Sociology Reading 4 Pages 102-104

Marx: Was a journalist so knew intimately how society worked Lived in Germany, but was also close to France (revolution), and then lived in Paris Had been an academic, so knew both sides of society (proletariat and academics) Had firsthand experience of the living conditions of German immigrant workers in Paris Believed that to bring about social change, one had to focus upon workers real social experience Believed that the proletariat were the key to significant social transformation (didnt want a class divided society?) Never made a clear statement of his principles Drew from 3 intellectual traditions: German Idealism such as Hegel(external world never truly known, as we see the external world through the filter of our minds), British political economy (peoples tendency to truck, barter, and exchange, people always looking for their own best interests, and the division of labour to increase productivity, although this should be offset with either restricting how simple the jobs are, or enabling workers to develop themselves outside the work place, as otherwise, the workers become dull of mind free market eg. capitalism can be good), and French revolutionary thought (mastery over oneself, freedom, progress Enlightenment) Due to last point, his ideas are multilayered and complex, and always seem to be in flux Intersection of his biography (thoughts) and history of social structure can be seen in pages 7780 Did not like capitalism Hegel believed that conceptual awareness was the basis for advancement in human societies o Negation (critiquing information we already know) o Transcendence (adding new information to our store of knowledge) o These lead to absolute reason (a full grasp of all of realitys complexities) Marx disagreed. Thought social relationships were the basis for advancement Materialist instead of idealist like Hegel wants to bring about change in the real, practical, everyday lives of people Thought that the processes of driving change were internal to each individual society very complex The degree of economic development attained by a group of people form the foundation for everything else (such as state institutions, etc.) Changed his plans numerous times throughout his life, in order to get a deeper and more detailed examination of some aspects of political economy

Economic structure of society is the real basis upon which a legal and political superstructure rises and to which determinate social forms of consciousness are appropriate o Base shapes the superstructure Economic structure of society consists of the social relations of production (who controls the production master slave, lord serf, employer employee), and the material forces of production (material elements involved in production such as the factories, machines, material, and the physical workers) o These two things are together called the mode of production. It is the key to understanding all social relations Consciousness and ideas dont determine social life, but the other way around the mode of production of material life conditions the social, political, and intellectual process of life overall o It is the basis of change, and eventually, the whole superstructure will revolutionize itself (when it comes into contact with contradictions in the old system) o Internal dynamic of social change inspired by Hegel Superstructure is not important. Only a reflection of the infrastructure (base) base Material forces of production are made up of 3 things: the means of production (raw material, machinery), the spaces of production (factories), and the labour power (workers) Ideas and consciousness are not solely located in the superstructure. They are also found in the infrastructure, in the form of the labour workers. Political processes can also be found there, as the workers develop these while working (made unions, became a mass that turned into a powerful political force) o Integrating the base and the superstructure Did not believe that power existed only in terms of the state thought that it existed also in civil society, and therefore in political economy (the anatomy of civil society) Intersection of personal biography and the history of social structure seen in the labour workers o Demanding, exploitative conditions, which fostered consciousness and resistance and created a powerful new political movement that changed the history of the social structure To grasp the social whole, one has to start at the base and work their way up, keeping in mind that one is trying to grasp a dynamic, unstable, and contradictory whole To understand the social whole, one must start with the anatomy of civil society (political economy), which is to be sought in the economic infrastructure. Only then can one move on to examining the elements of the superstructure o Labour workers integrate the infrastructure and the social structure together (social, political, and intellectual processes of life overall) o determines superstructure model Change comes about when the forces of production continually develop and come into conflict with the social relations of production At a certain stage in their development, the material productive forces of society come into contradiction with the existing relations of production he thought that machines and

