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Humanities 2B Midterm

Terms in this set (20)

Early Marx philosophy
Humanist; Questions what is a good life and what happens goes wrong under capitalism
Four kinds of alienation:
From the product
From productive activity
From human nature/self
From other men/people
Alienation from the product
Don't feel sense of fulfillment because you don't see the product being made
Fulfillment is a central part of human nature
Grocery store is impersonal because the food takes a long journey from its source
Assembly line work is dull
Alienation from productive activity
Work should call pleasure rather than being monotonous and routine, like it is now
Work dehumanizes us by robbing us of our creative potential
Alienation from human nature/self
What happens to your human nature when you are robbed of your creative potential?
Alienation from other men/people
Capitalism pits people against each other
Marx's Theory of History
Base & Superstructure differs from society/time period to society/time period
Marx's Theory of History (Base)
Underlying economic causes
Means of Production and relations of production
Marx's Theory of History (Base)[Means of Production]
what do people need to run their society?
Marx's Theory of History (Base)[Relations of Production]
Class System, How is society organized to utilize the means of production?
Marx's Theory of History (Superstructure)
Education, family, religion, mass media, political structure
Relationship between base and superstructure
The superstructure supports, rationalizes, reinforces the particular economy that lies beneath it (and those that benefit from it)

The realm of ideas keeps underlying economy stable
Communist Manifesto
Marx focuses on shift from feudalism to capitalism
If you understand how one stage of history transitions to the next, you will understand the transition to socialism
Stages of History
Primitive Communism
Slave Societies
Feudalism
Capitalism
Socialism
Communism
Feudalism to Capitalism
Stages of History (Primitive Communism)
Means: game, berries, roots, flint
Relations: hunters and gatherers - no private property
Politics: egalitarianism, tribe
Ideological superstructure: animal worship
Stages of History (Feudalism)
Means: Land is source of capital and things you need to extract wealth from land
Relations: Aristocrats vs serfs
Politics: vassalage and fiefdoms
Ideology: religion, divine right, good serfs get afterlife
Stages of History (Capitalism)
Means: factories, accumulated money, natural resources, investments. Acquire as much property as you can!
Politics: Liberal state for workers
Ideology: natural rights and free market justifies exploitation
Stages of History (Socialism)
Very similar to capitalism
Means: Everybody should work equally
Relations: only one class, workers; investments owned communally
Politics: workplace democracies
Ideology: equality and ending of superstition
Stages of History (Communism)
Means: replace human labor with machines, nobody will have to work
Relations: no classes
Politics: state withers away, no need for politics
Ideology: complete freedom of creativity
Stages of History (Feudalism to Capitalism)
Small markets begin to grow, technology develops, small scale factories begin to grow, serfs & aristocrats --> bourgeois and workers
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