Sociology 101: Sample MidtermReview

César Ayala

State it clearly, are you here?

A) Yes B) No C)No D) No E) No

Announcement Midterm will be on April 30 in class Professor Ayala’s Office Hours: TH 1 -

3PM in Haines 297 Next Tuesday during class time Pei will hold office hours next Tuesday

during lecture time and session time

Short-Answer Questions The examples provided here are to show

you what we consider to be strong answers to these questions. Keep in mind there is not only one “right” answer to these types of questions.

1) Why was the bourgeoisie a revolutionary class? What role does Marx think it plays in history?

The main revolutionary class in Marx's time was the bourgeoisie. It was revolutionary in the sense that it brought about changes in productivity, or “the productive forces,” far beyond the changes brought about by all former dominant classes in human history, according to Marx. The bourgeoisie was also revolutionary in the political sense, bringing about the collapse of the Ancien Regime in Europe. Marx had doubts about this last point, arguing that the working class had to step in to complete some of the “tasks” of the bourgeois revolution in the face of the hesitation of the bourgeoisie, but in general, the bourgeoisie is portrayed as revolutionary in this political sense also. Finally, the advance in the productive forces brought about by the bourgeoisie made possible the emergence of a new society based on plenty, not scarcity. In this sense the bourgeoisie was “paving the way” for Communism.

2) Why are commodities “mysterious”? Commodities and exchange hide the fact that

behind the exchange relation, there is an explicit or implicit, conscious or unconscious, comparison of the socially necessary labor times that go into the production of different commodities. Economic relations are ultimately relations between people, and therefore social relations, but commodity exchange makes this social character invisible, thus creating a “fetish.” It appears, in Marx’s formulation, as if there were “social” relations between commodities, and non-social relations (material or “thing-ish” relations) between people.

3) Why is primitive accumulation necessary in order for capitalism to “stand on its feet?” (What conditions necessary for capitalism does it create?)

Primitive accumulation refers to the emergence of the wage labor/ capital relation. Capitalist accumulation refers to the continuation or “reproduction” of this relation once it is established. According to Marx, one cannot use the logic of capitalist accumulation to explain its origins. Rather, the process by which capital accumulation emerged is called primitive accumulation, the original set up, as it were, of the class relations between capitalists and workers. This happened through a “primitive” or “original” or “first” process, which divorced the immediate producers from possession of the means of production, and concentrated the means of production in the hands of the bourgeoisie. Without the existence of a class of dispossessed producers willing to sell their labor power for a wage, there can be no capitalism. Pauperization and dispossession at one end, and accumulation of wealth in form of means of production in the other, are the two facets of primitive accumulation.

4) Why does Marx believe that wage labor is “alienating”?

First, wage labor is alienating because the products that workers make do not belong to them, but rather to the capitalists that they work for. Second, wage labor is alienating because workers sell their labor to capitalists for a wage and, as a result, they lack control over the labor process and cannot express themselves creatively through their labor. Third, wage labor alienates workers from their “species-being”, because Marx believes that the capacity to consciously shape the natural world is what makes us human. Finally, and as a consequence of self-alienation, wage labor alienates the workers from one another and from their employers.

5) In what senses does capitalism require that workers be “free”?

Capitalism requires that workers be free in the legal sense, that is, they should be able to enter into contracts and sell their labor power. They cannot be slaves or any other category which is impeded from freely contracting. At the same time, they have to be dispossessed, and in this sense “free” from ownership of means of production or subsistence.

Fill-in-the-blank questions For these questions you will have to fill

in the blank spaces in quotes from Marx using a list of terms that you will be given with the exam.

For this year’s exam (unlike this sample exam), each word on the list of terms will be used only once. There will be 20 terms and 20 blank spaces to fill.

terms

alienationbourgeoiscapitalclass strugglesclassescommodity 

consciousnessfeudalismmaterialmother right primitive accumulationprivate propertyproduct

proletariatruling classsocial relationsspecies beingsuperstructuretransformationworld-market 

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of _____________.

1 . The history of all hitherto existing

society is the history of class struggles.

Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the _____________ epoch from all earlier ones.

2 Constant revolutionizing of production,

uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones.

3. The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the __________ given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country.

3 3. The bourgeoisie has through its

exploitation of the world-market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country.

3 3. The bourgeoisie has through its

exploitation of the world-market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country.

