Finding Meaning In My Favourite Text. Music is an inevitable part of a human life, and you may not be “human” if you say you don’t like or listen to music- at least one type must appeal to you. I sometimes feel like music is in my genes, and I am an appreciator of music, as long as the good beat goes with some great lyrics, and that was why Paapa Kwaku hMensa’s “Richest Man”, which tells the unheard story of the poor man who is clearly fed up with the arrogance of the rich man, “called out” to me. He feels content with what he has and refuses any help from the rich man, saying the rich man feels no pity and love for him. I was drawn initially to the song by the beat and rhythm of the song, and of course because I went to Ridge Church School with Paapa. The concepts in this paper; Ideology (for Marxist Literary theory), Identity, Hegemony and Ambivalence (for Post-colonial Theory) are tailored toward a total extrinsic analysis. Terry Eagleton, a Marxist critic, says the task of Marxist literary criticism "is to show the text as it cannot know itself, to manifest those conditions of its making (inscribed in its very letter) about which it is necessarily silent" (Marxist Literary Criticism: A Brief Guide). Ideology, as used in the “Marxist Literary Criticism: A Brief Guide” describes ideology as “the shared beliefs and values held in an unquestioning manner by a culture. It governs what that culture deems to be normative and valuable.” For Marxists, ideology is determined by economics. A rough approximation: "tell me how much money you have and I'll tell you how you think" (Marxist Literary Criticism: A Brief Guide). The dominant ideology in this text which is not immediately known is the superiority of the rich over the poor in ... ... middle of paper ... ... stand for ambivalence in this text is the bare fact that the working classman does not show any sign of envy for what he doesn’t have rather condemns the corrupt and arrogant behaviour of the colonizer. I still love “Richest Man”, maybe even more as my eyes have been opened to what unknown things the writer wanted to put out. I never listened to my music with literary ears but learning that has somewhat changed that. I still enjoy my music of course, but unconsciously analyse. I’m still baffled about this though. “The best thing in this world to get is his respect?” References (n.d.). Retrieved from PostcolDefs: www3.dbu.edu hMensa, P. K. (2013). Retrieved from Bandcamp: http://paapamusic.bandcamp.com/track/richest-man Marxist Literary Criticism: A Brief Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www1.assumption.edu/users/ady/hhgateway/gateway/Marxistlitcrit.html
the middle and upper class. The essay was first presented in the winter of 2006.
This economic study will define the dilution and variability of Marxist and Neo-Marxist Theory in the post-WWII era. The slow dilution of Marxist theory as a 19th century economic concept defines the rise of capitalism and the neoliberal ideology that has permeated the latter half of the 20th century. The fall of communism in the late 1980s reveals the bankruptcy of communism as a state ideology in the U.S.S.R., especially after the Unite States and other first world nations triumphed through the neoliberal capitalist ideology of the 1990s and into the 21st century. More so, the dilution of Marxism also occurs in the increasing cultural and social abstractions of Marxist ideology that stray from the objective “materialism” of traditional Marxist analysis, which shows a moderate rationalization for capitalism in the Neo-Marxist theory of social and cultural factors in 20th century economics. Various institutions and Neo-Marxists theorists, such as Max Weber and Antonio Gramsci, tend to moderate the effect
Echoing Karl Marx, Bourdieu (1986) posits that economic-capital has formed the foundation of social life and dictates people’s position within the social order (p.46-47). has the more powerful
A survey can be defined as a gathering of a sample of data or opinions considered to be representative of a whole. Such as when the United States government polls a random selection of people throughout the country to get an accurate reading of the people's overall prospective of what the American people think is best for the country. As I almost reach the age of eighteen, not only do I have to start worrying about my career and college, I have to affliate myself with a party and prepare to vote. I have taken three online polls and they all came out with similar results; I am a republican. The three polls I took were The Political Affiliation Quiz, The Political Quiz, and Political Compass. I liked them all but all for various reasons.
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World demonstrates key principles of Marxist literary theory by creating a world where mass happiness is the tool used by positions of power known as the Alphas to control the masses known as the Epsilons at the cost of the people's freedom to choose. The social castes of Brave New World, Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons, draw parallels to the castes applied in Marxist literary theory, the Aristocracy, the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat.
Society today is split in many different ways: the smart and the dumb, the pretty and the ugly, the popular and the awkward, and of course the rich and the poor. This key difference has led to many areas of conflict among the population. The rich and the poor often have different views on issues, and have different problems within their lives. Moral decay and materialism are two issues prevalent among the wealthy, while things such as socio-economic class conflict and the American dream may be more important to those without money. Ethics and responsibilities are an area of thought for both classes, with noblesse oblige leaning more towards the wealthy.
