Raymond Williams - Marxism

• Marxist political and economic theory from his cultural theory.  You do not have to agree with the political and economic factors of marxism to agree with Marxist cultural theory ideas.

• Carl Marx was a philosopher - studen tof Haegel.  He hated dogmatism - a viewpoint or system of ideas based on insufficiently examined premises.  "All I know is I'm no Marxist" totalitarian.  He percieved himself as a defender of democracy and freedom.  His economic theories led him to condemn the capatalist theory.  He felt it didn't allow for people to gain their self worth.

• Haegal "Truth is the whole"  You can't get to truth by looking at part of the problem.

• His thinking influenced art, history, philosophy, literature and langaugage.

• What we call Marxist theory it represenated a range and diverse view points.  

• Simplification - To make easier to understand.

• Reduction - The act or process of reducing.

• Materialist - what he would have preferred to be called.

• Idealism - Emphasizes the mind for the ideal of reality.

• Materialist - reject the idealism view.  Examine how people live.  How does society go about.  It's not man's ideas.  It's human existence that determines man's ideas about the owrld.

• Eight major points:

  • Philisophical materialist - How does soeicty do production?

  • Every society broken into classes - Thursten Veblin - he's interested i how human societies develop.

  • Feudal societies - (A political and economic system of Europe from the 9th to about the 15th century, based on the holding of all land in fief or fee and the resulting relation of lord to vassal and characterized by homage, legal and military service oftenants, and forfeiture.) - feudal lords don't own peasants.  Today capitalists class and the rest of us.

• Base super structure

 

          lines of influence

Williams argues that the lines

go both ways.  

Example:

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair - expose

of meat packing company.  Roosevelt

had it checked out.  He was told its

true.  He brought about Food and 

Drug Act.  So a literary work

influenced action.  

1. Forces of production - land,

raw materials, technology,

natural resources.

2. Material reality

Relations of production available

raw materials who controls the

production?  Who benefits?  who

trasnports?  Legal conventions

 

 

 

 

 

• Labour power - our time our energy

• Salary is determiend by employer

• Employer has goal to keep employers salary low

• You can always find a better job, but the fact is you need to eat.

• Marx capitalism is not equal to all.  Workersmust sell their labor power with pay set by employer.

• Capitalists want to work their employees cheaply.  The experience of work under capitalism is ________.

• Economic and social conditions of lifeproduce a super structure - theoretical constructs - Oedipus of society.

• Included is culture and literature.  Literature is ideological.

• Super structure - promotes dominant values, etc. values and beliefs of the dominant ideaoloty.  "The dominant ideas in every age are those of the ruling class (Marx).

• Inherently alienated, irrational praised captalism to some extent. 

• Capitalism has streamlined with time.

• Marx acknowledges capatislism has its good points.

• Capitalism has also created contradicions and _______.

• Capitalism regularaly fails on its own terms.  It is an exonomic law of the jungle.

• Capitalism would need to be regulated.

• Pursuan of self interest that helps society gain (Smith).

• Law of capatalism - grow and expand.

• Lots of copetition, causes war.

• War environment have been dreadful.  On the other hand capatislim has shown us the power of social ______.

• Collective labor of human beings produces wealth.

• Mark arugued that the forces of labor that one and two would collide.  When that occurs ____ will occur.

• Communist manifesto - Marx quote "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" popularized.

• Society needs to support these needs.

• Political system democracy planning would meet al neds of - conflict between nationsl would diminish.  Marx was a materialist and realist.

• Lennon - left wing terrosim.  Terrorism is a violent assertion infantile disorder demands change now.

• Men Make History, But They Do So Under Instructions That They Do Not Choose.  social being determines consciencesss.

• We have to deal with a messed up world in conditions not of their choice.

• The world we are born into is already staged.

• Marx advocating a break with the very forward looking philosophy.  Not clearly defined.  They way we get to that point is not very laid out.  Both the past and future are defined with superstructure.

• Williams thinks super structure has many ideaologies.  Emergent, dominant, values support status quo.  Undefined perspective of New Deal.

• Oppositioal challenges dominant ideaology example tea party

• residual - belongs to a social viewpoing that's on way out racial segreation

• alternaive

• superstructure has fractures view points

• Economic being effects conscioness

• Even on-Marxists subscribe to the base superstrucutre

• Social being determined oncsiousness

• Ideaology is self conscience

• Submitted to dogma, distored

• Oh your'e just being ideologial

• Democrat and Republicans argument so one says your just being ideaoligcal least useful

• Marxist definition of ideaology - ruling ideas of the period

• Dominant ideology supports things where they are

• Ideology definition - All ideologies signifiecant material

• Most useful to us - broadest anthropology definition of wod - However imiplicit in all 3 is need to express ideology is key to relations of power in society.  We have to preserve current range of power.

• Base super sturcture model - Williams may not say from teh bottoom up, but it can be implied.

• Relative autnomy - expremely useful for Marxist critics.

• Super structure operate according to its rules

• Base operates according to tis rules

• Williams is instrumenta in moving critics from a rigid model to a more complex, muanced model

• Antonio Gromci - Italian communist - brilian historian, conomicmis, 1920s Italian facist were rising Gromice spent most time in prison.  Wrote "Prison Notebooks" 1 essay called "the Intellectuals"  He's talking about educators.  He refers to them as the deputies.  Most intellectuals accept responseof ______ the dominant society.  Catitalist states have enforced ____ uing political power.  Dominant hegemon - the spontaneous consent given by the great masses fo the population to the general direction imposed by Internalized - becomes a part of ones thinking.  Appears like "common sense." Naturalized.  Made to seem inevitable or natura.  

• hegemony - leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation overothers, as in a confederation.

• Most impotant in polictiacl deomacracies with popular consensus.  Backed up by force if necessary.

• Become reaffied, entrenched is/in a culture.  Doesn't get questioned.  Pushed by religion and education.

• Sub-cutlure - youth sub-sculture - punks, emos, stoner,s gangs

• Counter culture - to refer to youtch cultures that were different from tehir parents

• 20th century Marxist theory had destablized _____ now insights

• Base and super structure - how do they efect each other?

• Ideaology works with appeals and persuasion - gay marriage, global warming, etc.

• Cultural and scientific - social being determines consciensous 

• Louie Altouzare - developed overall theroy of ideology

• Williams -Base and superstructure Marxist Literary Crit. Insistence with putting work in larger analysis.

• 2 main roads - formalist  is synchronic and historiasm is diachronic 

• relationship between text and context context typically outside of text

• History written as backgrownd

• History for Marxist is ______ Early Mar

• Williams suggests mediation

• Literature - dialouges - Bakhtin term