Marxist explanations of class inequality
- Created by: MelMel
- Created on: 18-10-19 10:26
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- Marxist explanations of class inequality
- Capitalist exploitation (Marx)
- Two classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat
- The bourgeoisie own the means of production= high privilege and powerful economic position
- The proletariat can survive only by selling their labour
- They create wealth but the rewards are seized by the bourgeoisie (surplus value)
- Social inequality is caused when the bourgeoisie oppress and exploit the proletariat
- Criticisms
- Max Weber- the two class model oversimplifies the differences: teachers and and students don't own means of production= proletariat?
- Marx fails to take into account the success of Capitalism in some western societies, where the w/c enjoy the rising living standards
- False class consciousness (Neo-Marxists)
- The prevalent set of ideas support the illusion that we live in a meritocracy; workers will believe that they are in their position due to role allocation and blame themselves
- The superstructure (school,media etc) is controlled by the bourgeoisie and they teach the dominant ideology
- Gramsci- the bourgeoisie use their superior resources (control of mass media) to win the workers over
- Gramsci calls this hegemony (dominance by political and cultural means)
- Marcuse- the hypnotic power of the mass media deprives us of capacity for critical thought
- Criticisms
- Functionalists- the system is accepted due to value consensus and the media projects and promotes the views of the majority (positive role)
- Postmodernists- class differences aren't as rigid as they used to be; people are free to construct their own identities and have individual choice
- Reserve army of labour (Castles and Kosack)
- Capitalists prefer to have more workers= weakened bargaining position
- If workers go on strike, bourgeoisie canreplace them with the reserve army of labour
- Gig economy; Uber- low infrastructure cost for ruling class
- The bourgeoisie encourage competition between ethnic groups to create divisions and distract the proletariat from the real problems divide and rule strategy)
- Criticisms
- Functionalists- low paid jobs and unemploymennt is due to role allocation; working class lack skill and motivation
- Feminists- women are more likely to be in reserve army of labour; women are exploited as a separate class
- Cultural capital (Bourdieu)
- People who have higher levels of cultural capital maintain their privileges
- M/c have a way of speaking (elaborated code) so they relate to each other more easily (lawyers, teachers, doctors etc)
- Gillies- m/c parents used their cultural capital to benefit their children by knowing how to communicate with teachers to get their child privileges
- Cultural reproduction ensures privileges of one generation are passed on to the next
- Criticisms
- Marxist Feminists- w/c women face greater inequality than the w/c alone
- Jenkins and Bennett- Bouridieu's research cannot be generalised to other countries; different countries will have different class cultures
- Bennett found little evidence of a dominant legitimate culture
- Capitalist exploitation (Marx)
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