Karl Marx & Historical Dialectics - PED HI UGM - 2009

8/9/2019 Karl Marx & Historical Dialectics - PED HI UGM - 2009

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Karl Marx,Capitalism &Historical

DialecticsRiza Noer Arfani[for PED class March 10,2009]


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UnderstandingCapitalism via Marx

His ethics and methods

Idea of alienation Historical materialism

His analysis on bourgeoiscapitalism

Economic anatomy Social anatomy


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Idea of Alienation [Hegel]

Reification EstrangementAlienation Super-session ofalienation

Where: Reification: thoughts become things-

like

Estrangement: the original thoughtbecome lost

Alienation: the original is now whollyother

Super-session of alienation: alienationis overcome in discovery


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Idea of Alienation [Marx]

For Marx, Hegels idealism isconservative It ends up in the argument that

(Prussian) rational state is the

culmination of idea evolution Hence Marx rejects such idea

Instead, Marx proceeds withthe argument that human-

beings=idea Alienation is social and historical

phenomenon

Existing is thinking


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State according to Marx

Not pre-existed ahead ofsociety

It is society which materializethe state, since society ismade of human-beings whichact as social animals then aspolitical animals Politics is routine negotiation of

social meanings Modern state is an alienated form

of political activity


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Anglo-Saxon(Classical) Political

Economy Human-beings are

essentially egotistical

Abstract individual is inpursuit of satisfaction

Thus, consumption istaken as the key to

human character Credo ofINDIVIDUALISM


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Marx Critics to theClassicsThe classics tend to take

for granted the existingsocial, economic andpolitical systemcharacteristics, i.e. asgiven systems

Abstract individual is anave (ridiculous) way ofthinking, so that it endsup in an absurd conceptof individualism


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Labor according to Marx

The classics fail to explainthe genuine meaning oflabor

Labor is produced in thecontext of human-beingscreate themselves andtheir society in social

production, not throughthe development ofindividualism!


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Degradation of

Creative Human Labor Modern industrial capitalism

degrades basic humancharacters as creative human

labor by way of its materialisticpattern and its individualistic(egotistical) human behavior

It degrades creative human

labor to mere work It degrades human-beings to

worker


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Forms of Alienation[Marx] Labor is alienated from the

product of his/her labor

Labor is alienated from the

act of production Human-beings are alienated

from their species-beings

Human-beings are alienated

from their fellows


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Alienation #1

Since in capitalist societyand its modern industry,works are specialized,routine and controlled byother people, the productproduced by a worker isfar away and separatedfrom him/her

So, a worker is merely acapital that generatewealth of capitalist


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Alienation #2

Routinization, specialization,submission to external controland direction effectivelydestroy the typically human

creativity of labor Labor creative capacity is not

considered

Labor is merely an element ofbigger and longer process ofproduction

Labor in capitalist society isnot voluntary, it is coerced


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Alienation #3

Capitalistic socialrelations degrade thecollective human creation

of self and society byreducing the social worldto the vehicle for thesatisfaction of private

wants It denies the social

character of labor


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Alienation #4

Capitalist social relationsare typicallyfragmentary

Diversified strata to meetfunctional posts

The relations are usuallyrole-incumbents

Diversified roles to meetfunctional works


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Recap on Marx Ethics

Human-beings createthemselves and their societiesthrough their labor

A productive system thatdegrades labor into mere workis thus a deformed systeminhabited by deformed people

Fundamental contradiction of

capitalist society is preciselyon its concept of privatecontrol of social production


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Marx Method: HistoricalMaterialism [1]

Human social life

Cultural Superstructure

Productive Activity


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Marx Method: HistoricalMaterialism [2]

Productive activity: economicbase, economic activity

Cultural superstructure:

cultural factors, law(legal/political superstructure),social consciousness, religion,arts, etc.

Sum total of these relations of

production = economicstructure of society, i.e. modeof production


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Marx Analysis on BourgeoisCapitalism

Production

Consumption

Production

*Hidden law of

division of labor

**Market mechanism

[supply/demand]


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Bourgeois Capitalism:Marx Economic

Anatomy Commodities

Use value

Exchange value

Surplus value Labor power

Labor theory of value

Exploitation

Centralization & Concentration(C & C)

Contradiction


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Commodity & its Use, ExchangeValues

Commodity in capitalist societyare oriented towards marketexchange & production ofcommodities, not for social

needs nor human needs You can do something with the

commodity (use value) orexchange it for something else

(exchange value) Exchange value is novel in

capitalism


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Surplus Value

necessary labor (nl) =replacement needs (the value oflabor power, i.e. time taken toprovide the laborer's conditionsof existence, e.g. food, housing,etc.)

surplus labor [sl] = time duringwhich the laborer produce goodsabove/over his replacementneeds, above and over the value

of his labor power sl is the source of surplus value


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Labor & Exploitation

Labor power: it's a commodity, it can bebought and sold on the market

Labor theory of value: snlt = sociallynecessary labor time

Rate of exploitation = ratio ofnl & sl

Firms response to a shift in capital-intensive industry*: increasing thepressure of exploitation: longer hours,lower wages, employee reduction &rationalization, etc.

*Organic composition of capital ,average rate of profit [the

economy as a whole may very wellgenerate more profit, but theindividual firms find that the ratedeclines]


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C & C = Contradiction

Crises serve to encourage c&cof firms; bankrupt firms aretaken over, ailing firms merge,etc.

Contradiction: triggeringendemic crises

Crises are regulatory: crisesserve a regulatory function foran anarchic and irrational

system, but they do causemisery for the proletariat andthus foster classconsciousness


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Marx Key Claims on theEconomy All value is created by

expenditure of human labour

Value = socially necessarylabor time (snlt), expended in

creating the commodity andgiving it its value

The basic contradiction of thecapitalist system is the privateownership/control of social

production It is the overcoming of this

that ushers in socialism


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Bourgeois Capitalism: MarxSocial Anatomy

Class: class is not established by source of

income, neither is a functional positionwithin the division of labor]

class points to the existence of groupsidentified by the position occupied inrelations to the social means of production**a matter of ownership of privateproperty in the means of production, i.e.'Bourgeois' vs. 'Proletariat'

Ideology how people become conscious of conflicts in

their societies: class ideologies

Base-superstructure

The State key political institution of modern industrial

society

The Party Revolutionary change

Karl Marx & Historical Dialectics - PED HI UGM - 2009

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