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Marxism and its
influence on Cultural studies
M.K Bhavnagar University
Department of English
Sem 2
Name – Hema Goswami
Roll no. 12
Enrollment no.
2069108420180020
Paper 8: The Cultural
Studies
Topic: Marxism and its influence on cultural
studies.
Introduction
Marxism sees
culture as the masking of real social and economic conditions where cultural
artefacts conceal exploitative labor and ideology ( a system of
representations) convinces people that everything is alright. Thus the boom in
employment for young graduates at call centers- projected as a great advance-
masks the real economic condition wherein they are paid far less than their
American counterparts.
Marxism
The term Marxism
is coined by Karl Marx and to a lesser extent, by Friedrich Engels in the mid
19th century. Marx applied it
to capitalist society. Marx‘s interpretation of human nature begins with human
need. The point of departure of human history is therefore living human beings,
who seek to satisfy certain primary needs. “The first historical fact is the
production of the means to satisfy these needs.” This satisfaction, in turn, opens the way for
new needs. Human activity is thus essentially a struggle with nature that must
furnish the means of satisfying human needs: drink, food, clothing, the
development of human powers and then human intellectual and artistic abilities. (chambre)
Karl
Marx distinguishes two classes of society :-
a)
Bourgeoisie
b)
Proletariat
Class for
Marx, is defined as the relationship rather than a position or rank in society.
The main classes in capitalism are the bourgeoisie and Proletariat. In Marx
analysis, the capitalist class could not exist without the proletariat, or
vice- versa (sociology 250) . Bourgeoisie or
capitalists are the owners of capital, purchasing and exploiting labor power.
The proletariats are owners of labor power with no other resources than the
ability to work with their hands, bodies and minds.
Capitalist
society
In a
capitalist society the individual is not really free. Marx takes the idea of
alienation, to describe the fact. He brings that idea from Hegel and Ludwig
Feuerbach. The alienation of labor is seen to spring from the fact that the
more the worker produces, the less he has to consume, and the more values he
creates the more devalues himself, because his product and his labor are
separated from him.
Capitalist
society the individual is divided into political citizen and economic actor,
the bourgeois. From the study of society
Mark came to see the state as the instrument through which the propertied class
dominated other classes.
Religion
Marx
considered religion to be a product of human consciousness. It is a reflection
of the situation of a person who “either has not conquered himself or has
already lost himself again” it is an “opium for the people”. Marx believed that
religion would disappear only with changes in society.
Das
Capital
Two
types of value of a commodity:-
1)
Use-value
2)
Exchange-value
Marx argues
that commodities have both a use-value and an exchange value, and that their
exchange-value is rooted in how much labor-power went into them. A use value
corresponds to the usefulness of an object, and is internal to that object. Exchange
value comes from value relative to other objects. An object doesn’t have an
exchange value in itself, but only in its relationship with other objects.
Labor
theory
Value means
the amount of labor it takes to make the commodities. This labor theory is very
important to Marx’s theory. It implies that the price of commodities comes from
how much labor was put into them. There is one implication of labor theory; it
doesn’t have use-value of natural resources because no labor went into them. (editors of sparknotes)
Power of
capitalists
The final
aim of the capitalists is to use commodities to make more and more profit. The
capitalists exploited the workers. The capitalists are able to exploit the
workers because they have power, and control the means of production. In this
way the worker’s character is negatively affected by the system. The product
which they produced is not owned by them, they don’t own the product of their
labor.
Two kinds
of circulation
1)
C-M-C
(commodities-money-commodities)
2)
M-C-M
(money-commodities-money)
Marx
distinguishes two kinds of circulation.
In C-M-C commodities transformed into money which is back transformed
into commodities. It is the direct form of circulation. In this case we sell
commodities in order to buy more, and money acts as a kind of middle man. In
M-C-M, we buy in order to sell; money is capital. The first phase transforms
money into a commodity, the second transforms commodity into money.
