Historical Materialism PPT PDF

Historical Materialism Main Questions  What is the role of historical factors in explaining global issues?  What is the role of Economic/material factors in explaining global issues?  Why so many third world countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia have not been able to develop? ...

Historical Materialism Main Questions  What is the role of historical factors in explaining global issues?  What is the role of Economic/material factors in explaining global issues?  Why so many third world countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia have not been able to develop?  What is the role of Capitalist System in explaining the current problems in the world?  What other alternatives do we have beside Capitalism?  Important Concepts  Capital: Money or physical resources used to produce goods or services and generate income.  Capitalists: Individuals or entities that own capital and make profits from it.  Proletariat/Workers: Wage-dependent individuals who sell their labor in exchange for a paycheck.  Class Consciousness: The awareness among workers that they belong to the proletariat, leading to a sense of solidarity and shared interests.  Economic Determinism: The idea that the economic structure of a society fundamentally shapes its political and social conditions.  Karl Marx  Karl Marx (1818-1883) German Philosopher  Technological changes will lead to change in modes of production.  Modes of Production  Modes of Production: the ways in which goods and services are produced (based on division of labor) and the conditions under which they are produced (wage, labor).  Historical Materialism  Labor creates surplus value.  Marx's Labor Theory of Value states that the value of a good or service is determined by the amount of human labor that went into producing it.  In other words, the more labor required to create something, the more valuable it is considered.  Modes of Production Primitive Communism: A classless hunter gatherer society. Ancient Slavery: Creation of economic class in the society. Feudalism: Ownership of land by feudal and ownership of labor and means by peasants. Capitalism: Ownership of capital and means of production by capitalists and ownership of labor by workers. Socialism: Collective ownership of means of production by proletariat: dictatorship of proletariat. Communism: Classless society, the end of state and collective ownership of means of production  Imperialism https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imperialism  In order to grow, Capitalism needs  raw resources and  markets to sell the products  But both of these are limited in the world.  Imperialism https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imperialism  According to Historical Materialism, the Capitalism’s solution is Imperialism:  a policy or practice by which a country increases its power by gaining control over other areas of the world  Imperialism https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imperialism  Because resources are limited, imperialist powers will eventually come into conflict with one another as they compete for access and control over those resources. This competition can lead to tensions and, ultimately, war.  WWI  Imperialism https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imperialism  Historical materialism suggests that workers, understanding their shared interests and the exploitative nature of Capitalism, would resist participating in imperialist wars.  The expectation of historical materialism was that workers would recognize that imperialist wars primarily benefit the capitalist ruling class rather than the working class.  Imperialism https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imperialism  But contrary to the expectations of historical materialism, workers in Europe fought and died in WWI.  Why?  Vladimir Lenin  Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)  Lenin was puzzled by the "indifference" of the workers and their participation in WWI.  He said the indifference of works happened because of two reasons:  The workers can not acquire consciousness “spontaneously”  Workers in the imperialist countries start benefiting from exploitation of workers in other countries.  Antonio Gramsci McNally M. Antonio Gramsci. Houndmills Basingstoke Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan; 2015.  Why "indifference" of the masses to Capitalism’s pressures and wars?  Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) – Italian  According to Gramsci, Capitalism (or any dominant ideology) is more than economic power of the ruling people or the coercive power of state.  Gramsci- Theory of Hegemony McNally M. Antonio Gramsci. Houndmills Basingstoke Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan; 2015.  The apathy and indifference of the masses to the appeals of the revolutionaries is because of their subordination, not only to the force of the state, but also to the worldview of the ruling class.  To achieve a revolutionary perspective, the worker must first be freed of the ideological fetters imposed on him by the cultural organizations of the ruling class.  Development  Why have third world countries (least developed countries/developing countries) not developed as anticipated?   Development  Why have third world countries (least developed countries/developing countries) not developed as anticipated?  Modernization Theory  Dependency Theory  World System Theory Modernization Theories  Why third world countries are not developed?  Because third world countries have difficulty to move from tradition to modernity.  The traditional societies lack entrepreneurial spirit that Europe had during the rise of Capitalism.  Critique:  We cannot use the European case because it is not similar to Latin America and other places.  What is the role of external environment?  Dependency Theory  Dependency means that a country cannot develop its own dynamic process of growth within its national economy.  Why?  Because in the past, political and military might were used to establish control over the means of production in foreign lands, benefiting the elites of the advanced, industrialized countries and their partners in underdeveloped countries. World System Theory  Immanuel Wallerstein (1930-): American  Capitalism is a system-wide or global phenomenon.  Core: Advanced Economic activities: Banking, Manufacturing, shipbuilding and advanced agriculture.  Periphery: Provides the raw materials to Core  Semi Periphery: mix of production activities some with core and some with periphery. They are also the outlet of investment when the wages are too high in the core. https://miro.medium.com/max/960/1*m9l80tasd7d05BWgd5eLkQ.gif  Post-Colonialism  While colonialism in terms of the physical occupation is over but strategies to retain colonizers’ power and influence still exist in the postcolonial world.  International regimes institutions are keeping the hierarchical relations between metropolitan and colonized states  Post Colonialism  Edward Said: Orientalism  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aNwMpV6bVs  Feminism  Feminism thought in international relations can be categorized into four different groups:  Liberal Feminism  Difference Feminism  Socialist Feminism  Poststructural (postmodern) Feminism  Feminism  Liberal Feminists  Referred to as “same” feminists. The differences between men and women are trivial or non- existent.  Difference Feminists  Women and men are unique, but feminine traits have been devalued by patriarchal societies.  Feminism  Socialist Feminists  Focus their work on men’s control of labor in the public sphere and the removal of women from paid work.  Poststructural (postmodern) Feminists  Focus on gendered language and constructs for limiting the access of women to power.