Sociology 2270A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Primitive Communism, Germanic Peoples, False Consciousness

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 2270A/B
• Professor: Robert Nonomura

Document Summary

For hegel, history is about the evolution of reasons/ideas. Idealism: ideas are the prime moving force in history. For marx, reason is a reflection of what we do, not the cause of what we do: materialism: what we do determines what we think. "life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life. " (p. 41) Marx"s conception of social order and social change. Stages: primitive communism, asiatic societies, ancient cities, germanic society, feudalism, "the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas" "the individuals composing the ruling class passes among other things consciousness and therefore think. "thus their ideas are the ruling ideas of the epoch" (p. 46) The cognitive part of our alienation- the ideas created by those in power disguise reality from us. "a fundamental inability to be able to conceptualize the world in nay objectively valid sense. " Key point: its not just an untrue belief.