1. Karl Marx 2 Critical Sociology

2. Causes / Aspects / Effects / Solutions
Outline
Marx’s aims
Critique
Alienation
Alienation and work
Causes / Aspects / Effects / Solutions
5) Criticisms
6) Relevance today?

3. Important Writings EARLY: more about philosophy
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844)
MIDDLE: more about politics
The Communist Manifesto (1848)
(with Engels)
LATER: more about economics
Das Kapital (‘Capital’) (1867)

4. Marx’s Aims Gain critical knowledge of social conditions
Criticise capitalist society
Identify the main features of capitalist society
Identify hidden aspects of that society – aspects other accounts had been unable to see
Criticise other accounts of society – especially those that are uncritical of capitalism
Encourage revolution – help develop Communist society

5. Critique Criticism – evaluating something
– identifying ‘good’ and ‘bad’ aspects of that thing
Applied to: a society
e.g. capitalism bad AND good
Bad: exploitative of the working classes
Good: leads to Communism

6. 2) Scepticism
not taking claims at face value
can’t take a society’s opinions of itself at face value
Applied to: ideologies
(sets of ideas and attitudes, characteristic of a society)
- In whose interests do they work?
- What things do they hide?

7. Scepticism
Cannot base social science on common-sense
Must look at hidden aspects of social life
Must have special terminology & concepts to describe these hidden aspects (“historical materialism”)
Critical of Positivism – only looks at surfaces; must get underneath these surfaces

8. 3) Uncovering hidden assumptions
Immanuel Kant – later 18th century
Applied to: other theories of society
e.g. ‘Human beings are essentially selfish’

9. Hidden, taken-for-granted assumptions:
a) human nature unchanging, not socially shaped
b) human nature unaffected by capitalist society
c) must look at individual, not society as a whole
Critique of other theories:
lay bare their hidden assumptions
& show that these are very much open to question

10. 4) Measuring ideals against reality
To criticise something you must have an understanding of what an ideal version of that thing looks like
Measure the real thing against the ideal version of it
Critique of a society:
Measure a real society against an ideal society

11. Two ways of carrying out critique of a society:
Method 1: ‘external critique’
A real society, existing today
MEASURED AGAINST
An ideal society, existing in the future
Communism Capitalism
Work enjoyable Work not enjoyable
Individual free Individual enslaved
Everyone cooperates Everyone selfish

12. Method 2: ‘internal critique’
Real society
MEASURED AGAINST
Its own ideas about itself (ideologies)
- Each society makes great, positive claims about itself
- Show that these claims are false; that the reality of that society fails to live up to the claims

13. Capitalist society’s ideas about itself:
Individual freedom, democracy, meritocracy
Reality of capitalism:
Lack of freedom, democracy illusory, meritocracy is a myth
Capitalist society confronted with its own ideals
Capitalist society shown to fail to live up to its own ideals
Capitalist society is hypocritical

14. Alienation Aims of Marx’s analysis of alienation:
To show the working classes why capitalism is a bad society
(especially for them)
2) To find out how capitalism REALLY works
- go beyond its own ideas about itself
identify capitalism’s hidden workings

15. Alienation Two meanings: Commonsense meaning:
Person alienated from something
End of alienation: person reconciled with that thing
e.g. parents, family, society
Marx: person alienated from their work

16. 2) Hegel’s meaning of alienation:
a) Person makes something
b) The thing takes on a life of its own
c) The thing comes to dominate & control the person who made it
- Can apply to whole societies
- Humans create things that come to control them

17. Alienation in human societies:
Alienation & work
2. Alienation and religion
Humans create God (or gods);
God takes on a life of his own
God comes to dominate humans
3. Alienation and the State
Humans create the State
The State takes on a life of its own
The State comes to control humans

18. Alienation & Work Critique of capitalism =
Critique of work in capitalism =
Critique of how work is organised in capitalism =
Critique of the capitalist division of labour

19. Critique of the capitalist division of labour
Adam Smith:
Late 18th century; Political Economy (economics)
Benefits of the capitalist division of labour
Marx’s critique of capitalism
critique of Adam Smith’s Political Economy
show the drawbacks of the capitalist division of labour

20. Adam Smith: the capitalist division of labour
Simple division of labour
One person making one object
slow
Inefficient
unproductive

21. Complex (capitalist) division of labour
Divide jobs up in the making of one object
Use a number of people to make the object
Each individual specialises
Work is done faster
Many more objects can be made
More wealth created in nation
Employers, workers & consumers all benefit
Conclusion: capitalism works very well

22. Marx’s Critique of Smith
1) Over-optimistic: assumes CDOL is good
Cannot see/admit bad aspects of CDOL
2) Stays at the level of theory
Does not look at empirical reality
3) Looks at the surface of the CDOL
Does not look at its hidden aspects
4) Political economy is not SCIENCE but IDEOLOGY
- a naïve celebration of capitalism
- completely lacks a critical analysis of capitalism