Money
Marx
introduces that money plays a very different role in modern capitalistic
society than it does in traditional society. Both types of circulation use
money as a unit of exchange. The money is instrumentally useful in trading
commodities. The ultimate purpose of M-C-M is the accumulation of money. There
is never ending cycle, because the end product is simply more money. Money is
capital, according to Marx, by definition a capitalist’s goal is boundless
enrichment.
Marxism
in cultural studies
The
Marx-Engels analysis of society and the condition of production spilled over
into an analysis of culture.
Ideology
of consumerism
In a
contemporary advertisement for various consumer objects, the advertiser
carefully suggests that the object marks a certain lifestyle. Therefore we do
not simply buy an object but we buy a lifestyle that locates us in a particular
class. This mode of selling object is the ideology of consumerism.
Whatever we
are buying, wearing, taking holidays etc, all these things helps to identify us
as a member of certain class.
It becomes
the ideology that modernity and development can be reduced to a consumer product.
Social
superstructure
The
capitalist mode of production justified and naturalized itself through certain
patterns of thought. The exploitative economic relations of the factory are
carried over into the social realm. The economic base influences the social
superstructure.
Class
Classes are
the basic units in social conflict. Class membership is defined by the
ownership or lack of ownership of the means of production. The working class is
made up of those who sell their labor power, the capitalist class of those that
purchase labor power.
Oppressed
class
The
oppressed class believes this inequality as natural or preordained, and do not
even recognize that they are oppressed. The system of thought and
representation that helps to legitimize inequality and oppression is termed as
‘ideology’. Ideology is a false consciousness that prevents the recognition of
oppression by the oppressed.
Ideology
Ideology is
sustained and reproduced through cultural forms, such as art. Culture must be
understood in relation to the economic conditions of the age. There is
correlation between the socio-economic conditions and the kind of cultural
works produced.
Capitalist
economy
The
capitalist economy creates illusion about itself. The workers are under the
illusion that they are free and unexploited, that the capitalist has a
ligetimate right to the surplus, and that the commodities, money, and capital
have properties and powers of their own.
Antonio
Gramsci
Gramsci
emphasizes the institutional and cultural bases of ideology. Ideology may be
any form: political propaganda, sermons, folklore and popular songs. Ideology
is not false consciousness, simply because for Gramsci popular songs and
superstitions are themselves material forces.
Hegemony
Gramsci
develops the concept of hegemony to demonstrate hoe ideology works. Hegemony is
the nexus of material and ideological instruments through which the dominant
classes maintain their power. Hegemony thus mediates between the ruling ideas
and the subjects. The hegemony of the ruling dominant class is maintained through
coercion and consent. The ideas of the dominant class are institutionalized in
the civil society. A more subtle form of control is to employ intellectuals to
be naturalize the present. The ruled must be made to accept things.
Louis
Althusser
Ideology for
Louis Althusser constructs the individuals as subjects of the system. It gives
the identity necessary to the functioning of the existing state of affairs,
while making them feel as if they are free agents. Althusser termed
“interpellation” for free agents. It is a system of representations.
Repressive
state Apparatuses
State power
is maintained through Repressive State Apparatuses like the police, the army,
law courts and prisons that operate through actual or threats of coercive
force/violence. But the power is also maintained through the active consent of
the subjects. This is achieved through Ideological State apparatuses of State
control, the political groups, the media, the education system, religion and
art.
Conclusion
Therefore culture
is the expression of class conflict and social relations that are structured by
and through power relations. Economic conditions determine social and cultural
formations. Even the ideologies that reinforce the class differences and power
relations are functioning through culture. Culture is often a mode of
concealing economic conditions, where images and representations make us
believe that these conditions are ‘natural’. (nayar)
Works Cited
chambre, David t. mclellan and henri.
"Marxism." 2 january 2018. ecyclopaedia britannica.
<https://www.britannica.com/topic/Marxism>.
editors of sparknotes.
"das Kapital." 2007. sparknotes.com. <www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/daskapital/section1/>.
nayar, Pramod k. An
introduction to cultural studies. n.d.
sociology 250.
"marx's theory of social classand class structure." 28 september
1999. uregina.ca. <uregina.ca/~gingrich/s28f99.htm>.
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