and the proletariat, or workers, defines economic relations in a
capitalist economy and will inevitably lead to revolutionary communism.
Karl Marx is, along with Freud, one of a handful of thinkers from the last two centuries
who has had a truly transformative effect on society, on culture, and on our very
understanding of ourselves. Although there were a few critics claiming an end to Marxist
thought (and even an end to ideology) after the fall of the communist system in the former
Soviet Union, Marxist thought has continued to have an important influence on critical
thought, all the more so recently after the rise of globalization studies. As protests at recent
G7 and IMF meetings make clear, the school can also still have important political effects.
Louis Althusser represents an important break in Marxist thought, particularly when
it comes to the notion of ideology. His Lacan-inspired version of Marxism significantly
changed the way many Marxists approached both capitalism and hegemony after the Second
World War.
Fredric Jameson is surely the most influential contemporary Marxist thinker in the
United States. His own alterations of and dialogue with Althusserian and Lacanian thought
have established him as an important influence on the rise of globalization studies, an
important critical school of the last few years. In particular, he has attempted to make sense
of the continuing staying power of capitalism and the ways that capitalism has transformed
since Marx wrote his critiques in the nineteenth century, addressing such issues as multinational (or "late") capitalism, the power of the media, and the influence of postmodernity on
Marxist debate. The lattermost issue is explored in the Jameson modules under
Postmodernism.
A class is a group of people who share similar characteristics specifically with regard
to their socioeconomic status.
Socioeconomic status refers to a person’s standing with regard to his/her access to
resources, monetary capability, income status, occupation, and living situation.
Class conflict (class warfare or class struggle) refers to the conflict between different
classes in a community that is composed of different social or economic positions and
opposing interests.
The Six Elements in Marx’s View of Class Conflict according to Quexbook, 2018
1. Classes are authority relationships based on property ownership.
2. A class defines groupings of individuals with shared life situations and interests.
3. Classes are naturally antagonistic by virtue of their interests.
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4. Imminent within modern society is the growth of two antagonistic classes and their
struggle, which eventually absorbs all social relations.
5. Political organization and Power are an instrumentality of class struggle and reigning ideas
are its reflection.
6. Structural change is a consequence of the class struggle.
Variables that Determine Class from a Marxian Perspective according to Quexbook,
2018
1. Conflicts over the distribution of economic rewards between the classes
2. Easy communication between the individuals in the same class positions so that ideas
and action programs are readily disseminated.
3. Growth of class consciousness in the sense that members of the class have a feeling of
solidarity and understanding of their historic role.
4. Profound dissatisfaction of the lower class over its inability to control the economic
structure of which it feels itself to be exploited victim
5. Establishment of a political organization resulting from the economic structure, the
historical situation, and maturation of class consciousness.
Two Types of People According to Karl Marx according to Quexbook, 2018
Proletariat is consisting of the working or labor class.
Bourgeoisie is consisting of the management class; those who own the means of production
The Three Sources of Income
1. Owners of simple labor power or laborers whose main source of income is labor.
2. Owners of capital or capitalists whose main source of income is profit or surplus value.
3. Landowners whose main source of income is ground rent.
The Three Levels of Culture Model according to Quexbook, 2018
Infrastructure - population, basic biological need, and resources (labor, equipment,
technology, etc.).
Structure - pattern of organization (government, education, production regulation, etc.).
Superstructure - social institutions (law, religion, politics, art, science, superstition, values,
emotions, traditions, etc.).
Marx provides a two-stage argument for the labor theory of value. The first stage is to
argue that if two objects can be compared in the sense of being put on either side of an equals
sign, then there must be a ‘third thing of identical magnitude in both of them’ to which they
are both reducible. As commodities can be exchanged against each other, there must, Marx
argues, be a third thing that they have in common. This then motivates the second stage,
which is a search for the appropriate ‘third thing’, which is labor in Marx’s view, as the only
plausible common element. Both steps of the argument are, of course, highly contestable.
Capitalism is distinctive, Marx argues, in that it involves not merely the exchange of
commodities, but the advancement of capital, in the form of money, with the purpose of
generating profit through the purchase of commodities and their transformation into other
commodities which can command a higher price, and thus yield a profit.
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Marx claims that no previous theorist has been able adequately to explain how
capitalism as a whole can make a profit. Marx’s own solution relies on the idea of exploitation
of the worker. In setting up conditions of production the capitalist purchases the worker’s
labor power — his ability to labor — for the day.
