The third of three contributions on Marxism for A2 Sociological Perspectives - Arguments and Evidence for the Continued Relevance of Marxism
Marxism and Education Marxism and Education
Contemporary Marxists argue that Marxist analysis is still relevant for understanding modern society. A significant part of contemporary Marxist thought focuses on how capitalism became globalized and emphasizes the injustices of capitalismglobal capitalist system; Another strand of contemporary Marxist theory focuses on how the values of capitalism (in the form of “neoliberal hegemony”) entered Western culture to the detriment of all of us.
You might want to think about what Marxist concepts are illustrated bythese cartoons
Some sociologists argue that a class-based analysis of global society is still relevant.
Leslie Sklaireargues that in recent decades a„Transnational Capitalist Class’. These are the guides fromglobal corporations, certain politicians and their bureaucrats who control billions of dollars in assets and financial flows. They exercise their power through undemocratic international economic institutions like thatWorld Bank,The International Monetary Fundit is atG20. These institutions were established after World War II to help coordinate the expanding world economy and to facilitate post-war reconstruction. Many left-wing theorists such asJosef Stiglitzargue that these institutions have forced dozens of developing countries to adopt since the 1970sneoliberal economic policy. Neoliberal policies include things like the privatization of public services, tax cuts and less industry regulation, making this possibleTransnational CorporationsOpening sweatshops, polluting local areas and taking all the profits without giving much in return. The basic idea here is that the global economy is run by corporations and politicians for the benefit of corporations and their high-level political backers (one of whom 'Gideon“Osborn)
Cliquehere for KT's blog post on the transnational capitalist class
Watch "Capitalism: A Love Story" by Michael Moore, which shows how the TCC views nation states
Click here for links to evidence these richest 1% have$5.5 trillion richerlast year while the bottom 99% got poorer)
There is ample evidence that exploitation is still at the core of the capitalist system.
Companies are often criticized for thisexploit workersand the environment - through forced labor and pollution, where they can get away with it. Some of the more obvious examples include Shell and the Nigerian oil spill; Coca-Cola's legacy of draining India's local water supply to produce cola, causing droughts in local areas, and Apple's use of sweatshops in China to manufacture the iPad.
This blog post offersExamples of companies being exploited by workers
This post offersExamples of companies that harm the environment
There is evidence that those with economic power still have a disproportionate hold over the superstructure.
Marxist theory is still relevant because...There is evidence that those with economic power still have a disproportionate hold over the superstructure.
I should just point out that the purpose of this post is to provide bits of sound you can use in an exam (or argument with a conservative defender of the neoliberal state apparatus) rather than a comprehensive or balanced presentation of evidence for or against (the variety of) Marxist theory.
proof ofElite control over government
By far the best example of the state putting the interests of capital ahead of the interests of the majority of the population is the government's response to the current 'economic crisis'.
simply put,The state lets the poor payfor the economic problems caused by the transnational capitalist class. The average guy on the street is getting poorer while the rich are getting richer!Also think about the youngestCase from Ireland, where the minimum wage will be cut by one euro, VAT will rise and public sector jobs will be axed, while corporate tax remains at an incredibly low 12.5%.
Coming back to the cuts in Britain, this is not surprising when you really look at the characteristics of those who make up the Cabinet and the broader Conservative Party; You actually find that many of them are extremely wealthy. The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor are all millionaires - they are the transnational capitalist class - and are unlikely to be hurt.
Evidence of elite control over the criminal justice system
Another example of the elite class in control of the superstructure can be found in theDifferentiated treatment of economic crime and street crime. Although white-collar crime costs the economy more than street crime, white-collar criminals are still less likely to be punished. According to Tombs and Whyte, this is partly because the government invests fewer resources in investigating fraud and health and safety crimes (the types of crimes corporations are likely to be guilty of) than it does in working-class street crimes.
