The class struggle is the main concept used by Karl Marx (1818-1883) in the Manifesto of the Communist Party. It describes a situation in which the social classes, the bourgeoisie, and the proletariat, are strongly opposed, even violently, because of the exploitation of the latter by the former, which…
Jungian Archetypes in “Perseus” The use of Jungian archetypes in the Roman myth, “Perseus,” demonstrates common unconscious prototypes that humanity as a whole shares. In addition, analyzing the myth through these archetypes enlightens modern society about why we have the preconceived images that we do about our societal roles. The Jungian archetype theory has been used for many years to analyze myth, as well as religious and psychological ideas. The definition of the word archetype without the…
Arthur Miller’s “Are You Now or Were You Ever” discusses his purpose in writing the The Crucible and how the accusations that were made toward him led to the development of the play. During the 1950’s, there was a fear among society in the United States regarding communism. Communism is a political theory in which everyone in society works and is paid depending on their needs and property is publicly owned. Russia had once been a threat to the United States and its influence of communism still…
Class struggle, the struggle between the ruling class and the subject class, is the thematic emphasis of Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby. The novelist has showcased the fundamental cause of the African’s oppression is the exploitative economic system of capitalism and its overseas extension, imperialism. Racism and sexism, although equally oppressive, are treated as by-products of capitalism. Thus, in this novel her increased consciousness is reflected in her ability and commitment to explore this…
Marxism has been used to attempt to explain the capitalist conditions under apartheid in South Africa. Capitalism took the form of exploitation for profit under the oppressive apartheid system, as black labour was institutionalised as cheap, or rather, cheaper than white labor. Furthermore, the system ensured that black workers were only taught to serve their white masters, such as woodwork or gardening, while whites could receive education in any trade and thus receive higher wages. Racism is…
Isn’t it funny how as the people who created money, our society is now ruled by it? Money drives people to do irrational things, sometimes even at the cost of others. Take the example of foreign workers. Times have moved on. Society has changed. Singapore has become a more developed country. Then why are foreign workers still being subjected to such horrible working conditions? They are not any less human than us. We have families. So do they. We have to pay for many things. So do they. We have…
Michel Foucault is a French philosopher and social theorist. Some of his important ideas he put forward are ideas Disciplinary institution, Genealogy, Governmentality, Power-Knowledge relationship, Objectification of subject. Foucault says that his main goal of his work is to understand how human beings are made subjects. He says, “the goal of my work during the last twenty years has not been to analyze the phenomena of power, nor to elaborate the foundations of such an analysis. My…
Karl Marx’s economic thinking or analyses was focused on the factory system. In the first chapter, he began with a quotation from John Stuart Mill in his Principles of Political Economy: “It is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being” (section 1). This quote by Marx’s point of view might imply that the use of machines can be reduce the basic value of the products. Capitalists only aim for interest rather than human rights and…
After the Bolsheviks overthrew the Romanoff dynasty in 1917, they instituted communism as the national ideology. Communism is a political theory that advances a classless society where, where property is owned by the government with each person being employed by and paid by the government according to their abilities and need, as deemed necessary by the government (Source). A heightened awareness and concern of communism began to evolve that was legitimate in theory but paranoid in practice.…
INTRODUCTION: Modern economics has overthrown the concepts of old medieval practices.In ancient days ‘work’ is considered as punishment whereas in 16th century as a means to glorify God. The period (1600-1850) can be viewed as a class struggle between landlords and new bourgeois for control of state. Classical economics was one of the elements in this battle. Classical economics refer to a period stretching from introduction of Adam smith’s book ‘The wealth of Nations’ to introduction of Stuart…