Review of Maxism 1

Marx sees the basis of society as ​ (a)   : humans need (or want) to produce​ things (e.g. food, clothing, shelter).  How they produce them is called the ​ (b)   of production.  In most eras of world history, these are not held in common but owned by a group of people with a single economic interest.  This group is known as a​ (c)   . Control of the means of ​ (d)   allows one group of people to dominate/exploit the other group. This means that the best way of understanding class is as a dichotomous model – that is there are two rather than three classes.​

• economic
• means
• class
• production

From which basic viewpoint does Marx analyse phenomena?

• • Materialist

• Communist

• • Socialist

• • Conservative

Which of the following is a materialist explanation of a phenomenon?

• The books of the Bible were inspired by God who helped the church to recognise which books had been inspired.

• Food shortages were a major contributing factor behind the Arab Spring in the early 2010s.

• The American Revolution inthe late 18th century was caused by the American colonists' acceptance of the ideas of John Locke.

Complete the quotation from Marx and Engels "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of ...."

• • Worker's revolution

• imperialism

• technology

• Class struggle

Marx proposed a dichotomous model of class - what were the two main classes?

• the rich and the poor

• the aristocracy and the serfs

• the petit bourgeoise and the lumpen proletariat

• the working class and the royal family

The first phase of history according to Marx was primitive communism - put the rest of Marx's phases of history into the correct order:

• Communism

• Slave-owning society

• Feudalism

• Socialism

• Capitalism

According to Marx, what do religion and parliamentary democracy have in common?

• • They were essential parts of feudal society

• • They are tools that legitimise the rule of the ruling class

• • They help people to express their true beliefs

• • They will be transformed under socialism into their true elements

According to Marx and Engels, what happens to the state under communism?

• • It owns the means of production on behalf of the workers

• • It transforms private property into public property

• • It regulates commercial transactions in order to ensure market freedom

• • There is no state

Complete the quotation: "The philosophers have only interpreted the world [...]; the point however is to ...

• • speak its language

• understand it

• • change it

• • interpret it correctly

1. Complete the following limitations of Marx's theory of class and history raised in the lectures and on KEATS:​ 1. ​ (a)   divisions can be more fundamental than class divisions.

1. 2. Conflict is common ​ (b)   classes (such as native and immigrant working class)
   3. The description assumes that the history of ​ (c)   societies is somehow normal for the world.
   4. Marx’s idea of “Oriental Despotism”(a reason for why other societies did not develop on the same lines as the West) seems to provide a cultural explanation for social change, which contradicts the theory of materialism.
   5. There was a gap of 600 years between the end of slave-owing society and the beginning of feudalism.
   6. Aristocrats and bourgeoisie often worked together in 18th and 19th century England.
   7. No post-revolutionary society has ever managed to ​ (d)   class.

• within
• Western
• abolish
• Gender