Marxism and its Key

Assumptions
 Karl Marx
• German philosopher,
economist ,sociologist,
historian
• the founder of
communism
• a productive writer =>
wrote Capital (1867), The
German Ideology, The Karl Marx
Communist Manifesto 1818 - 1883
 Marx’s “the base and the
superstructure theory”
The superstructure (culture,
The base (economy) education, the state, legal system)
 Marx’s “the base and the
superstructure theory”
• Developments or
changes in the
economic base causes
the transformation of
society as a whole
 The "forces" of production and the
"relations" of production
The Marxist view is
materialist
 economic production is
the basis for all other
human activities
 The economic basis => the
means (forces) of
production + the relations
of production
 The "forces" of production and the
"relations" of production
• The “means of production” => land, factories, capital,
labour, machinery- used in the production of material
goods
• The “relations of production” => the social relationships
people enter into in order to produce goods

form the economic base of a given society

• the relation between these two factors determines the

type of the existing society
 The "forces" of production and
the "relations" of production
• Feudal Society- based on agricultural land
Means of production: land, peasant labour, simple
technology, livestock
Relations of production: Landlord exploits serf/peasant
• Industrial society- based on industrial production
Means of production: capital, labour, factory, complex
technology
Relations of production: Bourgeoisie (capitalist/owner)
exploits proletariat (worker)
 The value of surplus
• labour puts in more work than it gets back in
pay=> a surplus value appropriated by the
bourgeoisie

that is capitalist profit and it is derived from

labour exploitation
 Class in Marxist thought
 Class plays an important role
in Marxist analysis
 classes: the bourgeoisie (the
capitalist) and the proletariat
(the workers) => the main blocs
of conflict, class struggle
 the owners of the means of
production vs. those who own
only their labour
 What determines people’s class?
 Their relation to the means of
production.
 Class in Marxist thought
Bourgeoisie Proletariat
• owns the means of • do not own means of
production production
• buy labour power from • sell their labour power
proletariat • add value to the
• their wealth depend on products
the work of the • exploited by
proletariat bourgeoisie
• exploit proletariat
 Class in Marxist thought
• the main concern of
Marx: inequality in
power and wealth
between classes

• the final goal of Marxism is a classless society

• an important difference between big business
and small business
 WORKERS OF ALL LANDS, UNITE!
• Marx=> to overthrow the existing order
and replace it with a communist
society
• the workers of the world must unite
and free themselves from capitalist
oppression
• the class struggle is a universal struggle
=> proletarian revolutions need to
happen in countries all over the world
• the goal should be to change the world
 State and Marxism
• State developed as a tool for a minority of people to
oppress other people
• states are not autonomous => driven by ruling-class
interests
• struggles btw states should be seen in the economic
context of competition
• class conflict is more fundamental than conflict btw
states
 Realist critique: Marxism reduces the state to a simple
tool in the hands of the ruling classes
 In the "state of communism“
(Marx and Engel)
 "the State" no longer exists
 people live and work together in harmony
 a society based on equality
 no one is exploited
 no wage labour and private property
 What is capitalism?
• a system of production in which human labour
and its products are commodities that are bought
and sold in the market-place
• Characteristics of capitalism (Marx):
1. Everything has its price, including people’s
working time
2. Everything needed for production is owned by a
class
3. Workers are free but they must sell their labour to
the capitalist class
 Capitalism in the World
• Capitalism is expansive; not limited to • imperialism: the
states
• capitalism at the global level called as practice of
imperialism creates inequality btw states in foreign conquest
the system and rule in the
• the implications of capitalism’s trans-
border characteristics:
context of global
• Trotsky=> combined and uneven relations of
development hierarchy and
 Development would be combined =>> any subordination
state’s development level would be
affected by its relations with others
 Development would be uneven =>> states
develop at different levels
 From imperialism to world-systems
theory: Lenin’s Core-Periphery Model
• Imperialism, the Highest Stage of
Capitalism (1917)
 Lenin accepted Marx’s basic thesis but
the character of capitalism had changed
 a two level structure had developed : a
dominant core exploiting a less-
developed periphery
 no longer an automatic harmony of
interests between all workers
 the bourgeoisie in the core could use
profits derived from exploiting the
periphery to improve the share of their
own proletariat
 From Imperialism to Wallerstein’s
World-systems Theory
• Wallerstein added an intermediate semi-
periphery to core-periphery distinction
• The semi-periphery;
 shows some characteristic of the core and the
periphery
 plays important economic and political roles
within the modern world system => a source of
labour and a home for the industries
 3 zones of the world economy are in an unequal
relationship
 Gramscianism
• Antonio Gramsci: the most creative
Marxist thinker of the 20th century
• why had it proven to be so difficult
to promote revolution in Western Europe? => the
concept of hegemony
 Marxist had focused on the coercive practices and
capabilities of the state but not the case in the
Western developed countries
 Power is a mixture of coercion and consent
• the system was maintained through consent rather
than coercion in Western countries
 Why had it proven to be so difficult
to promote revolution in Western Europe?
• consent is created by the hegemony of the ruling
class in society
• use cultural institutions of civil society rather than
violence, economic force, or coercion
• the spread of the values of the dominant class
throughout society=> they become the values of all
 Hegemonic power is used to maintain consent to the
capitalist order, rather than coercive power using
force to maintain order
Robert Cox: The analysis of ‘world
order’
• Robert Cox's statement:
“Theory is always for someone and for
some purpose”
 all theories are value laden and
serve to some specific purpose

• Cox criticizes neo-realism=> serves

the interests of those who prosper
under the prevailing order
 goal of these theories whether
consciously or not, is to reinforce
and legitimate the status quo
Robert Cox: The analysis of ‘world
order’
• Robert Cox: introduced Gramschi to the study of
world politics
• brings the notion of hegemony to the international
area =>
• dominant powers have shaped a world order that
serves their interests=> not through coercion but
through consent for that order
• Ex: the UK and the USA => the dominant idea for
them has been free trade
Robert Cox: The analysis of ‘world
order’
• free trade serves the
interests of the hegemon,
but what about states in the
periphery?
• The goal of the CT => to
unmask the global
domination of the rich North
over the poor South
• Despite the dominance of
the existing world order, it is
challengeable
 Critical Theory
• There are common points of critical theory and Gramscian
approaches=> have their roots in Western Europe of the
1920s and 30s.

• There are also differences between them;

 use the ideas of different thinkers.
 their focuses are different from each other

• Critical theory developed out of the work of the Frankfurt

School
• Members of the Frankfurt School were Jürgen Habermas,
Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse
 Critical Theory
• The key features of critical theory;

 their intellectual concerns (superstructure) are

different from the concerns (economic base) of
most of the Marxists

 uncertain about whether the proletariat in

contemporary society has the potential for
emancipatory transformation
 New Marxism
• base on Marx’ own writings= > returned to the main
principles of Marxist thought
• criticized other developments within Marxism and
made its own theoretical contributions.
Justin Rosenberg:
• challenges realism’s claim to provide ahistorical and
timesless account of international relations.
• suggests that the character of the international system
in each period was completely different