MARXISM Power Point PDF form with namesx
- 1. 1 I am Jayden Smith I am here because I love to give presentations. You can find me at @username MARXIST CRITICISM REPORTERS: Rodrigora, Ferle Mae S. Tingcang, Dejey Ann A.
- 2. TOPIC OUTLINE 2 Introduction Historical Background Reading from a Marxist Perspective: Economic Power Reading from a Marxist Perspective: Materialism vs Spirituality Reading from a Marxist Perspective: Class Conflict Writing A Marxist Analysis: Pre-writing Writing A Marxist Analysis: Drafting & Revising
- 4. KARL HEINRICH MARX (1818-1883) 4 ➢ A 19th century German philosopher and economist ➢ He argued that the means of production controls a society’s institutions and beliefs, contended that is history progressing towards the eventual triumph of communism, and introduced the concept of DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM ➢ Conflicts lead to historical/social/ideological process through synthesis of those contradictions.
- 5. FRIEDRICH ENGELS (1820-1895) 5 ➢ Born in Barmen, Rhine province, Prussia (Germany) ➢ A political economist ➢ The closest collaborator of Karl Marx
- 6. 6 KARL HEINRICH MARX FRIEDRICH ENGELS COMMUNISM/ MARXISM
- 7. 7 COMMUNIST MANIFESTO (1844) ➢ Ideas expounded ➢ Class struggles as the driving force behind history
- 8. “ 8 8 • Marx’s writings still provide the history of Economy, Sociology, History, Politics called Marxism. • Although Marxism was not designed as a method of literary analysis, it’s principles were applied to literature early on. IDEOLOGY - Consciousness and perceptions within a society often controlled by the ruling class.
- 9. JOSEPH STALIN (1878-1959) 9 ➢ A dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929-1953. ➢ The Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into a industrial and military superpower. ➢ He ruled by terror, and millions of his own citizens dies during his brutal reign. ➢ He make certain that literature promoted socialism, soviet actions, and its heroes
- 10. “ 10 10 Marxism provided a new way of reading and understanding literature.
- 11. GEORG LUKACS (1885-1971) 11 ➢ A Hungarian Marxist philosopher ➢ Influenced the mainstream of European communist thought during the first half of the 20th century.
- 12. GEORG LUKACS (1885-1971) 12 REFLECTIONISM ➢ A text will reflect the society that has produce it. ➢ Discover how characters and their relationships typify and reveal class conflict, the socioeconomic system, or the politics of the time and place. ➢ Lead to an understanding of the system and the author's worldview or “weltanschauung”
- 13. GEORG LUKACS (1885-1971) 13 VULGAR MARXISM ➢ Seeks to determine the nature of a given society ➢ To find “a truer, more concrete insight into reality” ➢ To look for “the full process of life”
- 14. LOUIS ALTHUSSER (1918-1990) 14 ➢ Algerian-born French philosopher ➢ Literature and art can affect society, even lead it to revolution. ➢ His ideas are called “Production theory”
- 15. LOUIS ALTHUSSER (1918-1990) 15 INTERPELLATION ➢ Is a process in which we encounter our culture’s values and internalize them. ➢ To explain in which ideas get into our heads and have an effect on our lives, so much that cultural ideas have such a hold on us that we believe that they are our own.
- 16. 16 2 BEST-KNOWN CRITICS FREDRIC JAMESON TERRY EAGLETON ➢ An American literary critic ➢ Marxist political theorist ➢ He talks about the political unconscious, the exploitation and oppression buried in a work. ➢ British critic & literary theorist ➢ Interrelations between ideology and literary form ➢ He sets himself against the dominance of the privileged class.
- 18. ECONOMIC POWER 18 MATERIAL CIRCUMSTANCES - Economic conditions underlying the society HISTORICAL SITUATION - The ideological atmosphere they generate A society is shape by its “forces of production”
- 19. ECONOMIC POWER 19 • Materials circumstances of her society have relegated her to a dreary existence from which she can find no exist. Madame Loisel - Has no commodity to sell, only her youth and beauty to be used to attract a husband. Monsieur Loisel - Accept the situation that he does not understand her hunger to be part of a more glamorous and elegant world. THE DIAMOND NECKLACE by Guy de Maupassant
- 20. 20 “forces of production”- production structure the society
- 21. ECONOMIC POWER 21 CAPITALISM ➢ An economic system in which private actors own and control property in accord with their interests, and demand and supply freely set prices in markets in a way that can serve the best interests of society.
- 22. 22 2 PART STRUCTURE: BOURGEOISIE ➢ Who own property and thereby control the means of production PROLETARIAT ➢ The workers controlled by the bourgeoisie and whose labor produces their wealth.
