Marxism and Cultural Materialism PDF

MARXISM AND CULTURAL MATERIALISM Pepared by: RPAMAMIO MARXISM: Core Principles 1. Reality can be defined and understood. 2. Society shapes our conciousness. 3. Social and economic conditions directly influence how and what we believe and value. 4. This details a plan for changing the world...

MARXISM AND CULTURAL MATERIALISM Pepared by: RPAMAMIO MARXISM: Core Principles 1. Reality can be defined and understood. 2. Society shapes our conciousness. 3. Social and economic conditions directly influence how and what we believe and value. 4. This details a plan for changing the world from a place of bigotry, hatred and conflict due to class struggle to classless society where wealth, opportunity, and education are accessible for all people. MARXISM: Historical development ROOTS of MARXIST LITERARY/CULTURAL STUDIES THEORY: MARX’S WRITINGS KARL MARX (1818-1883) and FRIEDRICH ENGELS (1820-1895) Declaration: consciousness does not determine life, life determines consciousness; a person’s consciousness is not shaped by some spiritual entity or means MARXISM: Historical development BASE: the economic means of production within a society...both engenders and controls the superstructure SUPERSTRUCTURE: all human institutions and ideologies including all social and legal institutions, political and educational systems, religons, and art. The ideologies and institutions develop as a direct result of economic means of production, not the other way around. MARXISM: CAuses of social Classes People’s functions within the economic system become differentiated. This differentiation inevitably divides people into different social classes. RESULT: the desires and expectations of the various social classes will clash - the fertile ground capitalist system based on ownership and private property. MARX & ENGELS: The Communist Manifesto DECLARATION: the bourgeoisie had successfully enslaved the working class, or the proletariat through economic policies and production of goods. Ideology: the set of ideas which the capitalists force on the workers...a false consciousness that also describes the way in which the dominant class shapes and controls an individual’s self-definition or class-consciousness RESULT: capitalists control the superstructure MARX & ENGELS: The Communist Manifesto The capitalist ideology which effectively perpetuates the system leads to the fragmentation and alienation of individuals (especially the working class). RESOLUTION: the government must own all industries and control the economic production of a country to protect the people from the oppression of the bourgeoisie OTHER MARXIST PROPONENTS GEORGE LUKACS ü Hungarian literary theorist and philosopher ü formulated the Marxist system of aesthetics ü reflectionist theorist REFLECTIONISM: approach to literary analysis declaring that texts directly reflect a society’s consciousness...didactic, emphasizing the negative effects of capitalism such as alienation LUKACS’ MARXISt System OF Aesthetics As a theory in literary and cultural studies: REFLECTIONISTS: adapted and applied the techniques of formalism, believing that a detailed analysis of symbols, images, and other literary devices would ultimately reveal class conflict and would expose the direct relationship between the economic base and the superstructure. LUKACS’ MARXISt System OF Aesthetics VULGAR MARXISM: present name of Reflectionism CRITICS’ TASKS: ü By giving a text a close reading... the critics can reveal the reality of the text and the author’s Weltanschauung, or worldview. ü to show how the characters within the text are typical of their historical, socioeconomic setting and the author’s worldview OTHER MARXIST PROPONENTS ANTONIO GRAMSCI: Italian Critic, Hegemony LOUIS ALTHUSSER: French Philosopher, Ideological State Apparatuses FREDRIC JAMESON: American Theorist; Political Unconscious, Dialectical Criticism TERRY EAGLETON: British Literary Theorist; Literary Theory CULTURAL MATERIALISM: MARVIN HARRIS (1968) CULTURAL MATERIALISM: a term coined by MARVIN HARRIS in 1968 through his work, The Rise of Anthropological Theory Three Anthropological School of Thoughts: 1. Cultural Materialism 2. Cultural Evolution 3. Cultural Ecology CULTURAL MATERIALISM: MARVIN HARRIS (1968) CULTURAL MATERIALISM: explains cultural similarities and differences as well as models for cultural change within a societal framework consisting of three distinct levels: 1. Infrastructure 2. Structure 3. Superstructure CULTURAL MATERIALISM: MARVIN HARRIS (1968) INFRASTRUCTURE: consists of material realities - technological, economic, and reproductive (demographic) factors mold and influence the two other aspects of culture STRUCTURE: organizational aspects of culture such as domestic and kinship system, and political economy SUPERSTRUCTURE: ideological and symbolic aspects of society such as religion CULTURAL MATERIALISM: MARVIN HARRIS (1968) CULTURAL MATERIALISM: ü technological and economic aspects play the primary role in shaping a society ü aims to understand the effects of technological, economic, and demographic factor on molding societal structure and superstructure through strictly scientific methods ü strives to create a pan-human community (unity among the entire human species as a single community, opposing a society being atomized to ethnic, national or continental levels) CULTURAL MATERIALISM: MARVIN HARRIS (1968) CULTURAL MATERIALISM: ü explains structural features of a society in terms of production within infrastructure only... as such, ü demographic, environmental, and technological changes are invoked to explain cultural variations. CULTURAL MATERIALISM: MARVIN HARRIS (1968) CULTURAL MATERIALISM: ü lacks of class theory ü while Marxism suggests that culture change only benefits the ruling class, cultural materialism addresses relations of unequal power recognizing innovations or changes that benefit both upper and lower classes ü does not envision a final utopian form as visualized by Marxism CULTURAL MATERIALISM: MARVIN HARRIS (1968) ü believe that all societies operate according to a model in which production and reproduction dominate and determine the other sectors of culture... effectively serving as the driving forces behind all cultural development ü propose that all non-infrastructure aspects of society are created with the purpose of benefitting societal productive and reproductive capabilities RESULT: systems such as government, religion, law, and kinship are considered to be constructs that only exist for the sole purpose of promoting production and reproduction References: Barker, C. & Jane, E.A. (2015). Cultural studies: theory and practice. California, USA: Sage Publications Inc. Edgar, A. & Sedgwick, P. (2005). Key concepts in cultural theory. New York, USA: Taylor & Francis Group. Nanda, S. & Warms, R. (2018). Culture counts: a concise introduction to cultural anthropology. Boston, USA: Cnegage Learning