1. Marxist Criticism
This criticism examines the relationship between the text and the society that reads it.

2. Marxism offers an appealing world view to working class
20th century movement that idealized a classless society, where wealth, opportunity and education would be available to EVERYONE, particularly influential in 20’s and 30’s
Karl Marx ( ) and Friedrich Engels ( )
Wrote the Communist Manifesto -1848, dialectical materialism= consciousness does not determine life, society shapes our consciousness. Purport that humans define themselves through daily living and interaction and NOT a spiritual reality or Platonic essence (ideals); our place in society and our social interaction determine our consciousness or who we are -discuss

3. ***economic means of production in society controls ALL human institutions and ideologies (social, legal, political, educational) -ideologies and institutions develop as a result of economic means of production -history (people and their actions) are determined by economic conditions --anything today that you think supports that view?

4. MARXIST ESSENTIALS

5. CAPITALISM
by its very nature is designed to oppress the lower classes. The elite (aristocrats and Bourgeois) are at the top and possess surplus capital. They can invest it to obtain MORE capital. Lower classes cannot invest/expand. They need their scant resources to survive. A vast majority do not benefit form the profits of labour. On top of that, Industrial Revolution displace workers whose jobs were now accomplished by machines (devalued one of the few commodities that a worker had)

6. Classicism
equating one’s value as a human being to the social class they belong – e.g. the higher one’s class, the better one is assumed to be (think of “blue-bloods”, or aristocrats vs. poor, “white trash” (NOT my personal ascription) but think CULTURALLY

7. Alienation
The workers are “left out” as the higher classes acquire and keep the wealth. The labouring person becomes as objectified as the object s/he produces; they are alienated from the actual product (no sense of meaning or craftsmanship – product is external to him/herself as something to be made for others; he becomes little more than an animal/piece of machinery as he toils to could not enjoy for himself (alienated from human race) provide for others that which he probably

8. Commodification –
“you are what you own” – relating objects and emblems of wealth to a person’s value – e.g. surrounding oneself with showy bling, cars and feeling that because one possesses “quality” they are quality people. Our culture encourages consumerism – never satisfied. Examples today???

9. False Consciousness
“an ideal functions to mask its own failure” – e.g. war on terrorism, Why do so many Americans still conform to an American Dream when they’ve failed to achieve it?—these ideals promote the interest of those in power

10. Religion –
upper classes use religion to keep down the lower classes (dangle the prospect of heaven/a better place after one dies) to tolerate present oppression and hierarchy, “religion is the opiate of the people”

11. The Communist Manifesto -
Posits that Bourgeoisie (capitalists/merchant classes) have enslaved working class (proletariat) through economic policies and production of goods, ultimately gaining social and political control of society and imposing ideology on working class
Manifesto foresaw that political/economic organization would “evolve” from feudalism – capitalism – communism – ultimately, benevolent self-rule

12. A CRITIC MUST:
Place a work in its historical setting, paying attention to author’s life, time period in which work was written and cultural milieu of both the text and author, and the economic means of production
(who decides what texts should be published, when a text should be published, and how a text is distributed)
Examine social relationships (adds sociological issues that concern not only characters in a works, but the authors AND readers)
-literature reflects society and reveals truths concerning social interactions (how do characters behave? what motivates them? Who has power and who does not?)

13. Core assumptions:
it is our cultural and social circumstances that determine who we are – not religion nor philosophy
society’s structure is built on a series of ongoing conflicts between social classes – that various methods of production engender certain social relationships, i.e. Capitalists exploit and dominate working class thereby determining their living conditions. From this arises the superstructure (social and legal institutions, political, educational systems, religious beliefs and literature that one dominant social class uses to control another
social elite (consciously or unconsciously) forces it ideas on the working class
Literature mirrors the economic base
Or a text can alter the base

14. Methodology:
a text cannot be isolated from the cultural situation from which the text evolved –the study of literature and society are intricately involved
approach must go beyond literary elements (themes, style, plot, characterization, figures of speech) must be place in historical context and author’s view of life to determine its ideology – such an ideological and political investigation will expose class conflict, with dominant class and its accompanying ideology being imposed on proletariat
examines author’s ideology by examining characters’ setting and society , and investigates author’s social class and its effects on author’s society