Marxism

Group 5
please listen carefully
The world is in a state of
wealthy vs. poverty,
survival of the fittest.

CONFLICT THEORY
 01
In literary theory, a Marxist interpretation reads
the text as an expression of contemporary class
struggle. Literature is not simply a matter of
personal expression or taste. It somehow relates
to the social and political conditions of the time.
How it relates is of course up for debate.
 The bourgeoisie – those who control
the world’s natural, economic, and
human resources and

The proletariat – the majority of the

global population who live in
substandard conditions and perform the
manual labor.
Benefit of Theory:

Marxist literature show how texts

can be a benefit of social change
either by illustrating the ills of
society and/or creating a solution
to the problem.
Questions of Marxist Theorists to Interpret a Text:
0
01 03
How does the work reflect
2 Does the work enforce or
Where does the text show
the social/historical showcase capitalist or
class conflict as the source of
conditions? classist values and power
struggle and tension?
structures?

04 05
In what ways does the work seem
to support a Marxist agenda, but Where does the work
also exhibit a false consciousness contradict or deconstruct
that returns to the status quo itself?
instead?
Disadvantage of
Theory
Because the theory believes classism is the
reason for all ills, this theory only focuses on
addressing and solving this one-sided problem.
Notable Theorist/s:
● Karl Marx created this understanding of texts produced
by cultures with the focus on how does the text reinforce
or resist (or both) the capitalist “material conditions” of
the time of its writing or how does the character/s do that
within the story promoting a Marxist agenda to the
outside reader. Marx tried to expose the elitist forces at
work that keep the lower people from igniting a
revolution of change for which has yet to happen.