Perhaps we could claim Karl Marx to be the most influential sociologist whose work is the platform on which sociology stands. Marx had developed many sociological theories that continue to be redefined and reemployed in a variety of contexts and structures. However, there are many gaps in his work that contemporary theorists sought to link. Marx major contribution to society is the in-depth analysis of economic forces. Marx recognized that almost any society is divided into two classes of people with relation to their mean of productions. He categorized people into the bourgeoisies and proletarians and was able to coin many terms related to the capitalist system. He is the father of conflict theory; he saw that conflict was the essence in creating a change in the society. The capitalists wanted to maximize profit while paying less to their workers, while the workers simply wanted less working hours and a sufficient amount of money for them to be able to live. This conflict is merely the seeds of revolution; class-consciousness must develop prior to such event to take place. He also stated that since the proletarians are the majority of the society, their success in revolting against capitalism is inevitable.
In this paper, I am going to explore the differences between communism and socialism and how different the thoughts and opinions of these two ways of life are from the current western views on religion and God. To explain about the differences between socialism/communism and western thoughts on religion I will explore the writings of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. They are founders and writers of a lot of the socialist and communist thoughts on religion and God. In our western society when we discuss God and religion, people for the most part are going to lean one way or another when it comes to their beliefs on religion. If you are from the western part of globe like myself the views and thoughts hinge on the belief of God as a superior being, a perfect one, one who controls everything that happens. The other side of the coin in western culture would be the atheist who does not believe in God at all. There are many other views about God and Religion that differ greatly from the views that are held throughout the western regions of the world. In a lot of the Eastern countries of the world the teaching of the Socialist and Communist parties that rule these areas of the world has influenced the views that have been passed down and taught through out the years. Communism and Socialism do not believe in the theory that there is one perfect God and that you can only receive salvation through him.
Landes, D., 1999. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 38-59
Marxist criticism is inherently existentialist. One cannot know anything without having been exposed to it as some sort of life experience. There is no knowledge a priori, as some of the ancient philosophers would have us believe. Rather, knowledge is accumulated a posteriori, through actual experience. Therefore, there is almost nothing that is inherent and absolute in our knowledge. It can never be purely objective, as knowledge is absorbed through the grid of our own perceptions, and that grid is in turn formed through our youthful socialization within our particular culture. For this reason, Marxist analysis does not allow gut-feeling or individual bias to play too great a role in the debate. It is more important to determine how exactly these "common sense" reactions are formed.
Marxism is the sociological theory this states a society development is based on the relationship between the bourgeoisie who owned the means of production and the proletariat who worked for an income that helped their families. The theory behind this is that it is an exploited relationship in favour towards the bourgeoisie and the contact between them causes development towards the system that will benefit these classes. The theory comes from Karl Marx and Frederick Engles. This essay will look at why Marx believed that capitalism was doomed and that communism would replace it. It will then show how his theories exemplified structuralism.
Marxism is a philosophy coined by Karl Marx with the help of Friedrich Engles in the early nineteenth century. Marx’s writings inspired many progressive thinkers throughout the European continent and the United States. The Marxist doctrine stated that first a bourgeoisie revolution, which will ignite a capitalist fire. The political philosopher believed that communism could only thrive in a society distressed by “the political and economic circumstances created by a fully developed capitalism” With industry and capitalism growing a working class develops and begins to be exploited. According to Marx, the exploiting class essentially is at fault for their demise, and the exploited class eventually comes to power through the failure of capitalism:
According to Marxist political economy, exploitation is the key factor which underpins the very fundamentals of society. By this Marxists believe exploitation is more than simply an economic phenomenon, but instead a norm created through false consciousness, which has infested itself within all aspects of society; stretching from the state, to the very structure of the social system.
Implementation of political and economical theories often alters from writer to practice. This alteration is often due to the incompatible environment in which the model is put into exercise or the idealistic nature of the concept. Within Marxism, socialism signifies a definite historical period of economic development and its consequential social relations that replace capitalism in the plan of historical materialism (Habib, 1993: 5). To progress into socialism, according to Marx, a state must undergo the struggles of the working class against the attacks of the capitalist class to establish its own collective control over production; these are the fundamental basis of a socialist society (Habib, 1993: 5). Examples of this lack of implementation of socialism have been perceived in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). Both republics have not sufficiently developed into the socialist phase due to their prominently peasant societies. Economic and political situations in the USSR almost parallel those in the PRC, both states were weakened by wars and political turmoil, however, how each addressed their peasant difficulty are somewhat contradictory. This paper will examine the peasant conditions of the USSR and PRC and how they attempted to adjust to it whilst progressing into socialism.
Politics and many aspects of society today have been heavily influenced by political thinkers and scholars from ages before our time. Whether their ideas were implemented or avoided, society today has learned and grown from these influenced; there has been societal adaptions and changes with every success and failure. One important philosopher that is still widely talked about today is Karl Marx. His theories and ideas are still studies, discussed and utilized today. Some aspects of Marxism is relevant to modern day but there are still some major critiques to his opinions that prove there in inconsistencies with the relevance of Marxism. This is a result of his failure to predict how advanced and revolutionized society would be in modern day.