Karl Marx 2 Critical Sociology. Outline 1)Marxs aims 2)Critique 3)Alienation 4)Alienation and work -Causes / Aspects / Effects / Solutions 5) Criticisms.

Karl Marx 2Critical Sociology

Outline1) Marx’s aims

2) Critique

3) Alienation

4) Alienation and work- Causes / Aspects / Effects / Solutions

5) Criticisms

6) Relevance today?

Important Writings

EARLY: more about philosophy• Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts

(1844)

MIDDLE: more about politics• The Communist Manifesto (1848) (with Engels)

LATER: more about economics• Das Kapital (‘Capital’) (1867)

Marx’s Aims1) Gain critical knowledge of social conditions2) Criticise capitalist society3) Identify the main features of capitalist society4) Identify hidden aspects of that society –

aspects other accounts had been unable to see

5) Criticise other accounts of society – especially those that are uncritical of capitalism

6) Encourage revolution – help develop Communist society

Critique1) Criticism – evaluating something– identifying ‘good’ and ‘bad’ aspects of

that thing

Applied to: a society

e.g. capitalism bad AND good

Bad: exploitative of the working classes Good: leads to Communism

2) Scepticism

- not taking claims at face value

- can’t take a society’s opinions of itself at face value

Applied to: ideologies

(sets of ideas and attitudes, characteristic of a society)

- In whose interests do they work?

- What things do they hide?

Scepticism

Cannot base social science on common-sense

- Must look at hidden aspects of social life

- Must have special terminology & concepts to describe these hidden aspects (“historical materialism”)

- Critical of Positivism – only looks at surfaces; must get underneath these surfaces

3) Uncovering hidden assumptions

Immanuel Kant – later 18th century

Applied to: other theories of society

e.g. ‘Human beings are essentially selfish’

Hidden, taken-for-granted assumptions:

a) human nature unchanging, not socially shaped

b) human nature unaffected by capitalist societyc) must look at individual, not society as a whole

Critique of other theories: - lay bare their hidden assumptions- & show that these are very much open to

question

4) Measuring ideals against reality

- To criticise something you must have an understanding of what an ideal version of that thing looks like

- Measure the real thing against the ideal version of it

Critique of a society:

- Measure a real society against an ideal society

Two ways of carrying out critique of a society:

Method 1: ‘external critique’

A real society, existing today

MEASURED AGAINST

An ideal society, existing in the future

Communism Capitalism

Work enjoyable Work not enjoyable

Individual free Individual enslaved

Everyone cooperates Everyone selfish

Method 2: ‘internal critique’

Real society

MEASURED AGAINST

Its own ideas about itself (ideologies)

- Each society makes great, positive claims about itself

- Show that these claims are false; that the reality of that society fails to live up to the claims

Capitalist society’s ideas about itself:

Individual freedom, democracy, meritocracy

Reality of capitalism:

Lack of freedom, democracy illusory, meritocracy is a myth

Capitalist society confronted with its own ideals

Capitalist society shown to fail to live up to its own ideals

Capitalist society is hypocritical

AlienationAims of Marx’s analysis of alienation:

1) To show the working classes why capitalism is a bad society

(especially for them)

2) To find out how capitalism REALLY works

- go beyond its own ideas about itself- identify capitalism’s hidden workings

Alienation

Two meanings:1) Commonsense meaning:

Person alienated from something

End of alienation: person reconciled with that thing

e.g. parents, family, society

Marx: person alienated from their work

2) Hegel’s meaning of alienation:

a) Person makes something

b) The thing takes on a life of its own

c) The thing comes to dominate & control the person who made it

- Can apply to whole societies- Humans create things that come to control

them

Alienation in human societies:

1. Alienation & work

2. Alienation and religion- Humans create God (or gods); - God takes on a life of his own- God comes to dominate humans

3. Alienation and the State- Humans create the State- The State takes on a life of its own- The State comes to control humans

Alienation & Work

Critique of capitalism =

Critique of work in capitalism =

Critique of how work is organised in capitalism =

Critique of the capitalist division of labour

Critique of the capitalist division of labour

Adam Smith:

Late 18th century; Political Economy (economics)

Benefits of the capitalist division of labour

Marx’s critique of capitalism critique of Adam Smith’s Political Economyshow the drawbacks of the capitalist

division of labour

Adam Smith: the capitalist division of labour

Simple division of labour

One person making one object

- slow

- Inefficient

- unproductive

Complex (capitalist) division of labour

Divide jobs up in the making of one object

- Use a number of people to make the object

- Each individual specialises

Work is done faster Many more objects can be madeMore wealth created in nationEmployers, workers & consumers all

benefit Conclusion: capitalism works very well

Marx’s Critique of Smith1) Over-optimistic: assumes CDOL is goodCannot see/admit bad aspects of CDOL

2) Stays at the level of theoryDoes not look at empirical reality

3) Looks at the surface of the CDOLDoes not look at its hidden aspects

4) Political economy is not SCIENCE but IDEOLOGY

- a naïve celebration of capitalism- completely lacks a critical analysis of capitalism

