Political Economy
September 11, 2023
Lecture 3: Marxist PE
Critique of Capitalism
Contesting Capitalism
- Marx central concerns
o Interpreting the working of the capitalist economy
o Understanding economic change
o Considering principles on which alternalives to capitalism might be based.
- Why study Marx?
o Key place in history of economy and takes ideas from classical PE
o Creates framework to understand capitalism
o Great influence in the world
Historical context
- During Industrial Revolution (economic development) everything faced crisis.
- Marx – utopian socialism is inadequate because ot does not address the cause of
classinequality and exploitation.
The scope of Marxism
- Study of social classes
o Commodity fetishism – relationship and focus on things and not people.
- Analysis of exploitation
o Classes under capitalism are not symmetrical
- Growth of monopoly power
o Competitive markets are the essence of capitalism, but Marxists emphasise the
tendency for them to be supplanted by monopolistic enterprises.
- Expantionary nature of capitalism
o Marxist analysis focuses on reproduction and growth.
o Imperialism in modern capitalism
- Uneven development
o Capitalism = great variability
o Contrast between rapidly expanding cities and economically stagnant regions
- Commodification of social life
o Expantionary character tends to transform social pursuits into marketable
commodities
- Alienation
o Alienation arises because workers have no control over their own labour or the
products of the labour.
- Role of the state
o Capitalism is not a free-market economy.
- Social change
, o Processes of economic and social transformation, evolutionary or revolutionary
Marxist method
- What you see depend on how you look
- Marxist method of analysis is historical, materialistic, and dialectica. Emphasis on the
integration of analysis and activism.
- Historical
o Change over time
- Materialistic
o Materialist oppose idealist
o Economy is the key factor structuring society
o Material conditions over ideas
o Not the contiosness of men determines their existance, it’s the opposite.
o Materialial conditions as the leading force of social change
- Historical materialism
o The broad sweep of history is not a series of random or
independent events, but rather a process that has a structure
shaped by economic conditions – most controversial claims in the
whole of social science.
- Dialectic
o Internal conflicts and contradictions within economic system that force the change
o Class struggle
- Praxis
o Marxism claims not to be a method of analysis of capitalism, but a tool of its
transition to socialism.
o Scholarship be blended with activism
The Mode of Production
Production as the primary concern
- Marxism takes production as a central analytical concept
-
-
- Force of production most tangible element
o Means of production – raw materials, capital goods
o Labour power – human effort
o Technology – scientific and technological innovations
- Relations of production – how pople are organised for the purpose of making goods
September 11, 2023
Lecture 3: Marxist PE
Critique of Capitalism
Contesting Capitalism
- Marx central concerns
o Interpreting the working of the capitalist economy
o Understanding economic change
o Considering principles on which alternalives to capitalism might be based.
- Why study Marx?
o Key place in history of economy and takes ideas from classical PE
o Creates framework to understand capitalism
o Great influence in the world
Historical context
- During Industrial Revolution (economic development) everything faced crisis.
- Marx – utopian socialism is inadequate because ot does not address the cause of
classinequality and exploitation.
The scope of Marxism
- Study of social classes
o Commodity fetishism – relationship and focus on things and not people.
- Analysis of exploitation
o Classes under capitalism are not symmetrical
- Growth of monopoly power
o Competitive markets are the essence of capitalism, but Marxists emphasise the
tendency for them to be supplanted by monopolistic enterprises.
- Expantionary nature of capitalism
o Marxist analysis focuses on reproduction and growth.
o Imperialism in modern capitalism
- Uneven development
o Capitalism = great variability
o Contrast between rapidly expanding cities and economically stagnant regions
- Commodification of social life
o Expantionary character tends to transform social pursuits into marketable
commodities
- Alienation
o Alienation arises because workers have no control over their own labour or the
products of the labour.
- Role of the state
o Capitalism is not a free-market economy.
- Social change
, o Processes of economic and social transformation, evolutionary or revolutionary
Marxist method
- What you see depend on how you look
- Marxist method of analysis is historical, materialistic, and dialectica. Emphasis on the
integration of analysis and activism.
- Historical
o Change over time
- Materialistic
o Materialist oppose idealist
o Economy is the key factor structuring society
o Material conditions over ideas
o Not the contiosness of men determines their existance, it’s the opposite.
o Materialial conditions as the leading force of social change
- Historical materialism
o The broad sweep of history is not a series of random or
independent events, but rather a process that has a structure
shaped by economic conditions – most controversial claims in the
whole of social science.
- Dialectic
o Internal conflicts and contradictions within economic system that force the change
o Class struggle
- Praxis
o Marxism claims not to be a method of analysis of capitalism, but a tool of its
transition to socialism.
o Scholarship be blended with activism
The Mode of Production
Production as the primary concern
- Marxism takes production as a central analytical concept
-
-
- Force of production most tangible element
o Means of production – raw materials, capital goods
o Labour power – human effort
o Technology – scientific and technological innovations
- Relations of production – how pople are organised for the purpose of making goods
