In this report I will investigate and analyse accounts of the establishment of knowledge with reference to Marxist thought. I will evaluate evidence demonstrating how knowledge has been presented to society through ideological systems and assess Marxist views on the function of engineering specific knowledge through false consciousness. I will explore the role of institutions such as the mass media and how they create and maintain ideology. I will visit whether Marxist accounts on ideology can realistically be represented by evidence, and if not, whether it is correct to dismiss Marxist accounts of knowledge based on this, or to explore critical alternatives and further neo-Marxist theory of the modern world.
Firstly I would like to introduce how the construct of knowledge is often casually defined by understanding an object though learning facts about it rather than having empirical experience of it. Ideas of knowledge circulate around the intake of exterior information, linking to the way that Marxist theory argues that ideology is implemented in and manipulates society. Throughout Marx’s work, no clear identification of the term ideology was defined; its notion has shifted and changed throughout the duration of his academic works (Strinati, 1995). The Marxist concept of ideology derives from theories of alienation and exclusion functioning to maintain inequalities between ruling classes and the proletariat. Ideologies talk of what can and cannot be thought and done
The soundbite criticisms of capitalism are legion, yet it’s harder to offer alternatives, aside from the vague notion of 'something else'. Despite the carnage of trying to socially engineer equality in the 20th century, nevertheless the myth persists that capitalist wealth creation is superfluous and money is readily available to a small number of elitists called a government under common ownership, who distribute, or simply print more paper. Ironically, the ones shouting the loudest against capitalism are often those dependent on the profits of capitalism to provide the welfare payments needed to keep them alive.
Marxism is a critical perspective based off of the ideas of Karl Marx, with Marx’s most famous work being the Communist Manifesto. This book illustrates
This assessment of turning objects and persons into something of value is a fragmented yet archetypical manifestation of Marx’s greater philosophical works. The literary criticism that implements Marx’s theories of socialism and dialectics is the basis on interpreting literary works.
Throughout John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, Gene’s internal struggle is reflected in the war taking place. In the beginning of the story, Finny tells Gene that he was reading the paper and saw that “[the United States] bombed Central Europe...”(25). At this point in the story, it is 1942, which is the midst of World War II. This reflects Gene’s attitude toward Finny. As the war starts to escalate and the United States enters, Gene starts to loathe Finny for reasons that are entirely from Gene’s head. When Finny returns to Devon for the winter session, he has convinced himself, and soon convinces Gene, that “there isn’t any war”(115). Around this time, Gene pushes away his hateful thoughts towards Finny and convinces himself that Finny and him
In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, human beings have been engineered and conditioned to have detailed traits and castes in society; however, the birthing methods of the world state seem virtually full proof, some characters in the novel deviate from this standard. Bernard Marx and Helmholtz Watson both alpha plus males; share a dislike for the world state. Bernard abhors it because of his physical defect, Helmholtz because of his psychological surplus.
on the nerve near the ear) was greater on the side of the head that the cell phone was held.[13]
AQA AS/A SOCIOLOGY ESSAY: CRITICALLY EXAMINE MARXIST PERSPECTIVES ON TODAY’S SOCIETY Classical Marxism is a conflict structural theory which argues that, rather than society being based on value consensus as functionalists would contend, there is a conflict of interest between different groups (social classes) because of the unequal distribution of power and wealth. Marxists are also interested in the way in which social change can occur, particularly in sudden and revolutionary ways. However, there are differences between Marxists especially over the way which social change can come about. For example, humanistic Marxists like Gramsci give a greater role to the conscious decisions and actions of human beings than do structural Marxists
Marxism is often cited as being irrelevant within contemporary society due to the fact that Marx had critiqued an almost incomparable society. McDonald & Brownlee (2001) argue
When reading A Small Place using the Marxist lens the reader focuses on the importance of power and money. Through A Small Place Kincaid communicates that money is the biggest thing that contributes to power: “Not far from this mansion is another mansion, the home of a drug smuggler” (Kincaid 11). In Antigua, drug smugglers are considered powerful and very wealthy. The drug smuggler can get and do what he wants because he has the money. He has the money to pay for whatever he wants, whether it is good or bad.
Through the theoretical approach of Marxism, The Beauty and The Beast (2017) is a Disney film that depicts the divide between class structures in a traditionally oriented society. The Marxist theory is used as a tool to analyze the film in order to have the ability to examine the core concepts of the theory and investigate the theme of the film in its entirety. The film depicts two class structures that consist of lower, peasant-like villagers and a middle-class structure. The film depicts various social hierarchy’s that attempts to challenge humanities perception of power through the theory of Marxism. This paper will describe how the theoretical approach of Marxism applies to the Disney film, The Beauty and the Beast (2017) through
According to Marxism, there is a struggle or conflict between individual rights and social rights. In many regards, Marxism places more emphasis on societal rights than it does on individual rights. In fact, some critics even state that Marxism ignores the rights of the individual altogether. As can be observed when Marxism is implemented under the umbrella of communism. However, Marxism takes into account the inequality and unfairness that exists in society. The inevitable truth is that contrasting groups in society will always conflict with one another and will be unable to agree on the way in which resources should be distributed. Furthermore, there is also a difference between genders, specifically in terms of the equity of how the roles
The ideology of Marxism, established by German philosopher Karl Marx, is a collectively known set of assumptions of a political ideology, which focuses especially on analysis of materialist interpretation of historical development, or on class struggle within the society. The primarily approach of Marxism, nonetheless, was the critique of capitalism. The strength of his inquiry lies in belief of inevitable shift from capitalism and he aims to advocate the new form of ideology and economy, the socialism. The title of this essay is provocative as in today´s world, there exist many proponents who claim, the core of Marx conception of ideology is still relevant in the 21st globalised world. However, Marxism is relevant to the extent to which
Marxist Perspective, Its central aim is to provide an empirically well-founded description of phenomenon, to get the social implications; and to illuminate the historical process through which this phenomenon came to exist in the real world. Additionally, its aims at comprehend and explain reality using themes to make analysis and this is confirmed by research. This has methods such as phenomenology and Ethnomethodology. It produces knowledge on a social reality in order to transform it. Therefore understanding reality becomes a main goal to drive the historical process and historical world. However, knowledge is not a sufficient and it must be articulated with a practical process.
Karl Marx is often called the father of communism, but his life entailed so much more. He was a political economist, philosopher, and idea revolutionist. He was a scholar that believed that capitalism was going to undercut itself as he stated in the Communist Manifesto. While he was relatively ambiguous in his lifetime, his works had tremendous influence after his death. Some of the world’s most powerful and most populace countries follow his ideas to this day. Many of history’s most eventful times were persuaded by his thoughts. Karl Marx was one of the most influential persons in the history of the world, and a brief history of his life will show how he was able to attain many of his attitudes.
Though Marx views the communist revolution as an unavoidable outcome of capitalism, his theory stipulates that the proletariat must first develop class consciousness, or an understanding of its place within the economic superstructure. If this universal character of the proletariat does not take shape, then the revolution cannot be accomplished (1846: 192). This necessary condition does not pose a problem within Marx’s theoretical framework, as the formation of class consciousness is inevitable in Marx’s model of society. His writings focus on the idea that economic production determines the social and political structure (1846, 1859). For Marx, social class represents a person’s relation to the means of production, a relation that he believes is independent of