Marx 101
This German philosopher co-authored The Communist Manifesto with Friedrich Engels.
Who is Karl Marx?
The social class that owns or controls the means of production.
What is the bourgeoisie?
The philosophical view that material reality, rather than ideas or spirit, is fundamental.
What is materialism?
An economic system in which productive property is largely privately owned and goods and services are produced for profit.
What is capitalism?
A warehouse worker has no say over how products are made and feels disconnected from the results of their labor.
What is alienation?
This philosopher collaborated with Marx and financially supported his work.
Who is Friedrich Engels?
The working class that sells its labor in exchange for wages.
What is the proletariat?
The theory that material economic conditions and class conflict drive historical development.
What is historical materialism?
The conflict between social classes with opposing economic interests.
What is class struggle?
A student's educational opportunities are strongly influenced by their family's financial circumstances.What is economic determinism?
What is economic determinism?
This 1848 publication presented Marx and Engels's critique of capitalism and their call for revolutionary change.
What is The Communist Manifesto?
The separation of workers from the products, purpose, and fulfillment of their labor.
What is alienation?
The political, legal, religious, and cultural institutions influenced by society's economic foundation.
What is the superstructure?
The process by which workers adopt beliefs that support a system that may work against their class interests.
What is co-option?
A company sells goods for more than the costs of production, including wages, generating profit from workers' labor.
What is surplus value?
Marx adapted this philosopher's dialectical approach while rejecting his idealism.
Who is G. W. F. Hegel?
The difference between the value workers produce and the wages they receive, appropriated by capitalists.
What is surplus value?
The productive forces and relations of production that form society's economic foundation.
What is the substructure (economic base)?
The process by which ideology obscures underlying material and economic relationships.
What is mystification?
A struggling worker defends extreme wealth inequality because they believe they will someday become a billionaire.
What is co-option?
This major work by Marx examines capitalism, labor, and the accumulation of capital.
What is Das Kapital?
Workers' recognition of their shared economic interests and position in society.
What is class consciousness?
The view that contradictions within material and economic conditions drive historical change.
What is dialectical materialism?
The classless society Marx envisioned, with collective ownership of the means of production.
What is communism?
Employees recognize their shared concerns about wages and organize collectively to negotiate better conditions.
What is class consciousness?