4. The lower strata of the middle class—the small tradespeople, shopkeepers, and retired tradesmen generally, the handicraftsmen and peasants—all these sink gradually into the _____________.

4 4. The lower strata of the middle class—

the small tradespeople, shopkeepers, and retired tradesmen generally, the handicraftsmen and peasants—all these sink gradually into the proletariat.

The weapons with which the bourgeoisie felled __________ to the ground are now turned against the bourgeoisie itself.

5. The weapons with which the bourgeoisie

felled feudalism to the ground are now turned against the bourgeoisie itself.

Does it require deep intuition to comprehend that man’s ideas, views and conception, in one word, man’s consciousness, changes with every change in the conditions of his _________ existence…?

6 Does it require deep intuition to

comprehend that man’s ideas, views and conception, in one word, man’s consciousness, changes with every change in the conditions of his material existence…?

7. The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ____________.

7 7. The ruling ideas of each age have

ever been the ideas of its ruling class.

8. …the whole of society must fall apart into the two _________ of the property owners and the propertyless workers.

8 8. …the whole of society must fall apart

into the two classes of the property owners and the propertyless workers.

9. All these consequences follow from the fact that the worker relates to the __________ of his labor as to an alien object.

9 9. All these consequences follow from

the fact that the worker relates to the product of his labor as to an alien object.

Conscious vital activity differentiates man immediately from animal vital activity. It is this and this alone that makes man a ___________.

10 Conscious vital activity differentiates

man immediately from animal vital activity. It is this and this alone that makes man a species being.

11. An immediate consequence of man’s _________ from the product of his work, his vital activity and his species being, is the ___________ of man from man. (same word goes in both blanks)

11 11. An immediate consequence of

man’s alienation from the product of his work, his vital activity and his species being, is the alienation of man from man. (same word goes in both blanks)

12. The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real ___________, on which rises a legal and political ____________ and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. (two different concepts)

12 12. The sum total of these relations of

production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. (two different concepts)

13. It is not the ____________ of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their _____________.

13 13. It is not the consciousness of men

that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.

14.Just as our opinion of an individual is not based on what he thinks of himself, so can we not judge of such a period of ____________ by its own consciousness.

14 14.Just as our opinion of an individual is

not based on what he thinks of himself, so can we not judge of such a period of transformation by its own consciousness.

15. The so-called ___________________ therefore, is nothing else than the historical process of divorcing the producer from the means of production.

15 15. The so-called primitive

accumulation therefore, is nothing else than the historical process of divorcing the producer from the means of production.

16. If money… “comes into the world with a congenital blood-stain on one cheek,” _______ comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.

16 16. If money… “comes into the world

with a congenital blood-stain on one cheek,” capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.

17. It is, however, just this ultimate money form of the world of commodities that actually conceals, instead of disclosing, the social character of private labor, and the ________________ between the individual producers.

17. It is, however, just this ultimate money form of the world of commodities that actually conceals, instead of disclosing, the social character of private labor, and the social relations between the individual producers.

18. The mode of production in which the product takes the form of a ____________, or is produced directly for exchange, is the most general and most embryonic form of bourgeois production.

18 18. The mode of production in which the

product takes the form of a commodity, or is produced directly for exchange, is the most general and most embryonic form of bourgeois production.

19. The transformation of scattered _______________ , arising from individual labor, into capitalist _______________ is, naturally, a process, incomparably more protracted, violent, and difficult, than the transformation of capitalist _______________ , already practically resting on socialized production, into socialized property. In the former case, we had the expropriation of the mass of the people by a few usurpers; in the latter, we have the expropriation of a few usurpers by the mass of the people.

19 19. The transformation of scattered private

property , arising from individual labor, into capitalist private property is, naturally, a process, incomparably more protracted, violent, and difficult, than the transformation of capitalist private property , already practically resting on socialized production, into socialized property. In the former case, we had the expropriation of the mass of the people by a few usurpers; in the latter, we have the expropriation of a few usurpers by the mass of the people.

20. The overthrow of ____________ was the world historic defeat of the female sex. The man seized the reins in the house also, the woman was degraded, enthralled, the slave of the man’s lust, a mere instrument for breeding children.

20– NOT IN OUR EXAM 20. The overthrow of mother right

was the world historic defeat of the female sex. The man seized the reins in the house also, the woman was degraded, enthralled, the slave of the man’s lust, a mere instrument for breeding children.

End of the review, are you still here? A) Yes B) No C)No D) No E) No