Marxism

Page 1

Key Terms and Theorists

Theorists:

Marx

Gramsci

Althusser

Weber

Gouldner

Willis

Craib

Terms:

Bourgeoisie - capitalist class who exploit the working class for profit

Coercion - maintaining dominance of society by physical force e.g) army, police, prisons, courts

Consent - using ideas and values (hegemony) to persuade the working class to accept the bourgeoisie's rule as legitmate

Counter-hegemony - working class ideology that offers an alternative view of society

Economic base - everything involved with production, shapes the superstructure

Economic determinism - the idea that economic factors are the sole cause of everything in society

Forces of production - non-human essentials to producing commodity

Hegemony - the ruling class' ideological domination of society's beliefs, preventing the socialist revolution

Historical materialism - humans developing tools and means of production a way of meeting their material needs

Humanistic Marxism - bottom-up approach, combining action theories, interpretivism and Marxist ideas

Ideological state apparatuses - media, education and family manipulating the working class to obey the bourgeoisie

Ideology - ideas and beliefs that prevent a communist uprising

Mode of production - capitalist/communist

Organic intellectuals - a body of class conscious workers who are organised in a political party to lead a socialist society

Proletariat - working clas who sell their labour to the bourgeoise in order to survive

Repressive state apparatuses - 'armed bodies of men,' (police, army, prisons) that coerce the working class to obey the bourgeoisie

Scientific Marxism - structural approach that combines traditional Marxism with positivism

Social relations of production - people who are in involved in organising production

Superstructure - ideas, beliefs, and behaviour of society helping production; social institutions

Surplus structure - profit, money made from production

Page 2

Introduction to Marxism

Page 3

Historical Materialism

Page 4

The Communist Revolution

Page 5

How do the bourgeoisie maintain their position?

Page 6

Alienation

Page 7

Humanistic and Structuralist Marxism

Page 8

Evaluation of Marxist ideas