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Karl Marx

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Karl Marx

Social context takes precedence overinnate behavior (the concept of theindividual is rational only in his/herrelation to the community)Human communities transform nature This process of transformation is called

"labor" and the capacity to transformnature "labor power" Labor is a social activity

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Karl Marx

There is a distinction between the means of production and the relations of production

The Means of Production:

Landnatural resourcestechnology

The Relations of Production:The social and technical relationships people enter into asthey acquire and use the means of productionThis comprised not only relations among individuals, butbetween or among groups of people, or classes.

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Karl Marx

Together these comprise the mode of productionWithin any society, the mode of productionchanges This was the result of a process known as

dialectical materialism Each historical periods mode of production (thesis) was challenged by achallenging set of social forces (anti-thesis)

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Karl Marx

The basis of human society is how humans work on nature to produce the means of subsistence.There is a division of labor into social classes(relations of production) based on propertyownership where some people live from the laborof others.The system of class division is dependent on themode of production.Society moves from stage to stage when thedominant class is displaced by a new emergingclass

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Karl Marx

Quote from the Communist Manifesto: the history of all hitherto existing society

is the history of class struggles Translated: History is the effect of materialclass struggle in society The universe is not a disconnected mix of things isolated from each other, but anintegral whole, with the result that thingsare interdependent.

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Nature - the natural world or cosmos - is in a state of constant motion:

"All nature, from the smallest thing to the biggest, froma grain of sand to the sun, from the protista to man, is in

a constant state of coming into being and going out of being, in a constant flux, in a ceaseless state of movement and change." --Friedrich Engels

Insignificant and imperceptible quantitative changes lead tofundamental, qualitative changes, occurring not gradually,but rapidly and abruptly, in the form of a leap from one

state to another. A simple example from the physical worldmight be the heating of water: a one degree increase intemperature is a quantitive change, but at 100 degreesthere is a qualitative change - water to steam.

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Karl Marx

Hegel turned on his head: "My dialectic method,"wrote Marx, "is not only different from theHegelian, but is its direct opposite. To Hegel, the

life-process of the human brain, i.e. the process of thinking, which, under the name of the Idea, heeven transforms into an independent subject, isthe demiurgos of the real world, and the realworld is only the external, phenomenal form of

the Idea. With me, on the contrary, the ideal isnothing else than the material world reflected bythe human mind, and translated into forms of thought."

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It is not the consciousness of menthat determines their existence, buton the contrary, it is their socialexistence that determines theirconsciousness.

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Karl marx

Marx believed that the basis of socialorder in every society is the mode of

production of material goodsWhat is produced, and how it is produceddetermine the differences in peopleswealth, power, and social statusThe mode of production also determinesall expressions of civilization: Law,Philosophy, Art, Religion, etc.

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Karl Marx

Superstructure

(Law, Philosophy, Art, Religion

Base(Mode of Production)

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Karl Marx

The History of humanity has been punctuated by several stages characterized bydifferent modes of production:

Primitive hunting and gathering societies which had no extra wealth andtherefore no private property, social classes, class struggles, or even the need forgovernment (thesis)Struggle for scarce resources between competing groups (anti-thesis)The establishment of empires (synthesis) Slave societies with a rich ruling class opposed by an oppressed underclass of slaves (thesis)The tension between native slave holders and non-native slaves (anti-thesis)The collapse of empires (synthesis)Feudal society with a noble class of landowning lords opposed by an oppressedclass of serfs (thesis)The forces of urbanization and specialization of labor, development of checking,banking systems, paper moneyed systems (anti-thesis)The emergence of the merchant class, or bourgeoisie (synthesis) Capitalist society with a rich class of factory owners, or the bourgeoisie (thesis) Challenge by an oppressed class of factory workers, or the proletariat (anti-thesis) Socialist society run by the workers with no private property, and thus no socialclasses, or class conflicts (anti-thesis, and final stage)

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Karl Marx

Marxs labor theory of value: The value of an object is solely a result of the laborexpended to produce it.

The more labor, or labor time, that goes into an object,the more it is worth An example of how the labor theory of value works: Aworker in a factory is given $30 worth of material, andafter working 3 hours producing a good, and using $10worth of fuel to run a machine, he creates a productwhich is sold for $100. According the Marx, the labor andonly the labor of the worker increased the value of thenatural materials to $100. The worker is thus justlyentitled to a $60 payment, or $20 per hour.

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Karl Marx

Marxs theory of the alienation of labor If the worker is employed by a factory owner

who pays him only $15 per hour, according toMarx the $5 per hour the factory ownerreceives constitutes theft.The factory owner has done nothing to earnthe money and the $5 per hour he receives is"surplus value" representing exploitation of theworker. Even the tools which the factory ownerprovided were produced by other workers.

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Karl Marx

According to the labor theory of value, allprofits are the rightful earnings of theworkers, and when they are kept from theworkers by capitalists, workers are beingrobbed. On the basis of this theory, Marxcalled for the elimination of profits, forworkers to seize factories and for theoverthrow of the "tyranny" of capitalism. The factory, then, becomes the collectiveproperty of the workers.

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Karl Marx

The implications of Marxs theory: The class consciousness of the proletariat will be elevated insuch a way to understand and challenge capitalist exploitation.They will seize the means of production and govern as thedominant class (the dictatorship of the proletariat)The state as a development of superstructure from theCapitalist Era, will pass awayMaterial goods will be produced by the working class who willcollectively own the means of production (this means the endof private property) and democratically make all managerialdecisions

There will be an abundance of material goods produced byworkers that will be equitably distributed to everyoneaccording to their need, irregardless of what they haveproduced