23. Capitalist division of labour
alienates workers from their work
goes against human nature
Human nature:
Humans enjoy work
IF work is freely chosen, is creative, & involves using imagination

24. Class-based societies
pervert human nature
- Ruling class (minority) / class of workers (majority)
Class of workers FORCED to work
Work is both uncreative and boring
Ruling class reaps all the benefits
Human enjoyment of work prevented

25. Causes of Alienation in Work
Capitalist division of labour:
1) Relationship between capitalists and workers
Factory worker
- Does all the work
- Work is dull, repetitive and unsatisfying
- Only does one specialist task
 Has very limited skills
Becomes like a machine
Loses his/her humanity
(to work freely and creatively)

26. Capitalist factory owner
Does not do the actual work
Becomes wealthy through
other people’s efforts
Capitalist is a parasite

27. 2) Worker does not own property:
i.e. raw materials, tools and finished products (commodities)
Capitalists own these
(“private property”)
3) Worker has no control over their work
Little or no choice as to what work to do
Have to work to earn wages in order to survive
(“wage slaves”)

28. 4) Exploitation
Obvious: capitalists USE the workers;
reap the benefits
b) Hidden: extract surplus value
Surplus value = profit
Difference between value of:
1) worker’s wage
AND
2) value of commodity s/he makes
e.g. table sold for £10
worker paid £2
surplus value = £8  taken by capitalist

29. Surplus value extracted in 2 ways:
Lengthen the working day
(but keep wages the same)
e.g. £10 wages
for 5 hours work
(£2 per hour)
£10 wages
for 10 hours work
(£1 per hour)

30. 2) Make labour more productive
Workers made to produce more goods in the same time
(and wages stay the same as before)
e.g. 12 tables in 4 hours
(3 tables per hour)
12 tables in 2 hours
(6 tables per hour)

31. Capitalists constantly seek more profit
More profit = more exploitation of workers
Class conflict: class interests are antagonistic
Capitalists seek to exploit workers
Workers seek to avoid exploitation

32. Aspects of Alienation in Work
Alienated from the work process
- No control over work
2. Alienated from the things made
- Making things for someone else’s benefit

33. 3. Alienated from his/her (true) self
Alienated from his/her human nature (‘species being’)
Not allowed to make things freely and creatively
4. Alienated from other people
No sense of community / capitalists / other workers

34. Effects of Alienation in Work
Dehumanisation
Worker becomes like a machine
A cog in a giant mechanism
Class conflict
Interests of capitalists and workers are antagonistic
Classes alienated from each other
3) The Economy comes to control human beings
Humans made the economy
Economy takes on a life of its own
Seems to have its own ‘laws’, its own ways of working that cannot be controlled (“the market”)
Economy apparently beyond all human control

35. Humans enslaved by something they have made (and keep on making)
‘Commodity fetishism’:
- people make goods for sale (commodities)
commodities come to control their makers
the economy (the market for commodities) controls workers AND capitalists
the economy seems unstoppable and totally out of control

36. 4) Everyone is alienated:
You are alienated even if you don’t realise it
Capitalists as alienated as the workers
(but capitalists have a cushion: their wealth)
5) Spread of capitalism across the globe
“Globalization” – world-wide spread of alienation in work & exploitation

37. Solutions to Alienation
Communism
= revolutionary change in
organising work
Abolition of division of labour:
Abolition of classes: everyone is a worker
Abolition of private property:
- all things owned by everyone in common
- all work done benefits everyone

38. Machines do all the routine work
No job specialisation:
individual has multiple work
roles and skills
e.g. fisherman AND painter
farmer AND composer
People free to do whatever work that they enjoy
Creativity and freedom in work
Human nature freely expressed
State vanishes – communities organise themselves
Religion vanishes

39. Criticisms of Marx 1) Overemphasises work?
- More to human societies than work/economy alone
2) Outdated?
Might apply to 19th century factories
But cannot so easily be applied today
3) Non-alienating sorts of employment?
e.g. types of self-employment
4) Communism unworkable?
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
Capitalism inevitable?
Capitalist division of labour unavoidable?

40. Relevance Today? Political economy  modern neo-liberal economics
Capitalist markets are good
Capitalism shares wealth amongst all
‘Trickle-down effect’
Capitalist markets must be unhindered:
Low taxes on companies & wealthy
Low welfare spending for the poor

41. Marxist critique of Neo-Liberal Economics
Capitalist markets still alienating & exploitative
Capitalism tends to give wealth only to the wealthy
The poor remain poor
Deskilling of workforce:
McJobs, call centres

42. Marxist critique of Neo-Liberal Economics
Globalization:
Job insecurity for Western workers
Western exploitation of Third World
Justification of activities of Trans-National Corporations (TNCs)
e.g. Nike, Gap using sweatshop labour
in Far East
OVERALL:
Capitalism today very much like in Marx’s time
Neo-liberal economics tries to cover up the harsh realities
Marxist critical sociology reveals these realities