COMS 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Economic Determinism, Dominant Ideology
6 May 2016
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Document Summary
Marxism is, in essence, a critique of capitalism. It sees socio-economic class, and the struggles that arise between the classes, as the most important factor in understanding society. The class, which is the dominant material force in society, are the ruling class: dominant ideology. The ideology held by the ruling class comes to be the broad beliefs adopting by the population as a whole: hegemony. The way that the ruling class exerts their power or leadership even in the presence of alternative beliefs by convincing people they will be looked out for: economic determinism. The belief that the economy controls/determines all other aspects of a society: the base superstructure model. A more detailed explanation of economic determinism, which suggests that the economic base of society (production of goods etc. ) is its material production. This determines the superstructure of the society, such as . The study of the relationship between the economy of a society and its politics.
