Classical social theory lecture 3
Marx
1. World power
2. Historical materialism
3. Alienation
4. Class revolution/communism
- Enlightenment thinker who wanted to revolutionise and believed that we could all stand up
and build a better world
- Positivist school of thought- use science
- ‘Philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it’
- Activist thinker
- Power is central to everything that happened in our lives
Distribution of power in the world
(WALLERSTEIN to help illustrate Marx’s notion)- 3 types of countries
- Core countries – most economically, militarily and politically powerful (possess the financial
and military might to dominate the world). Their aim is to extract wealth from the lesser
developed countries and turn it into resources for advanced world domination
- Peripheral countries- Economically and militarily underdeveloped countries- a source of raw
materials and cheap labour (in the interest of the core countries to raise living standards of
the periphery to strengthen the markets for their goods) The core demands that the
periphery must be relatively under-developed
- Semi-periphery- act between the two- provide services to the core and in doing so they
become economically more advanced than the periphery (the overall power system
demands mid-point)
This system is what is called CAPITALISM – defined as a society of class exploitation
In order to understand how capitalism works, we need to develop a historical materialist
perspective:
- Materialism- understanding must be based on empiricism/observation and things we can
test
- Historical- must base all analysis of society on history
- Tribal, ancient, Feudal, capitalism (all these types of society are based in class struggle)
- CLASS STRUGGLE- Marx believes capitalism is a swindle (an ideology different to reality)
- The theory of surplus value- capitalism is legalised theft
Marx
1. World power
2. Historical materialism
3. Alienation
4. Class revolution/communism
- Enlightenment thinker who wanted to revolutionise and believed that we could all stand up
and build a better world
- Positivist school of thought- use science
- ‘Philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it’
- Activist thinker
- Power is central to everything that happened in our lives
Distribution of power in the world
(WALLERSTEIN to help illustrate Marx’s notion)- 3 types of countries
- Core countries – most economically, militarily and politically powerful (possess the financial
and military might to dominate the world). Their aim is to extract wealth from the lesser
developed countries and turn it into resources for advanced world domination
- Peripheral countries- Economically and militarily underdeveloped countries- a source of raw
materials and cheap labour (in the interest of the core countries to raise living standards of
the periphery to strengthen the markets for their goods) The core demands that the
periphery must be relatively under-developed
- Semi-periphery- act between the two- provide services to the core and in doing so they
become economically more advanced than the periphery (the overall power system
demands mid-point)
This system is what is called CAPITALISM – defined as a society of class exploitation
In order to understand how capitalism works, we need to develop a historical materialist
perspective:
- Materialism- understanding must be based on empiricism/observation and things we can
test
- Historical- must base all analysis of society on history
- Tribal, ancient, Feudal, capitalism (all these types of society are based in class struggle)
- CLASS STRUGGLE- Marx believes capitalism is a swindle (an ideology different to reality)
- The theory of surplus value- capitalism is legalised theft