- 23. 23
- 24. ECONOMIC POWER 24 COMMODIFICATION ➢ An attitude of valuing things not for utility (use value) but for their power to impress (sign value) or for their resale possibilities (exchange value). CONSPICIOUS CONSUMPTION - Is the purchase of goods or services for the specific purpose of displaying one’s wealth.
- 25. 25
- 26. 26 ▪ Who are the powerful people in the society depicted in the text? ▪ Who are the powerless people? ▪ Are the two groups depicted with equal attention. ▪ Which group are you encouraged to admire? ▪ Which do you have sympathy for? ▪ Why do the powerful people have their power? ▪ Why is this power denied to others? ▪ From what is the power in the narrative derived. For example, is it inherited? Based on money? A result to violence? To examine the economic forces in the narrative, you can these questions as a guide.
- 27. 27 READING FROM A MARXIST PERSPECTIVE: MATERIALISM vs SPIRITUALITY
- 28. MATERIALISM vs SPIRITUALITY 28 "It is not our philosophical or religious beliefs that make us who we are, for we are not spiritual beings but socially constructed ones.“ ➢ The material world will show us reality. ➢ Because the base and the superstructure are under the control of the dominant class, the people’s worldview is likely to be false; the critic’s obligation is to expose the oppression and consequent alienation that have been covered over.
- 29. 29 ▪ What does the setting tell you about the distribution of power and wealth? ▪ Is there evidence of conspicuous consumption? ▪ Does the society that is depicted value things for their usefulness, for their potential for resale or trade, or for their power to convey social status? ▪ Do you find in the text itself evidence that the work is a product of the culture in which it originated? ▪ Where do you see characters making decisions based not on abstract principles, but on the economic system in which they live? These insights will blossom from asking the following questions:
- 30. 30 READING FROM A MARXIST PERSPECTIVE: CLASS CONFLICT
- 31. CLASS CONFLICT 31 Basic Assumption in Marxism: The “forces of production,” the way goods and services are produced, will, in a capitalist society, inevitably generate conflict between social classes created by the way economic resources are used and who profits from them. ➢ The Marxist is aware that the working class does not always recognize the system in which it has been caught.
- 32. 32 ■ How many different social classes do the characters represent? ■ Where do they struggle with each other? ■ Do you find repression and manipulation of workers by owners? ■ Is there evidence of alienation and fragmentation? ■ Does the bourgeoisie in the text, either consciously or unconsciously, routinely repress and manipulate less powerful groups? If so, what are the tools they use? News media? Religion? Literature? Art? ■ Do the working-class characters realize their lack of power? ■ Does the work of literature advocate reform or revolution, either overtly or obliquely? In order to find evidence of class conflict and its repercussions, we can ask the following questions about the text you are analyzing:
- 34. 34 ▪ What are the values of the author’s time and place? Where are they reflected in the text? ▪ What biographical elements of the author’s life can account for his or her ideology? For example, to what social class did the author’s family belong? Where is that evident in the text? ▪ What are the socioeconomic conditions of the writer’s culture? Where are they reflected in the text? ▪ Who read the work when it was published? How was it initially received? Was it widely read? Banned? Favorably or unfavorably reviewed? ▪ What were the circumstances of its publication? Was it quickly accepted, widely distributed, highly promoted? Or was it published with difficulty? Was it given limited distribution? Take some time to examine the following questions:
- 35. 35 4 IMPORTANT GOALS 1. To clarify your understanding of the ideology of the work 2. To identity the elements of the text that present the ideology 3. To determine how those elements promote it—that is, convince the reader to accept it 4. To assess how sympathetic or opposed it is to Marxist principles.
- 36. 36 WRITING A MARXIST ANALYSIS: DRAFTING & REVISING
- 37. 37 THE INTRODUCTION ▪ announce the ideology of the text and its relationship to Marxist views ▪ it is important that your reader share your understanding of the stance taken by the text.
- 38. 38 THE BODY ▪ The central part of your essay will demonstrate the acceptance or rejection of Marxist principles in the text you are analyzing. ▪ You may choose to discuss each major character, assess the nature of the social institutions ▪ depicted, or point out the struggles between groups of people. ▪ It might be helpful to think about the usefulness of explication, comparison and contrast, and analysis.
- 39. 39 THE CONCLUSION ▪ The conclusion of a Marxist analysis often takes either the form of an endorsement of classless societies in which everyone has equal access to power and goods or of criticism of repressive societies when that is not the case. ▪ You may find it interesting to reflect on what the work has revealed to you about your own ideology.