POLI 231 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Steam Engine, Bourgeoisie, For Marx
17 May 2018
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POLI231
Lecture 14 – 22 February 2018
Marx: Historical Materialism
• Human society and their development is determined by class struggle
• The modern bourgeoisie is a product of its development and series of revolutions
• Capitalism will be replaced by socialism, and then by full-blown communism
• Capitalism will self-destruct
• This is not a moral argument which states that change should happen
• This is an explanatory argument for why change will happen
• The account is one of inevitability
The bourgeoisie class will destroy:
• All former classes (they arose through productive development)
- “Natural” hierarchies just last a long time → the bourgeoisie destroy this and they
create wealth without class; they destroyed what was the natural hierarchy
• They make all politics into economics
• They demystify natural and political order
- Conditions may have been seen as having divine reasons before
- If God is dead, what about the human is valuable?
The bourgeoisie are also building new things:
• Industry: the rise of a different chain of being because of the relationship between the
worker and the factory owner
- Steam engine: allows for industry, transport of army, mastery of nature and need
• Human creative power: social labor
• “Connexions everywhere”: communications infrastructure; more markets to sell products
Capitalism and communism:
Revealed by capitalism:
1. Existence is radically malleable: Things are changing all of the time. This means that
humans have a lot of power and can change the conditions of their existence. Before, we
might accept or make religious justifications for our deprivation. Marx says that the
bourgeoisie destroyed this, and now we see that we can make changes to our
circumstances → human nature and conditions can be changed
2. Nature, internal and external, is a product of social labor: There are many things that we
want (for example, a laptop), that we would not have wanted 20 years ago. Our wants and
desires change with social labor conditions
3. Radical creative power is human and ours to enjoy in this life: Marx wants us to work
towards enjoying this life, rather than accepting and waiting for the next life
4. Human community can be made universal and global: the bourgeoisie movement was a
transnational movement.
• Now, we see rapid urbanization
• Laws that facilitate international trade will only benefit larger firms → the deck is
stacked for these large firms, while smaller businesses will not really benefit
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The bourgeoisie class will destroy: all former classes (they arose through productive development) Natural hierarchies just last a long time the bourgeoisie destroy this and they create wealth without class; they destroyed what was the natural hierarchy: they make all politics into economics, they demystify natural and political order. Conditions may have been seen as having divine reasons before. Industry: the rise of a different chain of being because of the relationship between the worker and the factory owner. Steam engine: allows for industry, transport of army, mastery of nature and need: human creative power: social labor, connexions everywhere : communications infrastructure; more markets to sell products. Revealed by capitalism: existence is radically malleable: things are changing all of the time. This means that humans have a lot of power and can change the conditions of their existence. Before, we might accept or make religious justifications for our deprivation.