The cost of this commodity is determined in the same way as the cost of every other,
i.e. in terms of the amount of socially necessary labor power required to produce it. In this
case the value of a day’s labor power is the value of the commodities necessary to keep the
worker alive for a day.
Suppose that such commodities take four hours to produce. Thus, the first four
hours of the working day is spent on producing value equivalent to the value of the wages
the worker will be paid. This is known as necessary labor. Any work the worker does above
this is known as surplus labor, producing surplus value for the capitalist. Surplus value,
according to Marx, is the source of all profit.
In Marx’s analysis labor power is the only commodity which can produce more value
than it is worth, and for this reason it is known as variable capital. Other commodities simply
pass their value on to the finished commodities, but do not create any extra value. They are
known as constant capital.
Profit, then, is the result of the labor performed by the worker beyond that necessary
to create the value of his or her wages. This is the surplus value theory of profit.
However, even if the labor theory of value is considered discredited, there are elements
of his theory that remain of worth. The Cambridge economist Joan Robinson, in An Essay on
Marxian Economics, picked out two aspects of particular note.
First, Marx’s refusal to accept that capitalism involves a harmony of interests between
workers and capitalists, replacing this with a class based analysis of the worker’s struggle
for better wages and conditions of work, versus the capitalist’s drive for ever greater profits.
Second, Marx’s denial that there is any long-run tendency to equilibrium in the
market, and his descriptions of mechanisms which underlie the trade-cycle of boom and
bust. Both provide a salutary corrective to aspects of orthodox economic theory.
Symbolic Interactionism
From https://examples.yourdictionary.com/symbolic-interactionism-examples-ineverydaylife.html
Symbolic Interactionism is a social psychological theory developed from the work of
Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead in the early part of the twentieth century
(the actual name of the theory comes from Herbert Blumer, one of Mead’s students).
According to this theory, people inhabit a world that is in large part socially constructed.
Examples of Symbolic Interactionism in Everyday Life
The way you perceive the world is unique. Based on your interactions with words,
ideas, and events, different objects, or words, can have different meanings to you. Explore
different examples of symbolic interactionism at play in society.
When looking at a complex theory, it’s always best to start simply. Some symbols are
easy to recognize and hold concrete meanings within societies. While some can be subjective,
a few symbols you recognize through your interactions with them are:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
An image of a stick figure with a dress means woman.
An image of a stick figure without a dress means man.
A drawing of a heart means love.
A bald eagle means freedom and America.
A stick figure sitting in a chair with a large wheel means handicapped.
Putting your thumb up means yes.
Putting your thumb down means no.
Skull and crossbones mean danger.
A balance symbolizes justice.
The lone t shape symbolizes a cross, spirituality, or religion.
Water holds the meaning of rebirth, vitality, or cleansing.
Examples in Society
Societies are full of symbolic interactionism. And your interactions are different based
on the society in which you live. Additionally, many symbolic interactionism examples seen
throughout society can be subjective, based on your experiences with that particular symbol.
Check out a few different society examples of symbolic interactionism.
Philippine Flag
A horizontal flag bicolor with equal bands of royal blue and crimson red, with a white,
equilateral triangle at the hoist. In the center of the triangle is a golden-yellow sun with eight
primary rays, each representing a province of the Philippines. At each vertex of the triangle
is a five-pointed, golden-yellow star, each of which representing one of the country's three
main island groups— Luzon, Visayas (though originally referring to Panay) and Mindanao.
The white triangle at the flag represents liberty, equality, and fraternity. A unique feature of
this flag is its usage to indicate a state of war if it is displayed with the red side on top, which
is effectively achieved by flipping the flag upside-down.
Gender
Gender can be understood through symbolic interactionism because gender is a
sociological construct. For example, for the symbols attached to “males” and “females”,
actions and looks are based on what is believed is true from your interactions rather than
what is objectively true. For example, women might be seen as weaker than men. A man
wearing a dress might be seen as feminine. These problematic attributes lead to inequality
and biases such as women getting paid less than men in the workforce.
Colorism
Race and ethnicity is another area where symbolic interactionism comes into play.
This can definitely be seen through the issue of colorism. In colorism, people of the same
racial identification are treated differently based on the lightness or darkness of their skin.
