IDEOLOGY & DIALECTIC MATERIALISM

Marx & Engels

The Truth

WHY IS MARX A BAD-ASS?

Applied Dialectics (really old idea) to history in order to understand it

Opposed philosophical idealism (let’s live in the woods, but more complicated)

Instead of thinking ideally, he thought materialistically

“[P]hilosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point however is to change it“. K. Marx

Are you ready?

What to expect from the rest of this presentation: Marx will systematically strip you from

your very essence. His ideas basically led our understanding of the world to Existencialism, which is really depressing, and someone else will lecture on.

After that, he will offer a solution – REVOLUTION.

THAT IS WHY MARX IS A BAD-ASS: HE WILL NOT LEAVE YOU ALONE, HE WILL HAVE YOUR BACK!

The history of all hitherto society is the history of class

struggle.OPPRESSOR

OPPRESSEDRevolution

Means of Production

CONTRADICTION

Ide

olo

gy

ALIENATION “[I]n emerging industrial production under

capitalism, workers inevitably lose control of their lives and selves, in not having any control of their work.” Activities of the workers are chosen by the

owners, capitalist; who in return pay them. Ownership of production/product in hands of

capitalist. Workers are likely to be separated from their

fellow workers. Workers driven away from their potential and

tasks become mindless.

ALIENATION We are beings bred for work. From the moment we are born, we live our lives for

capitalism. We are pushed by our parents to go school, to get good grades, to get into better schools, to get a good JOB.

A good job is not necessarily dictated to you, but the idea of a good job is determined to you by the system. Your wants and needs maybe your own, but if you are a product of your society, then… you represent and build society as a mirror.

There are no innate ideas. Information is presented to you as an ideology to keep you linked to the system to which you belong.

Fashion and you.

POP QUIZ!Do you think she

needed that jacket?

IDEOLOGY Ideology itself represents the "production of ideas, of

conceptions, of consciousness," all that "men say, imagine, conceive," and include such things as "politics, laws, morality, religion, metaphysics, etc.“

Ideology functions as the superstructure of a civilization: the conventions and culture that make up the dominant ideas of a society.

The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relationships, the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas; hence of the relationships which make the one class the ruling one, therefore, the ideas of their dominance“

It tends to obfuscate the violence and exploitation that often keep a disempowered group in its place

A Prison for your mind

We are slaves to our society, yet we determine it.

We are born into a set of ideas that we have no control of, that will determine our very identity.

“Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life”

POP QUIZWhat does that sentence lead us back to?

Ideologies function as a superstructure for a civilization.

It represents and protects the ruling class’ interests.

Tends to obfuscate the violence and exploitation that often keeps a disempowered group in its place

Marxist Analysis Case 1: Tabula Rasa- Tabula Rasa, if analyzed further,

means “we are all born equal”.- Is that true? Lets see…

Joe White-Trash is born into a household with the following characteristics:

His father is unknown, and his mother is unemployed, relying on welfare. She has a crystal-meth addiction and has 2 other slightly older children.

He will be raised in E.Compton, CA, where there is a 60% level of high-school incompletion, high-level of violence and drug abuse.

He will be offered his first joint at the age of 11. He will have contact with violence shortly thereafter.

If he is one of the X% to graduate from high school, his SAT score has a X% chance to be insatisfactory for California public universities.He will live his life to earn at most $40.000 a year to support his family.

20 miles away… Joanna White-Class is born!

Her father is a neuro-surgeon, and her mother is a Business professor at UCLA. Together, their income averages $500.000 a year.

Joanna will attend private schools her entire life. She will travel abroad 2 times a year, and by the time she is 18, she will have been to all continents in the world.

She will be admitted to Harvard School of Medicine after being tangent to perfection in her admission scores, and due to their legacy program.

She will marry and establish a family with higher earnings than her previous.

Marxist AnalysisCase 2: Disney

LET’S TALK ABOUT DISNEY PRINCESSES!!!!!

What do these women (?) have in

common?

Do you think that watching these

movies has affected your views on womanhood?

IDEOLOGY – Nationalism and War

Advertising deals directly with just that idea: it sells something that you are conditioned to like without outlining/addressing its downsides.

Army Ad

In attempting to recruit more members,

Patriot

one who loves and defends his or her country

Marxist AnalysisCase 3: Nationalism

USA PATRIOT ACTU.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. ACTUniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools

Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001

The Patriot Act DIRECTLY affects your rights.