Prof. Marina
Part I:Marx notes:
Week 4
“It will be the workers, with their courage, resolution and self-sacrifice, who will be chiefly responsible for
achieving victory. The petty bourgeoisie will hesitate as long as possible and remain fearful, irresolute and
inactive; but when victory is certain it will claim it for itself and will call upon the workers to behave in an
orderly fashion, and it will exclude the proletariat from the fruits of victory. ... the rule of the bourgeois
democrats, from the very first, will carry within it the seeds of its own destruction, and its subsequent
displacement by the proletariat will be made considerably easier..”
Marx
Marx's four forms of alienated labor:
PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITY
THE PRODUCT OF HIS ACTIVITY
FELLOW WORKERS
SPECIES BEING
ALIENATED LABOR" in Capitalist Society DISTORTS both "LABOR" & "LABORER"
1. humans become "crippled monstrosities" through specialization
-minute details
-disallows use of all (WHOLE) capacities/potentialities
2. natural relation of "head and hand" is broken
-"manual" vs. "mental" labor
3. monotony of repetitive tasks experienced DAILY
-numbs the consciousness
4. humans 1oose sense of being creative beings (as subjects of objects)
5. Belief that the "abilities of the capitalist" leads to the success of the worker
-INVERSION (i.e. ideological) of actual and analyzed reality
According to Marx the conflict between the forces of production and the relations of production involves the
following elements.
1. The capitalist system is owned and controlled by the Bourgeoisie whose main aim is production for
profit rather than production for need. This means that the social relations of production (ownership
and control) prevent the full utilization of the highly developed forces of production. which could be
used to meet the real needs humanity but are instead used to increase the profits of the Bourgeoisie
at the expense of the Proletariat.
2. Since the Proletariat are inevitably exploited under capitalism they do not receive a fair share of the
goods and services produced via the forces of production.
3. Capitalism results inevitably in periodic unemployment meaning that the factories and workers are
often idle despite the obvious need for increased production so that, again the full potential of the
forces of production is not being realized under capitalism because of the social relations of
production which exist under capitalism.
4. Capitalism results in alienation which means that the full potential of the workers cannot be realized
under capitalism.
Thus, in summary, according to Marx, the social relations of production under capitalism prevent the full
development of the forces of production under capitalism and the contradictions between the forces of
production and the social relations of production will result ultimately in the abolition of the capitalist mode
of production. The following factors lead to the acceleration of the revolutionary process.
1. The development of capitalism results in increasing urbanization and the concentration of workers in
large factories means that the political organization of the Proletariat becomes easier.
2. Marx suggested that capitalism would result in increasing poverty which would accelerate the decline
of false class consciousness and the development of revolutionary class consciousness among the
Proletariat.
3. Marx suggested that under capitalism production would be increasingly concentrated among large
companies and smaller companies and individual traders would be forced out of business meaning that
intermediate social classes would contract and the overall class structure would increasingly be
simplified into two great classes--- the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. This was Marx' so-called
Polarization thesis which implied that even former members of the Bourgeoisie might develop
revolutionary class consciousness. However in his later theories Marx noted that the growth of joint
stock companies would lead to the growth of managerial positions, implying the growth of a middle
class, and it has been suggested that Marx did not sufficiently analyze the implications of the growth
of the middle class for his theory of revolution. We shall return to neo-Marxist analyses of the middle
class later in this document.
4. The revolution was to be followed by a series of stages leading to the eventual achievement of the
classless, communist society. First would come the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat in
which the capitalist state would be taken over by the leaders of the proletariat in order to restrict the
powers of the opponents of revolution to organize counter-revolution. Private property would be
abolished and the revolution would then enter its socialist phase in which resources would be
distributed from each according to his/her ability to each according to his/her work which implied
that economic equality would still be necessary to provide economic incentives. This would be
followed by the gradual transition from socialism to communism in which resources would be allocated
from each according to his/her ability to each according to his/her need implying a very high level of
economic equality of outcome.
5. The abolition of private property meant that in the Marxist scheme social classes had been abolished
and this would mean that the state [which under capitalism was an instrument of class rule] could
wither away although there would still be a need for some form of administrative apparatus to
organize society at a national level. Thus according to the Marxists the revolution would eventually
lead to the creation of a classless, very equal, free, prosperous and cooperative society.
Part II: Questions: Turner, “Marx and Simmel Revisited”
According to Turner, explain Marx's basic assumptions regarding class conflicts (p. 619).
According to Turner, explain Simmel's auumptions about the nature of conflict (p. 619).
Explain Marx's basic contributions to theory in the sociology of conflict (p. 622-623, I, II, III, IV, V, VI).
Explain Simmel's basic contributions to theory in the sociology of conflict (624, I, II, III).
Explain Simmel's key propositions on how violent conflicts can increase the organization of conflict parties (p.
625, I, II, III).How might less violent conflicts serve an integrative function for society as a whole (p. 625, Ia
and Ib)?
Part III: RTR
What do the authors mean by no solution to the youth working class subculture (35)? What is this majical or
imaginary way to solve the problem of class.
How do youth and their working class parents face the same institutional conditions in education, work, and
leisure but respond in a different way with their own cultural solutions (38)?
According to the authors, what makes a style (42)?
Explain the concept of bricoleur (42) and homology (43).
What are some of the structural differences between middle and working class youth cultures and some of its
implications (45)? How does the middle class subculture serve as a powerful rupturing force (55)?
How does the control culture react differently to youth working class and middle class subcultures (48)?
Explain this crisis in authority (48-49 and 53)?
How did capitalism transform from an economic system that was linked to a particular Protestant ethic to one
that depended on a new ethic, one of consumption (50-51and 52)?
How did the middle class respond to their perceived notions of the erosion of their whole way of life (50-51).
What does repressive desublimation mean? (Hint: the diversion of psychic energy derived from sexual
impulses into nonsexual activity, esp of a creative nature).
How did revolution in life-style become the unanticipated commercial success (52).
How do the authors describe the moral panic (56)?