For example, a study by Lance Hannon on colorism demonstrated lighter-skinned Latinos
"looked" smarter according to Caucasians.
Relationship Roles
Symbolic interactionism plays a big role in family and relationships. Your
understanding of a word or event changes based on interactions with it. For example, if you
have a great relationship with your wife, the word wife will be positive. However, if your
relationship with your wife is rocky, the meaning behind the word and what a wife symbolizes
changes.
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Rainbow
Societies’ meanings behind symbols can change and morph with time. One example
of this is the meaning of a rainbow. The rainbow has been seen as a Christian symbol of hope
but another meaning of rainbow is now associated with the LGBTQ community.
Meaning behind Symbolic Interaction
The way you see the world colors your understanding of it. Look no further than
symbolic interactionism to see how this is true. Interested to explore more about behaviors,
check out operant conditioning examples.
Operant Conditioning Examples
Operant conditioning is a learning process whereby deliberate behaviors are
reinforced through consequences. It differs from classical conditioning, also called
respondent or Pavlovian conditioning, in which involuntary behaviors are triggered by
external stimuli.
With classical conditioning, a dog that has learned the sound of a bell precedes the
arrival of food may begin to salivate at the sound of a bell, even if no food arrives. By contrast,
a dog might learn that, by sitting and staying, it will earn a treat. If the dog then gets better
at sitting and staying in order to receive the treat, then this is an example of operant
conditioning.
Operant Conditioning and Timing
The core concept of operant conditioning is simple: when a certain deliberate behavior
is reinforced, that behavior will become more common. Psychology divides reinforcement into
four main categories:
•
•
•
•
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Punishment
Extinction
Timing and frequency are very important in reinforcement.
A continuous reinforcement schedule (commonly abbreviated CRF) provides
reinforcement for all noted behaviors. That is, every time the behavior occurs, reinforcement
is provided.
An intermittent reinforcement schedule (commonly abbreviated INT) reinforces
some target behaviors but never all of them. Think of it like a slot machine. You won't win on
every pull of the lever, but you do win sometimes, and that reinforces the behavior of pulling
the lever.
Examples of Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement describes the best-known examples of operant conditioning:
receiving a reward for acting in a certain way.
1. Many people train their pets with positive reinforcement. Praising a pet or providing a
treat when they obey instructions -- like being told to sit or heel -both helps the pet
understand what is desired and encourages it to obey future commands.
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2. When a child receives praise for performing a chore without complaint, like cleaning their
room, they are more likely to continue to perform that chore in the future.
3. When a worker is rewarded with a performance bonus for exceptional sales figures, she
is inclined to continue performing at a high level in hopes of receiving another bonus in
the future.
Examples of Negative Reinforcement
Negative reinforcement is a different but equally straightforward form of operant
conditioning. Negative reinforcement rewards a behavior by removing an unpleasant
stimulus, rather than adding a pleasant one.
1. An employer offering an employee a day off is an example of negative reinforcement.
Rather than giving a tangible reward, they reduce the presence of something undesirable;
that is, the amount of time spent at work.
2. In a sense, young children condition their parents through negative reinforcement.
Screaming, tantrums and other "acting out" behaviors are generally intended to draw a
parent's attention. When the parent behaves as the child wants, the unpleasant condition
- the screaming and crying - stops. That's negative reinforcement.
3. Negative reinforcement is common in the justice system. Prisons will sometimes ease
regulations on a well-behaved prisoner, and sentences are sometimes shortened for good
behavior. The latter in particular is classic negative reinforcement: the removal of
something undesirable (days in prison) in response to a given behavior.
Examples of Punishment
In psychology, punishment doesn't necessarily mean what it means in casual usage.
Psychology defines punishment as something done after a given deliberate action that lowers
the chance of that action taking place in the future. Whereas reinforcement is meant to
encourage a certain behavior, punishment is meant to discourage a certain behavior.
1. An employee who misses work may suffer a cut in wages. The loss of income (an undesired
consequence) constitutes the punishment for missing work (an undesired behavior).
2. A sharp "No!" addressed to a pet engaging in unacceptable behavior is a classic example
of punishment. The shout punishes the pet, conditioning it to avoid doing wrong behavior
in the future.
3. Punishments are commonly used in lab experiments. Most often, a lab animal is punished
for a given behavior with a mild electric shock.
