Infrastructure, Superstructure and Ideology

• Infrastructure and superstructure should be conceptually defined

Infrastructure

• Modes of production create social classes within a society
• Income distribution determines the social organization
• Consists of goods and services
• Includes productive forces, workers, and production relations
• Considered the "root" of the tree

Superstructure

• Ideas, ways of thinking, and mechanisms that control status are encompassed
• Includes religion, law, culture, politics, and ethics.
• Originates from the infrastructure

Ideology as a Product of Class Struggle

• According to Marx, ideology is a mask over reality, a false consciousness
• Hides the material aspects of life and reality
• Ruling class (bourgeoisie) uses it to dominate other classes by gaining their agreement
• A consequence of class struggle
• Class struggle is a material fight based on production
• Masks the contradictions within social life
• Dominant class promotes the idea that the existing order is natural and inevitable

Fetishism and its Relation to Merchandise

• Fetishism replaces relationships between individuals with relationships between merchandise
• People become more interested in the added value/status of material objects than in their production process
• Commodities assign value to human identity
• Fetishism conceals labor relations
• Commodities possess a "cult" value (exclusivity)
• Commodities are more than just objects
• Commodities satisfy desires and needs
• Symbolic values are assigned to merchandise
• Status is associated with objects

Alienation of Labor

• Examine the alienation of work as a result of capitalist production
• Evaluate the production of alienated subjects by industrial production methods
• Workers remain detached from what they produce, making their efforts meaningless
• Work leads to dehumanization instead of fulfillment
• Workers do not own what they produce and are only interested in the reward of obtaining survival
• Proletarians specialize in one task, leading to disinterest and weariness
• Workers are detached from the final products

Historical Materialism

• Evaluate the relevance of historical materialism to Marxist thought
• Material conditions of life and existence determine and drive society, which is in constant transformation
• Economics (modes of production) determines how a society functions
• Society is in constant transformation
• Evolution and organization of society throughout history occur based on its production capacity and its social relations of productivity
• Social transformations are determined by material and economic conditions

Class Struggle and Progress in History

• Describe the importance of class struggle for the progress of history
• Conflicts between social classes shape major events and the structures we live in
• Class struggle is the driving force behind major revolutions in history, providing the lever for radical social changes
• This conflict started with creating private ownership of the means of production
• Existence of the exploited requires the existence of the exploiter, is a relationship of dependence

Marxist Theory

• Recognize the relevance of Marxist theory to 20th-century sociological thought
• Key contribution lies in the concept of dialectical historical materialism

Dialectics in Marx's Sociological Conception

• Analyze the concept of dialectics in Marx's sociological frameworks
• Dialectic is the contradiction existing in society between the bourgeois and proletarian classes
• Transforming society an influencing its history
• Marx revolutionized the idea by naming dialectics the dependence between classes, a dialectical relationship
• Example: "The master can only be a master if he owns someone, and the slave can only be a slave if he has an owner."

Surplus Value

• Recognize the operating mechanisms of absolute and relative surplus value
• Surplus value is the surplus labor value produced by the worker and appropriated by the owner
• Absolute surplus value is an increase in working hours without an increase in salary
• Relative surplus value is automation/technological development, increasing productivity with no proportional salary increase