Conflict theory Motor of change o Material structure comes from social placement in society o Cultural structure comes from cultural notions about what society is and how it can be transformed o Power dimension who has power over resources Marx Materialism Conflict is the endogenous motor of change Theory that is geared towards explaining conflicts and as a result change Hegel argued that long term social change comes from change in ideas o Ideas are cause of change Hegels model thesis conflict antithesis synthesis o Never ending cycle Thoughts are determined by the material condition by the economy o Ideas are an effect of the economy The economy is the primary motor of change ideas are secondary Economic determinism Economy controls everything Feedback system Class and evaluation Exploitation Theory and history o Communism is key economic structure for societies because people are self interested so they become communally altruistic and therefore benefit society as a whole o Main factor in the economy is production and who owns means of production Modes of production dichotomize society through social class Classes are separated o Owners of modes of production are only a small of society Economy is extremely exploitative because none of the profit actually goes to the people who worked rather it goes to those who own the means of production the dominant class Stage theory developed Marx things that all economies go through the same stages in the same order o Primitive communism which exists in hunting and gathering societies where no one person owns the means of production There is no social class stratification and no exploitation o Slave modes class based o Feudal modes force based o Capitalist modes exploitation based o Communist modes communal altruism and everyone benefits together Origins of capitalism Shift from craft to factory production Requires 3 things o Free labor o Accumulation of resources o Factory system Ex England circa 1500 o Went through all the stages in that order Society composed of merchants and aristocrats As a result of rapid population growth demand for textiles increases so aristocrats shifted from growing grain to herding sheep for materials for textiles but because there was not enough land coz land belonged to peasants there was a movement of enclosures where fences were built around land that was owned by peasants Clearly they were exploited and there is conflict One social class literally exploiting the lower class motor of social change through conflict Main consequence People who were once free laborers now have a million choices as to who to work for but only one choice to work o Colonialism and exploitation Spain went to America and found gold sent back gold to spain Exploited locals to find gold so they can send it back to spain Only Spanish benefitted so the Americans were exploited o Things change from small scale to large scale Marx wanted to define people in terms of production who has power and how to bring change More efficient and productive coz of advances in technology Specialization also more productive Advs Disadvs Creates conflict because work is not self fulfilling or rewarding Dominant Ideology Theory Economy shapes politics which shapes the economy which affect culture all interrelated Dominant class owns means of productions therefore they own the ideas in the economy therefore they own the ideas that roam society o Used to explain exploitation of the lower class by the dominant class Naturalization Hierarchy in society Feudal motor of production is based on hereditary class God angels pope king aristocrat peasant domestic animal wild animal plants rocks Peasant will never be aristocrat because they are fundamentally different entities Social construction that justifies the benefits each of them gets Because it is natural the idea of treating them the same is absurd Material conditions and ideas Moving to assembly line production more effective and productive o More profit Results in class consciousness State and revolution o When workers talk during work and realize they all hate their jobs and then form unions o The enemy is a common enemy The state is an instrument of the dominant class that s why they obey what the dominant class wants Economic institution of capitalism set limits on what politicians can and cant do o Why obama cuts taxes to benefit capitalist class If he doesn t he wont be re elected o Capitalists are mobile then can always go to diff country and invest there Theory of Revolution Polarization of class Class consciousness Over time working class gets bigger and capitalist gets smaller leading to greater inequality People see that capitalists exploit working class Balance of power is off because working class has more numbers therefore more power Development of trade unions Political parties emerge in favor of working class Power is the only way to make change o Army to overthrow leaders Marx argued this happens in most advanced society where gap is small Advs Disadvs Society is organized in hierarchy easy to know placement in society Marx was wrong about everything o Polarization doesn t occur coz of rise in middle class Middle class exists coz of exploitation In contemp USA because of exploitation of Chinese laborers to make cheap clothes So they can live somewhat lavish lifestyle for cheap without being working class o People define themselves differently not unified the notion of identity differs for o It only happens were gap is massive not vice versa Where there is no middle class people there is revolution Budget theory of deficits State spending needs to increase although profit stays the same State doesn t own means of productions rather the capitalists do o State has to shift to own means of productions through electing leaders that own means of production Shift from competitive to monopoly markets Monopoly capitalism a few small firms that have everything o Eventually transform to multinantional companies then globalization occurs There is a shift in labor to capital ration o Technology takes over instead of human labor Scope of markets increase o Consequences Unemployment insurance to avoid homelessness Strong military to protect workers wherever they are in the world Better infrastructure to allow global transportation State spending Needs to focus on Research and development in order to save economy from shrinking in comparison to other economies o Ex contemp US vs China Marx theory as a