proof ofElite control over the mainstream media
Gregor Philoargues that it's just crazy that the media is about "what benefits should the government cut" rather than "should we tax the rich".ormake cuts.[1]Philo points[2]that there are other solutions to the current economic crisis - there are enough real estate assets in the country - we could just pull them out, but the government is instead making the common man on the street pay. In your movie
Evidence of elite control over the education system
Evidence of elite control over educationThe system is that if you're rich, you can buy your kids a private education, giving them a much better chance of getting into a top university and getting a prestigious, high-paying job. The statistics make reading extremely unpleasant... Bright children from the wealthiest 20% of households in England are seven times more likely to attend a top university than bright children from the poorest 40%”. - In 2002, only 45 of the year-olds receiving free school meals made it to Oxbridge - compared to Westminster's top private school, which has an average of 82 successful applicants each year.[3]
Upper-middle class people with public school credentials dominate all sectors of the economy except for areas like sports and science, where only raw skills count. Through networking, trust, unpaid internships, primarily through our involvement in the best universities, we guide the media, politics, civil service, the arts, the city, law, medicine, big business, the armed forces, in many Even take down the armed forces, the protest movements that challenge these powers. The Milburn Report released last year shows that 45% of senior civil servants, 53% of top journalists, 32% of parliamentarians, 70% of finance directors and 75% of judges come from the 7% of the population who went to the US sector Private. Schools.'[4]
There are indications that we are still under ideological control - but we are not aware of it.
Antonio Gramsci, a humanist Marxist writing in the early 20th century, first pointed out what he called"Hegemonic Control"plays an increasingly important role in advanced capitalist societies. Hegemonic control occurs when the intellectual and moral leadership of the ruling class provides the fundamental perspective for society as a whole.
Greg Philo points to a very good example of this in recent years - the fact that we are so willing to accept cuts in public services when the richest 10 percent in the country have so much wealth that we only own a fifth of theirs We'd be cured, the national deficit, but that idea doesn't even appear in the media.Agenda-Settingremoved, and so we don't even consider it.
Click here for a post with a broad Marxist analysisas the BBC reported on the recent student protests(for a fee) from December 2010 to a limited extent.
Capitalism keeps going"wrong needs"–
Successful companies today spend billions on advertising campaigns to convince us that we need their products. Objectively we don't need much of what we buy, but the capitalist class invests billions to convince us to buy things we don't need.
Worse Than Ideological Control - In general, numerous sociologists such as Richard Wilkinson and David Garland point out that the more unequal a country is and the more neoliberal a country pursues, the larger the prison population. The closer a country is to "pure capitalism," the more punitive the elite class is.
There are no links to it - but come on - where there is no advertising ....And oh - tomorrow is buy-nothing day!
alienation and commodity fetishism
We Westerners have become so obsessed with consumer culture that we ultimately define ourselves by the products we consume and how we “pick and mix” them (i.e., fashion, vacations, homes, cars, cell phones). From a Marxist perspective, this is incredibly superficial - Marx believed that we are only fully human when we are fully engaged in the political and economic processes of our society. From a Marxist perspective, capitalism only encourages us to be childish and define ourselves by our styles and hobbies and forget about politics and economics. We are becoming quite literally alienated from our productive base as our identities become increasingly dependent on material goods.
David Harvey argues that economic crises are inherent in the capitalist system and that these crises have become more severe and frequent in recent years..
Harvey argues that any sane person should join an anti-capitalist movement because the fundamental problems of capitalism are the same as they were in Marx's day -Click here for your analysis of the problems of modern capitalism
Capitalist exploitation is so bad in some parts of the world that there are violent riotsResistancehim – especially in Latin America – PresidentHugo Chavez aus Venezuela, for example, sees himself as an anti-capitalist, like many Latin Americans. The Zapatistas in Mexico are another good example, and the world development movement also has Marxist undertones.
Watch the first 20 minutes of John Pilger's "War on Democracy" to talk about Hugo Chávez in Marxist terms here - streaming
Although you may not see it in the media, there are tens of thousands of people who call themselves communists and are sympathetic to Marxism and the broader anti-capitalist movement. Critics of the left and the anti-capitalist movement are still very much alive today.
Although not Marxist or necessarily anti-capitalist -the occupation movementdefinitely run through elements of Marxist theory
related posts
The traditional Marxist perspective on society– Eight key ideas
Eight critiques of traditional Marxism