Karl Marx is probably the most misquoted and misunderstood economist/sociologist/historian of at least the modern era.  In my graduate work in both history and sociology I have confronted a good deal of "the old Moor's" thinking and I'm willing to discuss it.  Any takers?

This is good, but I don't think you will get any takers.  Pardon my cynicism, but the best you may get is "Was he older or younger than Groucho?"

This is good, but I don't think you will get any takers.  Pardon my cynicism, but the best you may get is "Was he older or younger than Groucho?"



He has this on a tee shirt.


http://www.northernsun.com/images/imagethumb/%20Marxist%20Brothers%20T-Shirt%20(1030).jpg



Cat

Why doesn't anyone mention Engels when they talk about Marx?

I was reading Wiki (not a good source, I know) about Marx and Marxism, but I'm confused by it all.  Can you give me a brief summary of Marxism that my dumb little brain can absorb? :P

Why doesn't anyone mention Engels when they talk about Marx?


Fred certainly was a collaborator, and also wrote in his own right "Private Property and the Origin of the Family" etc. and applied Karl's analytical tools, and, I guess, should be recognized more than he is.  Other than that, I really can't answer your question.

I was reading Wiki (not a good source, I know) about Marx and Marxism, but I'm confused by it all.  Can you give me a brief summary of Marxism that my dumb little brain can absorb? :P


The short answer is no, I can't, but I will begin with a description of what Marx did.  He advanced a methodology for understanding history/society/economics based on the idea of "historical materialism" which he laid out in an essay called "A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy".  The basic idea is that the way we earn our living as a society (serfs, independent craftsmen, wage laborers) sets up the rest of how society works.  He applied this methodology to an analysis of how capitalism works.  I'm happy to expand on these ideas, and I guess the best place to start is with the "Critique".  But right now, Cat wants her computer back, and I need to cook dinner, so the first installment will have to wait until the morning.

And please don't belittle yourself.  From what I have read of your posts your brain is far from dumb or little.

OK.  About 20 or so lines into the 4th paragraph Marx says "In the social production of their lives, men enter into definite relations that are indispensable and independent of their will..."

So he begins with the assertion that our lives are produced and reproduced in and through society.  He rejects the notion that we either can or do live as totally independent individuals.  This may seem obvious but on the surface but the implications are far from obvious simply because most people never consider them. 

One implication is that we produce our lives in relation to others around us, so those relations are indispensable.  He asserts that once those relations have been established, we can't simply will ourselves into different ones, which is not to say that they can't change, but that more is required to change them than simply will power.  We are born into a position in society and depending on the nature of that society we may be able to alter our position and the position of others, but not just by our own will power.

More tomorrow.

To continue

"... relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of  development of their material forces of production."

"Material forces of production" refers to the level of development of technology.  So stone age hunter/gatherers armed with arrows and spears MUST hunt in groups if they are to bring down large animals - they have no choice but to relate to each other as cooperating equals in order to succeed.  likewise the gatherers (women, who typically supply most of the food) need to cooperate in order to bring home as much as possible.

"The sum total of these relations of production constitute the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which rises the legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness."

Continuing with the same example, because the relations of production are based on equality within each gender, the basis of the economy has to be based on reciprocity and a simple communal-ism - share and share alike, and an absence of any notion of private property  - and social consciousness takes the form of group identity over individual identity and decision-making based on consensus, typically revolving around the leadership of elders.  Status differences resulted from the differing abilities to produce - the more one could produce, the more one could give away, and the greater status one would be accorded.  Equality also typically means that social norms are enforced by the group as a whole, with no one having more power to enforce than anyone else.  So typically the only punishment possible is banishment from the group (which would mean death). 

In a book called Cannibals and Kings Marvin Harris traces this out in detail, and shows how with the rise of agriculture, reciprocity gave way to the rise of private property, since in order to give things away one has to have them.  So that great revolution in consciousness was brought about by changes in the forces of production.

More next time.

Note to readers - I would appreciate feedback.

Ok, so the ideas traced out above form the basis for the Marxist analytical framework, Historical Materialism.  In Capital Marx applies these ideas to the workings of the capitalist system.  He places great emphasis on the division of labor, which he divides in to two forms.  The division of labor in society, that is between the various crafts, and the division of labor in the workplace which eliminates craft and replaces it with labor in general, labor reduced to the animal level, what we might call "bull work".

From here I await questions.

Sorry Carlos, I am reading it, I just haven't had time to absorb it all.  Please don't think I'm ignoring it. :)

I'm going to give it another read through once Rice gets home from his retreat (that way the boy is distracted by Daddy :D) and then I will have some questions for you.