Just as there are examples of positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, there
are also examples of positive punishment (like the ones above) and negative punishment.
With the latter, a positive situation is removed when an undesired behavior is performed. For
example, a parent may take a favorite toy away from a child who is misbehaving.
Examples of Extinction
Psychology defines extinction as the loss of conditioning over time when the
conditioning stimuli are no longer present. Over time, an animal (or person) will become
less conditioned unless the stimuli that conditioned them in the first place is reapplied.
1. An employee punished once for missing work, then never again, may become more likely
to miss work later on because they no longer expect to be punished for absence.
2. Animals often test the limits of their conditioning. For instance, a cat punished with a
spray bottle every time it climbs on a counter may come near the counter or jump on the
counter when it believes no one is around. If no punishment occurs, the cat is likely to
keep jumping on the counter because the conditioning against it is extinct.
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3. In school, if a student receives a gold star for an excellent test score but does not receive
more gold stars in subsequent tests, he may become increasingly unmotivated to perform
well in future tests. The operant conditioning of the positive behavior (doing well on a
test) is becoming extinct.
B.F. Skinner and Conditioning
Burrhus Frederic Skinner was a psychologist and researcher credited with
establishing the principles of operant conditioning. B.F. Skinner began with Thorndike's law
of effect, which states that behaviors that cause satisfactory results will be repeated. Skinner
considered satisfaction to be insufficiently specific to measure and set out to design a means
of measuring learned behaviors.
The operant conditioning chamber, popularly known as a Skinner box, was his
solution. He kept his test subjects, primarily pigeons and rats, in circumstances that allowed
him to closely observe their behavior. He would isolate the animal and every time the animal
performed a defined behavior, like pushing a lever, it'd be rewarded with food. When the
animal began to reliably push the lever, he'd know it had been conditioned.
Skinner's work took that first principle and applied it to human behavior, representing
the school of psychology called behaviorism. Behaviorism defined much of psychology for the
second half of the 20th century but is currently being combined with other psychological
perspectives.
Operant Conditioning and You
It can be uncomfortable to talk about human behavior in the clinical language of
psychology. That said, operant conditioning describes a simple phenomenon that happens in
every part of life. It's just one of the mechanisms by which people learn. It's vital to
understand how that mechanism works to make sure it works best for you.
Theoretical Model of Symbolic Interactionism
Other sociologists study government and power by relying on the framework of
symbolic interactionism, which is grounded in the works of Max Weber and George H. Mead.
Symbolic interactionism, as it pertains to government, focuses its attention on figures,
emblems, or individuals that represent power and authority. Many diverse entities in larger
society can be considered symbolic: trees, doves, wedding rings. Images that represent the
11
power and authority of the United States include the White House, the eagle, and the
American flag. The Seal of the President of the United States, along with the office in general,
incites respect and reverence in many Americans.
Symbolic interactionists are not interested in large structures such as the
government. As micro-sociologists, they are more interested in the face-to-face aspects of
politics. In reality, much of politics consists of face-to-face backroom meetings and lobbyist
efforts. What the public often sees is the front porch of politics that is sanitized by the media
through gatekeeping.
Symbolic interactionists are most interested in the interaction between these small
groups who make decisions, or in the case of some recent congressional committees,
demonstrate the inability to make any decisions at all. The heart of politics is the result of
interaction between individuals and small groups over periods of time. These meetings
produce new meanings and perspectives that individuals use to make sure there are future
interactions.
What’s More
A. Direction: Rearrange the letters in the boxes to reveal the components of Marxism
hidden in it. Write the words formed below the boxes and make a brief description of
each of it. Use a separate sheet of paper.
1. .____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
A
R
LK
R
M
AK
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
___________________
2.____________________________________________________________
O
U
S
I
L
LAHTUSS
RE
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
___________________
3.____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
12
RFEDIR
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
C
JMAEO
SN
____________________________________________________________
___________________
True or False
B. Directions: Write T if the statement is true and write F if it is not. Write your answer on a
separate paper.
_________1.
Marxism is a social, political, and economic philosophy named after Karl
Marx.
_________2.
Marxism posits the struggle between social classes, specifically between the
bourgeoisie or capitalists, and the proletariat, or workers.
_________3.
Marxist thought has continued to have an important influence on critical
thought, all the more so recently after the rise of globalization studies.
