Marxism

Q1. New Economic Policy: Leonid Brezhnev During the 1920’s, Vladimir Lenin was in charge of what he had recently renamed, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). This was a time of distress for the people of the USSR. Famine had struck and the majority of the population was starving in many cases it even led to death. Lenin’s response in aiding the economic situation was to implement his “New Economic Policy”. Although Lenin’s ideologies truly lied in communism, he was willing to leave…

Social class is an important dimension of social organization and division. Yet different scholars have very distinct understandings of the meaning of social class, how it should be studied, and how it is related to the broader social order. Choose at least two scholars and analyze their conceptions of social class. What do their conceptions have in common? How are they different? Which understanding of social class is most useful for understanding the dynamics of stratification in contemporary…

The landscape that Europe was met with after the cataclysmic events of World War I was essential in both formulating emerging ideological movements and restructuring past ideas. Fascism would emerge as a tool, especially in ensuing international conflicts in the 1940s, to assist leaders in manipulating domestic nationalist bases to spread homogenous ideas to minority groups through militant and authoritarian tactics. Communism during this period would only vaguely echo the mid-19th century…

The resumes of the Great Socialist and his cabinet colleagues in The White Tiger exemplify Bernard Shaw’s dictum. Politics has indeed become the last resort of the scoundrels. In India, it will remain so until the middle class with its acute sense of political morality starts participating in it more actively. Political thinker Pavan K. Varma observes that “politics is dirty because good people do not enter it, and because good people do not enter, politics is dirty” (154). In the Inheritance of…

The two theorists that I will be comparing are Karl Marx and Adam Smith. Karl Marx was a renowned economist and revolutionary socialist. Although he was born in Prussia in 1818, Marx spent the majority of his life living in London were he moved in 1849 and remained there until his death in 1883. Many of his theories on society, economics and politics are based around classes, in particular the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. He heavily believed in the inevitable collapse of capitalism and the…

Political-correctness, described by Bill Lind on “The Origins of Political Correctness,” as a form of cultural Marxism due to the totalitarian ideology parallels, has currently shaped the way Americans process issues. Sadly, the problem is that many Americans simply can't recognize deficiencies anymore living with this belief . Political-correctness is a way to avoid offending, or hurting another person's feelings by for example, removing certain art, music, sexism, racism, etc.. Throughout the…

the inequalities and social relations of production of the capitalist society, legitimise these inequalities through the myth of meritocracy and to characterise the infrastructure of capitalist societies. However, there are competing viewpoints to Marxism such as Functionalists who have similar views to Marxists about the view role and function of education, however, Functionalists believe that education promotes meritocracy and creates value consensus. One traditional Marxist view on the role…

Throughout Europe in the 1880’s through the mid twentieth century there were a few different collective identities that had an effect on the European’s. A collective identity is a group that has a shared definition that derives from its member’s common interests, experiences and solidarities. A few examples of these identities were: African’s in the Congo, nobles, bourgeoisies, proletarians and the Jews. All of these different identities had a mixed effect on the European’s in the 1880’s through…

In chapter 2 “Where Web 2.0 Went Wrong,” Jenkins talks about several shortcomings of the Web 2.0 from a critical Marxism and political economy framework. The author argues that interaction of Web 2.0 media companies and audience members is constructed on two competing moral systems. Audience members eager to legitimize the free exchange of media content, while media companies desire to control over the content circulation since they view such practice as damaging to their economic interests.…

Do you feel it is right that an individual's role in society is determined by their place in a social hierarchy? Karl Marx believes strongly in this through his idea of the Marxian class theory, which is a type of critical lens. A critical lens is a method used by critics to analyze literature. A critical lens draws focus to certain aspects of a text by providing readers with a perspective from which to view the story. “All That Rises Must Converge”, by Flannery O’Connor, “Indian Camp”, and…