Marxism and Neo-Marxism Key Terms
Group 2 Members
Topic
Marxism & Neo-Marxism
Read the provided materials as well as from the internet
Meeting
June 15, 2021 8:30 PM
Content
- High politics is a concept that covers all matters that are vital to the very survival of the state, namely national and international security concerns
- Low politics is a concept that covers all matters that are not absolutely vital to the survival of the state such as economics and social affairs
- Western marxism is a term for the various schools of Marxist thought that have flourished in Western Europe since Marx’s death in 1883
- Dialectical theory is the fundamental assumption of social dialectical theorists that all relationships such as friendships, romantic relationships, family relationships are interwoven with multiple contradictions
- Capital accumulation is the process by which capital is increased through the creation, appropriation, and realization of surplus value is known as the primary dynamic of capitalist growth
- Economic determinism is the notion that economic activities are the key dimensions of social and political life
- Mystification is a term that has been deployed in various ways to explain how deception, disguise, and dissimulation play a role in driving human behavior
- Socialism is the social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources
- Fascism a nationalism and militarism-based political philosophy and movement from the twentieth century that emphasizes the significance of the state and the individual’s overriding responsibility to it
- Materialism is a word that refers to a group of theories about the nature of the universe that place matter first and assign mind (or spirit) a secondary, if not non-existent, reality
- Aphorism is a succinct statement of a scientific concept, usually written by a classical author, or a pithy observation containing an universal fact
- Fetishism is the erotic connection to an inanimate item or an usually asexual portion of the human body is a type of sexual aberration
- Bipolarity is a distribution of power in which two states have the majority of economic, military, and cultural influence internationally or regionally. Often, spheres of influence would develop.
- Primitive communism is a way of describing the gift economies of hunter-gatherers throughout history, where resources and property hunted and gathered are shared with all members of a group, in accordance with individual needs.
- Feudalism is the dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord’s land and give him homage, labour, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection.
- Expansionism is the policy of territorial or economic expansion. It believes in a process of increasing the size and importance of something, especially in a country or a business.
- Austro-Marxist is the political theory of the socialist camp, although not all Austrian socialists were Austro-Marxists. However, Austro-Marxism existed not only on a theoretical level; it was closely connected with the socialist counterculture in “Red Vienna” (the socialist-governed capital of Austria) between 1918 and 1934. In certain political fields, such as housing and adult education, its practitioners were able to bring about remarkable improvements in the social and cultural conditions of the working class.
- Centrifugal is moving or tending to move away from a centre.
- Centripetal is moving or tending to move towards a centre.
- Capitalist Imperialism is an advocacy of or support for imperialism by capitalists (typically presented by communist writers as a natural consequence of the capitalist system); (later also more generally) the extension and maintenance of a capitalist country’s power or influence over other countries, often those with less well-developed industrial and economic infrastructures.
- Peripheral Societies are those that are less developed than the semi-periphery and core countries. These countries usually receive a disproportionately small share of global wealth. They have weak state institutions and are dependent on – according to some, exploited by – more developed countries. These countries are usually behind because of obstacles such as lack of technology, unstable government, and poor education and health systems.
- Bourgeoisie is one of the two primary social classes in Marxism who are rich middle class capitalist business owners and owners of production who are assumed to exploit the lower poor classes in society by Marxism.
- Proletariat is one of the two primary social classes in Marxism who are poor working class people and owners of labor production who are assumed to be exploited by the higher rich class in society by Marxism.
- Conflict theory is a sociological theory that explains how different social groups compete for wealth, influence, rights, and dominance in society, which leads to inequality and social destruction such as poverty, discrimination, domestic violence, revolutions, and wars.
- The Marxist Conflict Theory explains how the two primary social classes, the Bourgeoisie or the capitalist class maintain their power over the Proletariat working class by using the state to set up systems of laws, traditions, and other social structures to secure their own capital interest and support their own control over society.
- State Dependency Theory in neo-marxism explains how the international level structure is set up by rich states to make sure the poor states stay poor and the rich states stay rich.The structure makes The periphery and semi-periphery, which are poor countries, have natural resources but not the technology to process them. Therefore the poor sell their resources to the rich, who then produce more expensive products to sell back to the poor.
- The core sphere consists of rich states who started industrialization early with tertiary economies that operate the service industry and the cyber industry.
- The Semi-periphery sphere consists of middle income states who were later to industrialize with primary economies that focused on national resources and land.
- The Periphery sphere consists of poor states who are trying to industrialize with their secondary economy.
- Marxist Structural Theory explains how the institutions and structural theories were only to create the political structure and institutions that trick the capitalists to act in exploitative ways towards workers and keep them in power. The police and court protect capitalist property. Institutions make people not recognize their own rights or best interest. The governance structure gives an illusion of democracy.
- The Three Dynamics of Capitalism argues that in a capitalist system, workers are not paid fairly, leading to vast inequality between the rich elites and the poor workers. The inequality will eventually lead to a revolution that will replace capitalism with socialism.
- Economic competition leads to the concentration of capital resources to a small group of elite capitalists for better efficiency and capital stock
- More investment at a certain point will result in diminishing returns, leading to reduced wages for workers
- Capitalists focus on the ability to produce goods while wages fall. Citizens will not be able to buy the products, leading to economic activity slowing down
- Critical Theory argues that philosophy is for people to understand and overcome the social structures that oppress them. It argues that science is an instrument of oppression and should only be used to advance human rights and capabilities and not to use science as the final perfect rule.
- Opium of the Masses is a phrase that Marxism uses to define religion in society. It states that religion is not an intellectual error that must be solved by philosophical analysis, but it is the expression of hope and frustration over the oppressive structure of their everyday lives.
- Marxist Dialectic Theory is used to discover the guidelines of development of laws ruling both nature and human thinking. It states that developments in the world are constant and uninterrupted in three stages: creation, pupation and dying. A new quality in Marxism comes from successes and good features of the old quality. Then the new quality will eventually cause the next struggle and lead to another new quality being created.