_________4.
Karl Marx is surely the most influential contemporary Marxist thinker in the
United States.
_________5.
Louis Althusser provided a two-stage argument for the labor theory of value.
_________6.
Marx claims that no previous theorist has been able adequately to explain
how capitalism as a whole can make a profit.
_________7.
Capitalism is distinctive. Jameson argues that it involves not merely the
exchange of commodities, but the advancement of capital in the form of
money.
_________8. Althusser’s own solution relies on the idea of exploitation of the worker.
_________9. The cost of the commodity is determined in the same way as the cost of every
other such as in terms of the amount of socially necessary labor power
required to produce it.
________10. Profit is the result of the labour performed by the worker beyond what is
necessary to create the value of his/her wages.
________11. Even if the labor theory of value is considered discredited, there is no element of
this theory that remain of worth.
________12. Jameson’s refused to accept that capitalism involves a harmony of interests
between worker and capitalist.
________13. Marx’s denied that there is any long-run tendency to equilibrium in the market,
and his descriptions of mechanisms which underlie the trade-cycle of boom
and bust.
________14. The Cambridge economist Joan Robinson, in An Essay on Marxian Economics,
picked out two aspects of particular note.
13
________15.
Other commodities simply pass their value on
to
finished commodities, but do not create any extra value.
the
C. Directions: Illustrate your hypothetical image of the Philippines after the COVID
- 19 pandemic and write a brief explanation of your artwork. Do it on a separate
bond paper.
Description:
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
D. Directions: Write PR if the statement refers to the Positive reinforcement, NR for Negative
reinforcement, PU for Punishment, and EX if it refers to Extinction. Write your answer on a
separate sheet of paper.
_______1. Telling another adult how proud you are of your child’s behavior while your child
is listening.
_______2. In school, if a student receives a gold star for an excellent test score, but does not
receive more gold stars in subsequent tests, he may become increasingly
unmotivated to perform well in future tests.
_______3. A teacher can eliminate that night’s homework if kids study hard and accomplish
a lot in class.
_______4. Implementing more rules and restrictions when a teen misses curfew.
_______5. If your children cleaned their room without being asked, you could take them to
the playground as a reward.
_______6. A teen answers his phone in the classroom, interrupting the teacher. The teacher
takes away his phone for the rest of the day.
_______7. You are encouraging your child to put away their school things when they come
home and you see that your child hangs up their coat but forgets to put their
lunchbox on the counter.
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_______8. Adding extra sensitivity training to employees who offend or harass someone at
work.
_______9. Imagine you sleep in the same room with someone who snores loudly. It keeps you
awake every night, and you’re exhausted. You buy a pair of earplugs and try
sleeping while wearing them.
______10. Animals often test the limits of their conditioning. For instance, a cat punished
with a spray bottle every time it climbs on a counter may come near the counter,
or jump on the counter when it believes no one is around. If no punishment
occurs, the cat is likely to keep jumping on the counter because the conditioning
against it is extinct.
______11. Teaching a dog to heel may involve keeping tension on the dog’s leash as you walk
together. The dog does not enjoy this tension and may even find it uncomfortable.
______12. An employee punished once for missing work, then never again, may become more
likely to miss work later on because they no longer expect to be punished for
absence.
______13. A drunk driver is pulled over by the police. After several sobriety tests, the police
officers arrest the man and impound his car for breaking the law against drinking
and driving.
______14. Offering a special activity, like playing a game or reading a book together.
______15. Imagine you drive through rush hour traffic to get to work. Your commute is very
stressful and takes you two hours every morning.
E.
Directions: Think of 10 objects and its significance to your everyday life. Write them
in boxes like in the example below. Do this in a separate sheet of paper.
15
F.
Direction: Identify what is being described in each sentence. Choose from the words
listed in the box below and write your answer on separate sheet of paper.
Bourgeoisie
Infrastructure
Socioeconomic Status
Class
Karl Marx
Structure
Class Conflict
Louis Althusser
Superstructure
Fredric Jameson
Proletariat
Unstructure
____________________1.
A level of
culture model that
patternof organization.
described
the
____________________2. It refers to a person’s standing with regards to his/her access to
resources, monetary capability, income status, occupation, and
living situation.
____________________3.
A group of
people who
share similar characteristics
specifically with regards to their socioeconomic status.