technology were the conditions that would bring about revolutionary change (Technological Determinism) Economic determinism the economy determines or shapes the direction of revolutionary change o Marx lived through several economic crises in his lifetime o Thought it was due to overproduction as capitalists compete with each other, they attempt to increase their own productivity by creating new and innovative machines. But these machines soon replace human workers, who are then unemployed, poor, and unable to buy the goods the capitalists are seeking to sell at a profit. Also, jobs become more in demand as more and more people need them, and therefore wages begin to slip, which leads to consumers having less money to consume o Labour power therefore is the sole source of surplus value o Talks about this in the Manifesto of the Communist Party, Wage-Labour and Capital, and in Capital o All of these economically deterministic readings of Marxs work were supported by the capitalist history of his lifetime Revolutionary change seems to be almost automatic and inevitable, but Marx also thought that in order for it to be brought about, the proletariat needed to become conscious of their situation, and needed to push for change Oppressor and oppressed have always stood in direct opposition to each other in history. In Marxs day and age, the oppressors and the oppressed consisted of the bourgeoisie, and the proletariat The bourgeoisie was a revolutionary class that radically transformed society as it rose to dominance from within the feudal order o Created a market society and free trade that has turned everything into a matter of cash payment, and everyone into their paid labourers o Replaced exploitation with even more brutal exploitation (pg. 110) Tradition, religion, and nature no longer structure social relationships. Instead, money and trade dominate the social structure as a whole constant revolutionizing or production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeoisie epoch from all earlier ones Subjection of natures forces to man, machinery, application of chemistry to industry and agriculture, steam navigation, railways, electric telegrams, clearing of whole continents for cultivation, canalization of rivers, whole populations conjured out of the ground Capitalist production centered on wage labour and its goal was the pursuit of unlimited financial wealth o New economic foundation to society emerged and it revolved around the sale and purchase of free wage labour, and the pursuit of profit Felt that the bourgeoisie were no longer able to control the revolution that they had unleashed (overproduction), and the means by which the bourgeoisie had felled feudalism, had now been turned upon themselves

The proletariat are the modern working class. Wage workers are brought together in increasingly larger factories where they are treated horribly, exploited, and are reduced to mere appendages of the machines that they run o slaves of the bourgeoisie class, and of the bourgeoisie state o Majority of the population Proletariat begin increasing in both number and in the concentration of its masses, and as wages begin to be reduced due to economic crises, and the steady improvement of machinery, the clashes between individual workmen, and individual bourgeois begin to take the shape of a collision between 2 classes o Workers begin to band together and form trade unions against the bourgeois o Growing antagonism and polarization between these 2 classes, and Marx believes the power will slowly be consolidated in favour of the working class Before the emancipation of humankind from class rule could become universal, it had to occur at the national level The bourgeoisie brought about their own downfall through their creation of mass industrialization. This brought all the proletariat, who had previously been isolated, into close contact with each other, and planted the seeds of revolution into their collective minds o The bourgeoisie produced their own downfall Marxs fundamental concerns included freedom from exploitation, greater equality in the sharing of social resources, and the full expression of human potential fits with the themes of freedom, mastery, and progress. Each of these requires some fundamental change in the structure of society, and the key to understanding what may bring about that change lies in the anatomy of civil society that is to say, in its political economy o Believed his analysis of the mode of production, along with the requisite changes to the social relations, and material forces or production would bring this change about Class struggle is one of the major motive forces of history an inherent dynamic in society o Major social change occurs through class struggle o Wanted to abolish all classes and have a classless society Intersection of the history of the social structure, with the biography of social classes Mills Both Marx and Mills wrote from the vantage point of the society in which they lived, and concentrated on the social formations they wanted to examine Progress towards greater freedom (freedom from exploitation), equality, and human fulfillment were Marxs major objectives influenced strongly by the Enlightenment class struggle is a key word in Marxs teachings and point of view

1) Write a brief summary of Marxs beliefs and his position. Identify 3 key questions 2) What is the structure of society as a whole? - infrastructure vs. superstructure 3) Where does the society stand in history? - industrial revolution - overproduction - technological determinism - economic determinism 4) What varieties of men and women are coming to prevail? - bourgeoisie vs. proletariat 5) Conclusion