21
Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 September 17, 2013 Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 1 / 21
Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250
September 17, 2013
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 1 / 21
Karl Marx1818–1883
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 2 / 21
Karl Marx: Life & Times
Academic star in Gymnasium
Studied in Bielefeld, then Berlin
Early member of “Young Hegelians”
Becomes politically active, leaves academia to be activist & journalist
Founder of “scientific socialism” movement
Living in exile in London, dies and is buried there
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 3 / 21
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 4 / 21
Big Themes in Marx
Dialectical Materialism
Parsimony / reductionism
Base / Superstructure
Conflict / Consent
The Theory of History
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 5 / 21
Dialectical Materialism
Marx’s theory of historical progression
Dialectics: Progression through antagonistic opposition
Materialism: Progression through real interests
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 6 / 21
Materialism
“Social life is essentially practical. All mysteries. . . find their rationalsolution in human practice and in the comprehension of this practice.”
–Theses on Feuerbach
“History is nothing but the succession of the separate generations, each ofwhich exploits the materials, the capital funds, the productive forces
handed down to it by all preceding generations.”
–The German Ideology
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 7 / 21
Species BeingWhat is special about humans?
Humans work
What distinguishes human societies is the organization of humanproduction
Humans’ species being is a complete link between self and worldlyactivity
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 8 / 21
Alienation
Artificial separation of things that are naturally united
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 9 / 21
Primitive Communism
“Primitives” are not alienated from their labor
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 10 / 21
Economic Development Drives Social Change...and the news isn’t (all) good!
1 Intellectual success breeds economic growth
2 Economic growth enables technological change
3 Technological change brings social change
4 More on this next week
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 11 / 21
Alienation of Labor
A person and her work are naturally merged
Economic necessity drives society to divorce them
Man is therefore alienated from his own labor because it confrontshim as external
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 12 / 21
The Commodity Fetish
Remember: a fetish is desire misplaced onto an incorrect object
Why do people work?1 to make the stuff they need;2 because it’s their species being
Under capitalism, people don’t understand their own desires; theywant things because of the price they command
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 13 / 21
The Origin and Role of Ideas
The world of material production is the origin of ideas.Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 14 / 21
The Origin and Role of Ideas
“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.” (TheGerman Ideology)
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 15 / 21
The Origin and Role of Ideas
Paradox Why do criticism, then, if it’s material reality and not ideasthat move the world?
Answer Dialectics! The material and the ideal are dialecticallyrelated.
Ideas (Superstructure)m
Material (Base)Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers from the chain. . . so that
[man] shall cast off the chain and pluck the living flower.
Material force can only be overthrown by material force; but theory itselfbecomes a material force when it has seized the masses.
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 16 / 21
Conflict and Consent
History, therefore, is driven by conflicts
Conflict is functional and fundamental
Consent: a kind of false consciousness produced by the ruling class inan attempt to suppress conflict
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 17 / 21
The Overall Theory of History
Primitive society: nomads ⇒ animal husbandry and agriculture
Agriculture ⇒ feudal class structure (landowners vs. peasants)
Efficient planting ⇒ trading ⇒ trading class (bourgeoisie)
Importance of trading grows ⇒ bourgeois revolution (French,American, etc.)
Processing and manufacture ⇒ capitalist class structure (capitalistsvs. workers)
Dependence on workers ⇒ proletarian revolution ⇒ socialism
. . .
=⇒ Communism
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 18 / 21
Conventional (Durkheim) View of Progress
Progress
Time
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 19 / 21
Dialectics
Progress
Synthesis
Thesis Antithesis
Synthesis
Thesis Antithesis
Synthesis
Thesis Antithesis
Synthesis
Thesis Antithesis
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 20 / 21
Dialectics and History
Progress
Time
Durkheim
Marx
Weber
Andrew J. Perrin • SOCI 250 Karl Marx: Humanity, Alienation, Capitalism September 17, 2013 21 / 21