____________________4. It refers to the conflict between different classes in a community that
is composed of different social or economic positions and opposing
interests.
16
____________________5. It consists of the management class; those who own the means of
production.
____________________6. Population, basic biological need, and resources defined this level of
culture model.
____________________7. The examples of this model are law, religion, politics, art, science,
superstition, values, emotions, traditions, etc. ____________________8. It consists of the
working or labor class.
____________________9. His own alterations of and dialogue with Althusserian and Lacanian
thought have established him as an important influence on the rise
of globalization studies.
___________________10. His Lacan-inspired version of Marxism significantly changed the way
many Marxists approached both capitalism and hegemony after
the Second World War.
What I Have Learned
Direction: Write in brief your insights about the following. Do this in a separate sheet of
paper.
1. Bourgeoisie
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
2. George Herbert
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. Herbert Blumer
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
4. Infrastructure
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
5. Marxism
17
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
6. Operant Conditioning
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
7. Proletariat
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
8. Structure
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
9. Superstructure
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
10. Symbolic Interactionism
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
What I Can Do
Directions: Write on the scroll below how you feel about the following conditions as we face
COVID - 19 pandemic in the Philippines. Use a separate bond paper.
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1. Socio - cultural
2. Economics
3. Political
Assessment
Multiple Choice
Directions: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answer on a separate sheet of
paper.
1. Which perspective is the creation of E. Durkheim?
a. Functionalism
c. Psychoanalysis
b. Conflict Theory
d. Symbolic Interactionism
2. The ________ perspective focuses on how individuals act with one another in daily
3.
4.
situations.
a. Functionalism
c. Psychoanalysis
b. Conflict Theory
d. Symbolic Interactionism
Karl Marx proposed that society would be better if all classes would rise up and fight
until there was only one class of people. This is ____theory.
a. Functionalism
c. Psychoanalysis
b. Conflict Theory
d. Symbolic Interactionism
If I define teacher as a responsible individual who wears fuzzy sweaters and drinks coffee
all day, and so I behave that way, then that is an example of which sociological theory in
practice?
a.Functionalism c. Psychoanalysis
b. Conflict Theory
d. Symbolic Interactionism
5. Which theory says that society is a system of interconnected parts that work together to
6.
maintain balance?
a. Functionalist Theory c. Symbolic Interactionism
b. Conflict Theory
d. Psychoanalysis
Which of the three theories is the only micro theory (focuses on individual interaction)?
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a.Functionalism c. Psychoanalysis
b. Conflict Theory
d. Symbolic Interactionism
7. He believed that all of history could be explained and was driven by class conflict.
a. Karl Marx
b. Emile Durkheim
c. Herbert Spencer
d. Max Weber
8. According to Marx, the history of all society up to his time is the history of ____.
a. Class Struggles
b. Political Problems c. Racism
d. Gender
9. Which of the following traits is the characteristic of modern bourgeois society?
a. Class relationships have been eradicated.
b. All societies believe in communism.
c. Exploitative class relationships are no longer hidden.
d. None of the above
10. Who had been the big influence to Karl Marx?
a. John Stuart Mill
c. Aristotle
b. G.W.F. Hegel d. Plato
11. One type of communism that exists nowadays is _____________.
a. Anarcho-Communism
c. Liberal-Communism
b. Neo-Communism
d. French-Communism
12. This period within classical Marxism comprised the debates conducted during the first
decades following Marx’s death.
a. The Marxism of the Second International
b. The Marxism of the Third International
c. Early Socialism
d. None of the above
13. Who formulated a three-component theory included of
class, status, and party?
a. Karl Marx
social
stratification,
which
c. Pierre Bourdieu
b. Max Weber
d. None of the above
14. It happens when there is incompatible expectations attached to some positions in a social
relationship.
a. Role conflict c. Role taking
b. Social structure
d. Social act
15. It is the process by which the newcomer becomes incorporated into the organized pattern
of interaction.
a. Interactions c. Socialization
b. Role taking d. All of the above
Additional Activities
Additional Activity 1
Directions: Cut out a newspaper article about Filipino front liners and paste it inside the
box. Write a short reaction paper about it on a separate bond paper.
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Additional Activity 2
Directions: Using the available indigenous materials in your home, create an artwork that
represents COVID - 19 pandemic and explain its symbolisms and significance. Do it on a
separate bond paper.
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