Reading Karl Marx III

THE GERMAN IDEOLOGY (cont.)

Division of Labor, Manufacturing

Compare/contrast Marx's and Durkheim's analysis of the dynamics of the division of labor. By "division of labor," do they mean the same thing? How about Weber's analysis the various forms of the social division of labor, any similarities/differences with Marx's?

Identify and list as many theoretical propositions about social organization and historical change as you can find in this section of the readings.

Community

Identify the main features of the processes of class formation. Are these features be useful to understand the U.S. situation today? Why? Any similarities to Weber's views?

Discuss Marx's version of the conditions leading to the difference between ascriptive and achieved statuses. How does the division of labor cause a division in individuals' lives? Why is it the emergence of the bourgeois class that leads to this phenomenon?

THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO

Read the entire assignment but focus on section I (pp. 158-169). We can discuss the rest if we have time during the Lentils Seminar or in the Review seminar.

Bourgeois and Proletarians

1. History is the history of class struggles. Explain.
2. Compare and identify the differences between the feudal and the emergent capitalist class structure.
3. What are some of the conditions for the emergence of the bourgeoisie?
4. What are the reasons why Marx considers that the bourgeoisie has played an important revolutionary role in history? In your view, is it still playing that role today? Where? In what contexts?
5. What are some of the elements for Marx's theory of social change you can identify in this section of the Manifesto?
6. What is the role of the state in capitalist societies?
7. Why does Marx compare the development of capitalism and the activities of the bourgeoisie to the sorcerer's apprentice?
8. In what sense has the bourgeoisie created its own gravediggers?
9. Describe the characteristics of alienated labor.
10. Describe the stages in the development of the proletariat.
11. What are the main features of the class struggles Marx envisions at the twilight of capitalism? Are some of those features still relevant for studying class conflicts today?

PREFACE TO A CONTRIBUTION TO THE CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

This is the only systematic statement of the main propositions of Historical materialism. It is short, but extraordinarily rich in its implications and very controversial, for it stresses the inertia of the social and the existence of social processes and realities independent of individuals' will and consciousness. In addition to striving to grasp the theory of historical change posited in this statement, do focus on the concepts and relationships listed below. You will find that your previous readings help you a great deal to understand their meaning.

Key concepts:

-relations of production
-material forces of production/material productive forces -economic structure
-superstructure
-consciousness
-social existence
-property relations
-material transformations
-ideological forms
-social formation
-modes of production

Key relationships among these concepts

-appropriateness
-correspondence
-contradiction
-conflict
-forms of development
-fettering
-relationship between structure/existence and consciousness -relationship between base and superstructures/forms of consciousness -relationship between changes in material conditions, emergence of new social relations, and the possibility for qualitative social change.