Key Ideas Marx was interested in the impact of capitalism on society. Through observations of industrialised Victorian society he noted a number of things: Power was held by a minority (the elite or bourgeoisie) who had access to capital and could use their money and power to generate more wealth The majority of the population (the mass or proletariat) had only their labour (strength and time) to help them make a living Industrialisation had meant that the elite were the only ones who had access to the means of production Without the ability to produce for themselves, the mass were dependent on the elite for survival To maximise profits, the elite needed to get as much labour from the mass for as little cost as possible The elite needed the mass to accept their position as powerless

What is Marxism? At the heart of Marxism is the belief that all capitalist societies function on the same principles. Society is formed of the ‘economic base’ and the ‘superstructure’. A capitalist society can only work if the people within society accept that they need ‘things’. It is through the economic base that production of these ‘things’ occur. This is consumerism. In order to make people think they want and need certain things you need the ‘superstructure’ – social and cultural institutions such as The Army, Police, Legal System, Political System, Education, Religion, the notion of family and of course the Media. These institutions control our cultural and social beliefs in a way that keep consumerism and capitalism going. Within this you have the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. These are the people themselves – the bourgeoisie are the rich, powerful people who are in control. They want everything to stay the same because if it does they continue to have power, control and money. The proletariat are the workers, the people who form they economic base. They help the cycle of consumerism by producing and consuming these ‘things’ or ideas and beliefs. You can think of the bourgeoisie as the ‘haves’ or the elite and you can think of the proletariat as the ‘have nots’ or the masses.

The Economic Base & Superstructure Marxism argues that essentially society is unfair with the majority of people working for the few and the few having all the power, control and money. So, why don’t the proletariat just overthrow the bourgeoisie? There are more of them, if they stopped producing things for the economic base then the structure of consumerism and capitalism doesn’t work. This is why the Superstructure is needed. The Superstructure can be split into two different parts; Repressive State Apparatus and Ideological State Apparatus. The Superstructure is used to control the proletariat into conforming to the beliefs and ideas that keep the bourgeoisie in control and power. SUPERSTRUCTURE Politics Legal Armed Forces Police Family Media Religion Education ECONOMIC BASE

RSA & ISA Repressive State Apparatus: Those that threaten to act The Superstructure helps keep the status quo – the bourgeoisie at the top and the proletariat at the bottom by controlling people either through repression or ideology. Repressive State Apparatus: Those that threaten to act with force if rules are not upheld. Ideological State Apparatus: Those that act to construct the values and ideologies which govern the way people behave. THE ARMY SCHOOLS THE POLICE RELIGION THE LEGAL SYSTEM FAMILIES THE POLITICAL SYSTEM MEDIA

RSA, ISA & False Consciousness In modern society the Media is at the heart of the Superstructure because it constantly reinforces the dominant ideologies that support the bourgeoisie. This is called the status quo or false consciousness – because the ideologies that the proletariat see and hear all the time (through the media) mostly support the norm or the status quo they simply accept that this is the way is supposed to be. False Consciousness = the belief in ideas and values as truths when in fact they are constructed ideologies which support the power base and keep the system the way it is.

Marxism & the Media According to Marxist theory - As part of the modern superstructure, the media plays a pivotal role in the function of maintaining the power and influence held by the bourgeoisie. Media institutions are ruled and controlled by members of the bourgeoisie they want to stay in control and power. Therefore the viewpoints, messages and ideologies of the media products they produce try to legitimize, perpetuate and promote the ideologies that will continue this control and power. Any opposite ideologies are either not allowed to be heard or they are presented in such as way as to convince the proletariat that they are wrong. Chomsky & Herman (1988) are theorists who supported this idea of the media. They believed that the media manipulates populations to prevent them from rebelling against those in power.

Examples Repressive State Apparatus – The Army, The Legal System, The Political System and the Police – they have laws to ensure that their ideologies are supported and accepted by society HOWEVER the media also play an important role in promoting these. It was illegal in many states in American for people of black and white races to marry (up until 1950s). This was supported in law but also in the representations on TV and in film. As society started to change so did representations and then law.

Examples Ideological State Apparatus – Media, family, education and religion – these systems control through ideas rather than law. They present ideologies to people, mainly through the media, in order to get people to accept them as normal. Consider how the representation of women has changed over the years – from wife and mother to career woman and super mother. Consider how women who had careers might have been viewed in previous generations compared to now. Who’s interest would it have been in to keep women ‘in doors’? Why might it support a Marxist view of society?

Fetishisation and Demonisation Another way that the power structure can be maintained is via the construction of fetishised representations of the mass. This is when the idea of being ‘working class’ or part of the mass is romanticised and shown to be a positive thing. The opposite of fetishisation is when the ‘working class’ are demonised which presenting the poor as being ‘undeserving’ or in their financial position through choice rather than social circumstances. This is reinforced by the contemporary value of individualism which promotes the idea of people being responsible for their own position in life and a belief that lack of financial success is caused by laziness or incompetence rather than consideration of the possibility that social circumstances may have an impact on a person’s lifestyle.

Marxist reading of a text, look out for representations that: show the values of the power elite as beneficial to the mass show queries or challenges to the base as meaningless, foolish or anti- social via ‘failed revolt’ show the subdominant position of the masses as a naturalised idea show the values of the power elite as ‘natural’ or ‘right’ show that being a member of the mass is a good thing show the masses accepting the values of the power elite show the values of the power elite as being ‘for the good of the masses’ (even when unpleasant)

Marx’s ideas are based around a basic binary opposition Marx’s ideas are based around a basic binary opposition. This can be expressed a number of ways: Bourgeoisie – Proletariat Powerful – Powerless Elite – Mass Bosses – Workers Rich – Poor

Fisher Capitalist Realism Fisher in Capitalist Realism (2009) identifies a situation where contemporary culture has accepted that there is no alternative to capitalism and so its power is maintained. Marx would see this as the total success of the superstructures and false consciousness and so his theories may provide a relevant methodology to use to get under the surface of the repetition of dominant values which appear to have been widely accepted.

Criticisms of Marxism Karl Marx was writing 150 years ago during industrialisation, when society was very different. Back then most businesses were controlled by one person or a family whereas now most big businesses or institutions are controlled by shareholders – can we still use Marxism when there is a less obvious divide between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat? Technology has changed so radically now, although the mainstream media is still an ideological state apparatus what about e-media. The fact that I can ignore mainstream media and its ideologies and go off and find my own? Does this mean that Marxism no longer happens at all? Is it still relevant? The other big problem with Marxism is that it assumes the audience is passive – that the people seeing and hearing these dominant ideologies through the media are going to simply accept them and not think for themselves. Stuart Hall argued in the 1980s that the dominant ideologies can be called the ‘preferred readings’ of texts but that the readers can ignore these and chose to adopt alternative readings instead. Hall suggested they could have a ‘negotiated’ reading or an ‘oppositional’ reading instead. If this is the case then the argument for Marxism is diminished massively since the superstructure has less control.

Marxism and Hegemony V for Vendetta 2006