Capitalist division of labour

- alienates workers from their work

- goes against human nature

Human nature:

- Humans enjoy work

- IF work is freely chosen, is creative, & involves using imagination

Class-based societies

pervert human nature

- Ruling class (minority) / class of workers (majority)

- Class of workers FORCED to work- Work is both uncreative and

boring- Ruling class reaps all the benefits- Human enjoyment of work

prevented

Causes of Alienation in WorkCapitalist division of labour:

1) Relationship between capitalists and workers

Factory worker- Does all the work- Work is dull, repetitive and unsatisfying- Only does one specialist task- Only does one specialist task Has very limited skillsHas very limited skills Becomes like a machineBecomes like a machine Loses his/her humanity

(to work freely and creatively)

Capitalist factory owner

Does not do the actual work

Becomes wealthy through

other people’s efforts

Capitalist is a parasite

2) Worker does not own property:i.e. raw materials, tools and finished

products (commodities)Capitalists own these (“private property”)

3) Worker has no control over their work

- Little or no choice as to what work to do- Have to work to earn wages in order to

survive (“wage slaves”)

4) Exploitationa) Obvious: capitalists USE the workers;

reap the benefits

b) Hidden: extract surplus value

Surplus value = profitDifference between value of:1) worker’s wage AND2) value of commodity s/he makes

e.g. table sold for £10worker paid £2 surplus value = £8 taken by capitalist

Surplus value extracted in 2 ways:

1) Lengthen the working day (but keep wages the same)

e.g. £10 wages for 5 hours work (£2 per hour)

£10 wages for 10 hours work (£1 per hour)

2) Make labour more productive

- Workers made to produce more goods in the same time (and wages stay the same as before)

e.g. 12 tables in 4 hours (3 tables per hour) 12 tables in 2 hours (6 tables per hour)

Capitalists constantly seek more profit

More profit = more exploitation of workers

Class conflict: class interests are antagonistic

Capitalists seek to exploit workers

Workers seek to avoid exploitation

Aspects of Alienation in Work

1. Alienated from the work process

- No control over work

2. Alienated from the things made

- Making things for someone else’s benefit

3.Alienated from his/her (true) self

Alienated from his/her human nature (‘species being’)

- Not allowed to make things freely and creatively

4.Alienated from other people

- No sense of community / capitalists / other workers

Effects of Alienation in Work1) Dehumanisation- Worker becomes like a machine- A cog in a giant mechanism

2) Class conflict - Interests of capitalists and workers are antagonistic- Classes alienated from each other

3) The Economy comes to control human beings- Humans made the economy- Economy takes on a life of its own- Seems to have its own ‘laws’, its own ways of working

that cannot be controlled (“the market”)- Economy apparently beyond all human control

Humans enslaved by something they have made (and keep on making)

‘Commodity fetishism’: - people make goods for sale

(commodities)- commodities come to control their

makers- the economy (the market for

commodities) controls workers AND capitalists

- the economy seems unstoppable and totally out of control

4) Everyone is alienated:

- You are alienated even if you don’t realise it

- Capitalists as alienated as the workers

(but capitalists have a cushion: their wealth)

5) Spread of capitalism across the globe

“Globalization” – world-wide spread of alienation in work & exploitation

Solutions to Alienation

Communism = revolutionary change in organising work

Abolition of division of labour:- Abolition of classes: everyone is a worker

- Abolition of private property:- all things owned by everyone in common- all work done benefits everyone

Machines do all the routine workNo job specialisation: individual has multiple work roles and skillse.g. fisherman AND painterfarmer AND composer

People free to do whatever work that they enjoyCreativity and freedom in work Human nature freely expressed

State vanishes – communities organise themselvesReligion vanishes

Criticisms of Marx1) Overemphasises work?- More to human societies than work/economy alone

2) Outdated?Might apply to 19th century factoriesBut cannot so easily be applied today

3) Non-alienating sorts of employment?e.g. types of self-employment

4) Communism unworkable?- Soviet Union and Eastern Europe- Capitalism inevitable?- Capitalist division of labour unavoidable?

Relevance Today?

Political economy modern neo-liberal economics

- Capitalist markets are good- Capitalism shares wealth amongst all‘Trickle-down effect’- Capitalist markets must be unhindered:Low taxes on companies & wealthyLow welfare spending for the poor

Marxist critique of Neo-Liberal Economics

- Capitalist markets still alienating & exploitative

- Capitalism tends to give wealth only to the wealthy

- The poor remain poor

- Deskilling of workforce: McJobs, call centres

Marxist critique of Neo-Liberal Economics

Globalization:

- Job insecurity for Western workers- Western exploitation of Third World- Justification of activities of Trans-National

Corporations (TNCs) e.g. Nike, Gap using sweatshop labour in Far East

OVERALL: Capitalism today very much like in Marx’s timeNeo-liberal economics tries to cover up the

harsh realitiesMarxist critical sociology reveals these realities